1933 AMERICAN AIRLINES PROMO FILM " STORY OF MODERN AIRLINE TRANSPORTATION " CURTISS CONDOR 19434

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This black & white film was used to promote American Airways, which was renamed American Airlines in 1934. The film begins with a brief prelude that was likely made in the 1950s, the bulk of the production (after the first :30) is 1934 (or 1933).
Opening title: FLY AMERICAN!, The Movement of Man, Mail, and Merchandise Through the Skies (:06-:49). An biplane passenger plane the Curtiss T-32 Condor II is shown flying through the sky. A man visits an American Airways ticket office, probably in New York City. There are many alternatives to purchasing tickets: through a hotel porter, Western Union, the Post Office, over the telephone, with an American Airways limousine driver, and with travel agents. When you are ready for your flight, you will be picked up by an American Airways limousine and taken to the airport (:50-2:24). The airport, it's bustling with planes, cabs, limos (include Cord automobiles -- as Cord was involved with American Airways in this era), and many people. You might see a Hollywood Actress who travels as well as other types of interesting people. It takes an organization to make an airline - it takes ten men to keep one man in the air.Planes fly from Canada to Mexico (with the United States in between), sixty-five major cities - day and night in all kinds of weather (2:25-4:09). (3:25) suitcase with many decals shown. Montreal and
Brownsville, TX (the gateway to Mexico) are possible destinations. Downtown Montreal. A cowboy holds a sheep. City of Boston and Boston Harbor. You can fly from Boston to Los Angeles in little more than a day. Los Angeles is featured. On your way back, stop in Phoenix and then go from Chicago to Atlanta and Florida. Memphis, TN (5:04 -- where African Americans are shown loading cotton on a ship) is an option as is Fort Worth, TX (5:15), Dallas, TX and St. Louis, MO (5:30). Cleveland, OH is next and then Washington, D.C. (4:10-5:57). People start to board a plane. Air travel is very easy. Curtiss Condor (6:09), at (6:17) appears to be a AT-5C Ford Tri-Motor. (6:30) Chicago Municipal Airport. Skilled mechanics work on Condors. The pilot looks at weather conditions and reviews his itinerary (5:58-7:26). Before passengers board, bags of mail are safely stored. Six-hundred-fifty pounds of mail can be stored. Many different things can be checked. The co-pilot and stewardess help people board. The interior of the Condor. All seats are first class and all passengers are first class. Eighteen people are ready to takeoff. The plane goes down the runway and takes off into the air: a flight from Chicago to NYC (7:26-10:41). Comfort, adjustable seats, ample dome lights, individual ventilators and ashtrays. A stewardess is a registered nurse as well as a trained guide. Aerial shots. A restroom. The pilot has continuous communication with the ground every few minutes (9:19). Distance no longer matters to man. You can sleep on these flights as noise is buffered inside the plane. The landscape below is stunning. You can meet interesting and important people on a flight (10:42-14:39). Clouds outside the window. Get your lunch on a personal tray. A man passes out cigars as a celebration due to having a baby. Animation of a plane going from Chicago to Detroit. The flight lands and people exit. The plane is then refueled. In-flight meal (14:58) Radio range helps the pilot be safe. Flying over beautiful Niagara Falls (14:40-18:01). Buffalo airport. This is the crossroad of many lines. Other planes are getting ready to take off. Delaware water gap in an aerial shot. From 1928 to 1933, there was an influx of air travelers. From 2,651 to an estimated 120,000. Candle beacons like lighthouses assist the flights (18:02-19:33). New York City aerial shot, arriving in New York. If it's cool on the plane, the heat will be turned on, warm and cool air will be on. Newark. You can have lunch in Chicago and dinner in NYC due to all the time saved. People exit the plane and laugh as the man having a baby has ended up having twins. It's evening in NYC, shot of Times Square (20:50). A man gets ready for bed in a first class hotel. A plane circles the globe. Fly American! (19:34-21:22). End credits, made by Progress Film Co. (21:23-21:39).
The Curtiss T-32 Condor II was a 1930s American biplane airliner and bomber aircraft built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. The June 15, 1934 American Airlines system timetable marketed Condors as fast "Sleeper-Planes" with the 12-passenger aircraft capable of cruising at 190 miles per hour. 45 were built.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@petebeatminister]

Truely amazing to see the top notch technology from 90 years ago! A big thanks to Periscope for showing us such historical film documents.

[@markdraper3469]

I can't watch these without putting the times in perspective. For example 1933 was closer to the Civil War than we are to WW2 now. Back then they could sell the sightseeing aspect since no one was flying above 10K feet. Today, it's a little harder to pick out Niagara Falls from 7miles up and 2 or 3 times faster.

[@bender7565]

At the end of the 1st third of the vid there is a young lady with a baby boarding a Ford Tri-motor for a 'magical 2000 mile journey'. God bless everyone on board. Did they have Benadryl back then?

[@jerryumfress9030]

"We've come a long way baby" that was a jingle in a commercial back in the 1960s I think. And we certainly have 😎✈

[@raymond7880]

The Condor 32 was so-called as it was designed to lift a payload of 3200lbs(1452kg). Chief designer was George A Page. It had two 750-hp Wright SGR-1820-3 Cyclone radials. Curtiss got orders for nine units from American Airways and Eastern Air Transport. It first flew Jan. 30 1933 and entered service May 5 same year. An AT-32-C 15-seater was operated by Swissair on the Zurich-Berlin line. The last Condor was operated by the Peruvian Airforce up to 1956.

[@proggravezilla4175]

I would think the Curtiss Condor is what gave DonaldDouglas the idea of what the DC-3 should look like: not a bi-plane, longer laminar-flow wing, more motor. Thus: more cabin, pressurized for comfort, more tickets sold.

[@thomasdollard7971]

The DC-3 wasn't pressurized@@proggravezilla4175

[@wendirose509]

What a shame that those days are gone forever in America. Does it make anyone else sad to see these videos?

[@elimtevir1]

I certainly do not miss the racism , or to constant air crashes.

[@archstanton_live]

@@elimtevir1, I don't miss the incredible expense air travel had at the time, putting it out of reach of most everyone.

[@archstanton_live]

@@elimtevir1, I do enjoy watching the documentation of the time even when it includes the advertising/propaganda.

[@wendirose509]

@@elimtevir1 I suppose you also don't "miss" when people behaved with common courtesy and had morals. Do you even know what those words mean, or are you a child?

[@poppaluke9991]

@@elimtevir1 I'm pretty sure she didn't say that she missed that either 🤔. But you certainly found a way to bring up something negative when she was being positive.

[@Hazwaste63]

Amazing to think that some pilots in their 30s during the 1930s saw aviation advance from these old biplanes to jet airliners within their careers.

[@barryhopesgthope686]

Did he use the term " Darkie"? Boy that REALLY dates this PR film.

[@lycossurfer8851]

Yeah he did, and yes it does

[@BELCAN57]

Wow, just wow! If this had been made today the pilot would probably be a Black woman and certainly there would have been other races as passengers oh, and no smoking on board.

[@kenrobba5831]

How’s that WHITIE ?

[@phoenixshade3]

Not just "darkie" but "darkies loading cotton." It never surprises me to hear things like that in these old films, but it still catches me off guard at first listen.

[@rogerbartlet5720]

And you could rub the darkies head for good luck!

[@Cowracer67]

5:27 I've lived in St. Louis all my life. The only thing in the movie that I recognize is the Eads Bridge. Everything else they show is long gone.

[@richardstaples8621]

No seatbelts, but an ashtray for every seat.

[@scratchdog2216]

21:10 Crazy world, what with that direction of rotation and all.

[@CamaroAmx]

18 passengers on the plane? I could imagine that today. Other then legroom, the first class of back then is the coach of today. Nice that they pointed out interesting things to see and how nice the stewardesses were. Now it’s sit down, shut up and how can we cram more people on the plane. The price to fly went way down but everything else did too (service, comfort, quality, ect).

[@asd36f]

This was only 30 years after the Wright Brothers.

[@PerfectInterview]

Yes and just 25 years after that grandmothers were napping peacefully as they flew across the Atlantic at 30,000 feet in four engined jet liners.

[@tomk2165]

At 21:15 the Earth is rotating in the wrong direction.

[@billakers6082]

Remember, safe and reliable air transportation.

[@atreb56]

Wasn't the Condor featured in " Bright Eyes " ?

[@davidbutler5248]

And it’s been down hill ever since!

[@jagboy69]

Yes it has! I'd rather walk than get on a SW ghetto bus.

[@ttraderjim]

You get what you pay for.

[@kenrobba5831]

Just under a century, poor America is in decline !

[@clemilsonpedrodesouzasouza4493]

Acho que eram só ricos que viajavam !

[@billakers6082]

E. L. Cord worked his pilots almost 24 hours.

[@quetevotetxapotehdp]

2021 Ryanair es la evolución de todo este "glamour" 🤣🤣

[@chrishjorth8465]

After the narrator said one of the attractions of travel was the ability to see "Darkies loading cotton" I shut the damn thing off.

[@kenrobba5831]

And only less than a century decline is manifest and set in. O’America, we mourn your end ! I

[@proggravezilla4175]

Thanx leftwingers!

[@markhonea2461]

Oh my gosh being stuck on that plane with most men on board smoking a cigar would be torture. Good for that baby too.

[@kenrobba5831]

You can OPEN a window !

[@markhonea2461]

@@kenrobba5831 put down that bong Ken. You are embarrassing yourself.

[@Stratotank3r]

Would like to see this movie with AI added colors to bring these old days back to life.

[@archstanton_live]

Why? That's not the way this state of the art propaganda was created.

[@archstanton_live]

If it had color it would be fake.

[@1995jug]

I guess VFR all the way.

[@Oliverdobbins]

Without a doubt, air travel was at its best in 1933!

[@elimtevir1]

Well That did not age well did it?

[@LucasChoate]

Lol. It did not. That was exactly my thought.

[@archstanton_live]

The footage and perspective is is illuminating though. We all know times change.

[@luchatrokaalvaradoguajardo5185]

I believe the Curtiss is more Beautiful and more Aerodynamic than the hateful 737s a320s

[@LucasChoate]

Beautiful? Maybe. Aerodynamic? Not a chance. But they were awfully cool!

[@luchatrokaalvaradoguajardo5185]

@@LucasChoate = IF it was very Aerodynamic, those generous windshields looked like buses, only the danger LAS BIRDS as I would like a 2025 version of Curtiss Condor 2 turbofans and Biplanes tail in t ´´ and 70 passengers

[@MadnessMotorcycle]

Stupid counter is lame and ridiculous.

[@BELCAN57]

Comes with every Periscope film. Lessens the chance of copying.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZbin users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@barrystockdoesnotexist]

@periscopefilms This film contains racist language and should contain a warning preface.

[@BELCAN57]

Don't get your panties in a bunch. This film was a product of its time and nowadays folks realize the cost of using such outdated terms. As a matter of fact it just goes to show the progress that's been made in the past 87 years.

[@waterheaterservices]

Rap crap is full of it

[@proggravezilla4175]

@@BELCAN57 Progs are stuck-on-stupid, refuse to `progress'.