Clearing The Way For The United Nations is a short film from the late 1940s or early 1950s about preparations for building the new U.N. headquarters in New York City. The film opens with a shot of New York City (00:17) and the U.N. complex. An engineer sits at a drafting table (01:05) and tells viewers about the story of planning for and building the U.N. complex between 42nd and 48th street and between the East River and 1st Avenue. The engineer says the first thing he needs to do is get to know the neighborhood; the film cuts to shots of the neighborhood: streets, a horse-drawn cart, traffic, kids playing on a street, buses, cattle moving into a pen, a Shell gasoline station, men playing bocce ball, and kids playing on massive gravel pile. The kids are kicked out of lot as men put up a fence. The kids march down the street (05:22) only to run into another fence. They see a building slowly being demolished (06:14), then go into a store (06:38) to get ice-cream and complain about the loss of their “playground.” A customer there explains the importance of U.N. to them. A woman, a simultaneous interpreter for the U.N., joins the conversation and explains the story of finding a place for the U.N. headquarters. The Secretariat of the U.N. offices are first located out on Long Island (08:21) and a building from the World’s Fair is used as a temporary meeting place (08:31). She explains how John D. Rockefeller, Jr. helped secure the land in New York City (09:10) to be used for the permanent headquarters. The film then cuts to a band playing as people gather (09:25) to watch the groundbreaking ceremony of the U.N. headquarters, where it appears that Mayor William O’Dwyer (09:47) says a few words. People perform traditional dances (10:43) as part of the ceremony. Back at the ice-cream store, the engineer walks in and joins the group, explaining the process to the kids. U.N. Secretariat General Trygve Lie (12:00) meets with Wallace K. Harrison, the leading architect (12:05) of a group of architects brought in to design the complex. The architects gather (13:55) and talk about trying to design something to be a symbol of peace. The engineer explains to the kids about needing to know and understand the various requirements needed for the project; illustrations are used to explain the requirements needed based on the 4,400-person staff of the secretariat, as well as necessary space for the general assembly to hold 1,000 delegates, 1,000 spectators, and journalists. There is also the need for smaller council chambers, committee rooms, and space for future U.N.-related. All of that equates to a space that covers six blocks, part of which rises 40 stories high. At the meeting of architects, a man speaks French (19:31) to address how everyone is there to help (the speaker is possibly Le Corbusier; other people in shot include Liang Seu-cheng of China). The men work on designs, model builders build the designs in clay, and then preliminary blueprints are designed. The group discusses plan 42G of the design (22:11), which appears to be the final design. The film then shows the demolition of city blocks (23:00) by wrecking balls, blow torches, and pickaxes. The residents of these buildings leave for new living space provided by the U.N. The kids leave the store and march to the U.N. (25:30) to make a complaint about their playground on 47th street; a woman takes the children inside the building to give them a tour that includes a meeting on the International Children’s Emergency Fund where the Cuban delegate speaks (27:17). Back at the ice cream store, the kids give their approval of the project. The film ends with shots of men clearing rubble (29:45), using a wrecking ball (30:18) to take down buildings, water towers, and large smoke stack.
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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 http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
