This 1960s color “Travel Feature” produced by Herbert Lannard, scripted by Wilfred S. Rowe, and directed by Warner Rose for Lufthansa German Airlines employs a dramatised “keeping up with the Joneses” narrative, offering travel agents a promotional tool for communicating the convenience and affordability of modern European air travel (TRT 24:00).
Green smoke. A “cave man” paints a figure on a rock (0:09). Illustrations of early methods of travel, from rowboats and chariots to steam locomotives, trolleys, balloons, and planes (0:38). Opening titles with cartoon illustrations: “Lufthansa German Airlines presents” and “A Rendezvous With Europe.” Actors Howard Da Silva, Kathleen Claypool, Alisa Beck, John Jakobson, and David Thomas are credited (2:10). A spinning globe and a model of a jet airliner held by a host (3:18). Howard Da Silva is introduced as “Sam.” His family: A wife, “Jean”; two daughters “Alice” and “Sandy”; a young boy, “Buzz”; “typical Americans” (3:53). Sam takes an inventory of canned goods at a grocery store. He addresses the camera directly, expressing skepticism at the idea of a vacation (4:18). His wife, “Jean,” a school lunch lady at work. Boys wrestling. The eldest daughter, in makeup, files her nails (4:44). A woman shopper approaches Sam with a shopping cart (5:58). At the family dinner table, jealousy reigns (6:29). A list of neighbors headed to Europe (7:29). At school, Jean is pressured. Alice stands before travel agency posters. A jump cut places a bottle of winer in her outstretched hand (7:51). The family living room is festooned with travel brochures and posters (8:25). Sam, smoking a cigarette: “It’s absolutely impossible” (9:21). Visiting a travel agency. The agent pitches Lufthansa. A model jet bears down on Sam (9:48). A family passport photo. A Department of State Passport Agency. Some forms are waved away, others are filled out (10:44). A “Control Desk” administers an oath of allegiance and processes passports (12:02). The family is vaccinated against smallpox while Sam smokes a cigar in a doctor’s office (12:54). A certificate of vaccination (13:29). Back at the travel agency, Sam receives a stack of literature. A model shows a cutaway of a jet airliner (13:35). Montage of the family planning their vacation: Alice brushes her hair in a bathroom mirror. Sam smokes a cigarette. Jean in the kitchen (14:07). Packing suitcases with clothing and soap (14:49). A Lufthansa airport terminal exterior and counter. Luggage is weighed (15:30). A Boeing 757-330 (D-ABOB) jet airliner on a tarmac. Takeoff. A model “in flight” over rear projection (16:26). Inside the cabin, a flight attendant brings the family refreshments, cigarettes, champagne, an in-flight meal of smoked salmon and deviled eggs (16:56). The family deplanes. Baggage passes through customs. An official scrutinizes a watch, a doll filled with candy, a bottle of liquor, a chess set, a floppy hat (19:14). Back at the grocery store, Sam brags about “the grand tour” of 15 cities (21:16). End titles (23:40). Alice picks up a telephone. Jean boasts to coworkers. Sam adds his name to the list of European travelers, then points a finger at the viewer (22:43).
Narration provided by Art Ford, Terry Van Tell, and Jack Curtis. Music by Ernest Schoen. Acknowledgements include the U.S. State Department, the New York Passport Agency, U.S. Customs, and the U.S. Public Health Service. Interior locations were filmed at the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, and the Hotel New Yorker in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
