Presented by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and produced for KLM by Douglas Aircraft Company Film & Television, this promotional film from the late 1960s titled “Discover USA with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines” promoted transatlantic air travel with the world’s oldest airline. The film takes the viewer on a tour of America’s greatest attractions spanning from New York on the east coast, California on the west, and all the stops in between. Founded in 1919, KLM is the oldest operating airline in the world and is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. During the prime of The Jet Age in 1967, when this film was released, the new terminal buildings at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol had been opened and in 1968 the stretched Douglas DC-8-63 (“Super DC-8”) entered service.
Aerial view of Liberty Island, the Statue of Liberty, and the East River in New York City Harbor (0:09). KLM Douglas DC-8-63 passenger plane (0:38). Passengers disembark the plane and go through customs (1:02). Aerial views of Manhattan (1:24). The Chrysler Building (1:38). Wollman Rink (2:09). Times Square lights (2:30). The United Nations HeadQuarters in Midtown, Manhattan (2:41). St. Patrick’s Cathedral (2:50). The Metropolitan Museum of Art (3:04). The Guggenheim (3:05). Lincoln Center (3:11). Rockefeller Center (3:13). Prometheus statue (3:29). Horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park (3:35). College students play music in Washington Square Park near New York University (NYU) in Greenwich Village (3:51). The World War II East Coast Memorial Eagle Statue in Battery Park (4:17). Staten Island Ferry (4:17). Niagara Falls (4:47). Quiet New England road in autumn (5:00). Maine lobster fisherman pulls into dock (5:54). Chef cuts meat in a restaurant (7:18). Beef in America and America’s cattle stockyards (7:30). Street views of Chicago, Illinois (7:53). Coca Cola advertisement (8:08).Chicago steakhouses: The Steak Joynt (8:16). The Purple Cow (8:20). Stock Yard Inn (8:27). Marina City Building (8:37). Wrigley Building (9:02). Chicago window cleaners (9:45). I-66 Highway Washington D.C. (10:26). Potomac River (10:27). The Washington Monument (10:40). U.S. Capitol Building (10:45). Lincoln Memorial (10:59). Jefferson Memorial (11:15). U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (11:46). The White House (11:53). Lincoln Memorial interior (12:25). Mount Rushmore by sculptor Gutzon Borglum in Keystone, South Dakota (12:34). Bison (13:16). Crazy Horse Monument for leader of the Sioux Indians by Korczak Ziolkowski (13:30). Space Rocket launch at Cape Kennedy, Florida (14:20). Cypress Gardens Water Ski Show (14:30). Aerial view of Miami (15:31). Sky slopes (15:59). Jazz club in New Orleans, Louisiana (16:16). Intersection of Orleans St. and Bourbon St. (16:22). NOLA architecture and sites (16:30). Pete Fountain Jazz Group club (16:53). Aerial view of the Mississippi River (17:04). The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri (17:09). Old Courthouse building in St. Louis (17:13). Bel Air Motel (17:15). Bush Memorial Stadium (17:39). St. Louis Cardinals game (17:45). Golden Wheat fields (17:56). Rocky Mountains (17:59). Grand Canyon (18:05). Las Vegas Show: Le Lido de Paris (18:39). Caesars Palace (19:07). Gold boom ghost towns (19:29). Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (20:24). Dude Ranch (20:35). Rodeo held at Indio, California (21:08). Palm Springs Teleferico in Palm Springs, California (21:22). San Francisco cable cars (22:03). Golden Gate Bridge (22:27). Monterey, California coastline (22:55). Disneyland in Anaheim (23:04). Mark Twain Steamboat (23:48). Santa Fe & Disneyland Railway (24:04). Jurassic Park (24:10). La Brea Tar Pits (24:25). Aerial views of Los Angeles (24:32). Hollywood sign (25:02). Los Angeles City Hall (24:38). Grand Park at the Civic Center of Los
Angeles (24:58). Hollywood Park Racetrack (25:07). Sailboats (25:22). Marineland of the Pacific (25:29). Grauman’s Chinese Theater (25:46). Red carpet for the 39th Annual Academy Awards (26:01). Gene Kelly on the red carpet (26:37). Plane taking off, return to opening scene (26:55).
