Via Holly Hegeman, this 1933 promotional video for American Airlines (“American Airways”) is a must-watch for aviation geeks.
Holly quotes from the beginning of the video
From the beginning of time, man has been the master of his own journey, he chooses the road by which he goes. He steps ahead or he steps aside. Here’s the man who steps ahead. The kind of man who gets things done. He knows where he’s going and how to get there — The American Airways way.
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The hyperbole is so over the top! A fascinating look back too.
Someone must do a video/image mash-up of the current state of air travel by editing this soundtrack…
4:38
“You’ll want to linger in Memphis, TN if you like the picture of DARKIES loading cotton.”
Haha, wow.
@Amazing Larry – indeed. And it wasn’t THAT long ago that this was produced, either. One can either be ashamed, or proud at how far how fast we’ve come since then.
Definitely a “must view” if you’re interested in the history of aviation and American society.
I was equally interested in what has changed, and what has not. And remember, this is only about 30 years after the Wright Brothers. It would be as if someone was trying to convince us that travel to the moon was completely routine and easy (and that’s more than 40 years ago).
The “Darkies” comment is obviously socially interesting, but did you also hear the narrator refer to the new father as “our fat friend”? Did people really talk like that then? 🙂
Yeah I came upon this video independently and it’s been my go-to happy place for about a year now with the sights of people walking out onto the super low security and piling into this thing described like no luxury has been spared to make it as comfortable as your living room. The darkies loading cotton line is a real jaw dropper especially for a promotional film. Throw in the fat shaming with “our fat friend” and the crack about “cargo.” The stewardess is a registered nurse…
“All seats are first class seats, all passengers first class passengers…”
“One of the grandest voyages imaginable is this trip from Chicago to New York…” (oh yeah…)