Everybody dreams of traveling. All of us can dream, but only a few get the chance
to travel to faraway places. Yet, anyone can get a taste of traveling around the
world in the one place where the world's nation sits side by side, New York City.
Baghdad on the subway. That's what O. Henry called New York, the town where east
meets west amidst the babble of a hundred tongues. New York is where the Latin
rumba shares a jukebox with a beer barrel polka.
Manhattan's Lower East Side is a living example of America's melting pot in
action and has become a debate between merchant and customer still remains an
art. Here, individuals appraise the quality of the goods and test each other's
wit and willpower. Even the young learn quickly that it's each man for himself in
a world where panties and pickles live side by side.
But even this old world marketplace of all nations has
bowed to Yankee flavor and rhythm.
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. The world is so full of a number of
things and we don't want to miss any.
The Spanish equivalent for an ice cream cone is videagua. For a few pennies,
the street corner vendor shaves the ice and from a rainbow of flavors, your own
choice colors the frosty cone.
Here's a cooling treat that satisfies the sweet tooth coming to youngsters the
world over. The smile foreshadows the lights to come. Yet sugar and spice and
everything nice is just a small part of New York life for young Puerto Ricanos.
Some earn extra money selling shopping bags or with a shoe shine box on a busy
corner. When life becomes hard and
problems are puzzling, one is willing to accept some power.
Polly, the fortune teller, relies on chance rather than reason.
Song and music too help to carry the burden of the day and musicians performing
in the public square have delighted people for thousands of years.
Man cannot live by bread alone and the soul is nourished by art
as well as spiritual inspiration.
England raises her heroes on
the playing fields of Eden, but the sand lot for New York Central Park does
nicely for Americans of all races.
Even the World Series cannot excel the spirit of this game between two
Puerto Rican neighborhood teens.
It won't be long before this youngster will be right in there banning him out.
And who knows, the greats, the DiMaggios, Robinsons, Campanellas and Williams
got their start just like this.
From bull fights to sand lot baseball, exciting sports are favored around the
world by people of Spanish descent.
In another part of town, the game of bocce, an outdoor bowling game imported from
Italy, still finds favor with the old-timers.
Two teams bowl in competition.
Points are scored by the number of balls closest to the small ball or palino.
Here there is no reliance on an umpire's quick eye.
Inches are carefully measured, but even the ruler cannot prevent discussion.
Bocce means to knock an opponent's ball out of scoring
position and owe how they try.
Body English comes naturally to veteran players. You must try to control the ball
as long as it is in motion.
A close decision can lead to as much argument as a rhubarb in a baseball game.
This could very well be Rome or Naples, but it's still New York.
Though in this country, bocce will hardly outlive the old-timers.
Younger generations find their common meeting ground in a
red-hot game of stickball.
For foods with foreign flavors, this is a wonderful town for marketing.
New York's many national origins have enriched the city with a world of variety
in foods, and among the finest are the specialties of Italy.
Mozzarella, a cheese product, is a must in the preparation of mouth-watering
monoclety, a Neapolitan dish not easily duplicated by unknowing hands.
Macaroni is first stuffed with ricotta, something like cottage
cheese, and then with mozzarella.
Then, it is saturated with a well-simmer tomato sauce whose recipe has been
handed down from generation to generation.
Finally, topped with a sharp parmigiano cheese.
The dish is placed in the oven for an hour to let all the flavors mingle.
And then, with Papa's approval, bon appetito.
A little bit of Bavaria clings to New York's Upper East Side. Here is Yorkville's
brow house with its singers and its gimmertlichkeit.
The Schüplatler, or slap dance, is traditional, and so is the beer drinker's
toast, alzo broset meine lieben.
The dancing is full of humor, and just like this beer stein, it's lusty
and full of the European flavor.
And now, the spirit of the Schnitzelwank, a musical audience participation game.
It doesn't make much sense, but everyone has a lot of fun.
With all the different backgrounds that make up New York, there's one day in the
year when everybody is Irish. St. Patrick's Day, of course.
It's a proud day for New York, when its millions turn out for the wern of the
green, to the tune of the jigs, and the sound of the bagpipes.
Officials of church and state review the marchers from the steps of St.
Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
But the real dignitaries of the day are the Kellys and the Ryans, the O
'Connells, and the O'Briens.
It is their past and their future which all New Yorkers celebrate today
as friends and neighbors.
Chinatown calls up memories of subtle foods. Aromas of oriental
delicacies linger in the streets.
Newsstands which carry the community's five Chinese language dailies help to give
these streets a foreign appearance.
But Johnny Lum, like any other American kid, has his own reading habits.
And this could be any street in New York.
Beautiful oriental handicrafts attract thousands of travelers who in many ways
are the most amusing sights in Chinatown.
The really big event in this community's life comes with a celebration of the
Chinese New Year, when Eastern customs and Eastern symbols turn this section of
New York into a corner of the Far East.
Firecrackers are an old Chinese invention. Their explosions are joined with the
sound of drums and clashing cymbals.
All the noise serves to encourage the dragon as he tries to drive out the evil
spirits of the old year to clear the way for the new.
All this is New York City, where you can make a trip around the world in the
shadows of the skyscrapers.