Universal Newsreel Volume 4, Release 59: Local Stories

Description

The original release sheet reads: 1. WOMEN STARS SHINE IN OLYMPIC TRY-OUTS: EVANSTON, IL - Mildred (Babe) Didrikson, hailing from Dallas, TX, almost qualifies as a one-girl Olympic team in the try-outs here, by taking first in the 80-meter hurdles, in the javelin throw and in the high-jump, as well as placing in the discus throw and taking three other firsts in the A.A.U. events. Ethel Harrington of the Illinois Women’s A.C. is the first in the 100-meter dash. 2. JONES BEACH, NY - Uncle Sam’s water-witches, too, will give good account of themselves in the Olympics. Helen Madison, of Seattle, sets a new record in the try-outs for the 400-meter free style race, while Eleanor Holm of New York, proves her complete mastery in the 100-meter backstroke race, and does her share to celebrate the winning of a place on the U.S. Olympic team by smashing the record to smithereens. 3. HEROIC FIRE-FIGHTERS RISK LIVES IN BATTLE WITH BLAZING TANKER: GOODHOPE, LA - A series of terrific early-morning explosions startles the inhabitants for miles along the lower Mississippi River near here when the oil tanker Rawleigh Warner bursts into flames at her mooring. Four of the crew are injured as fire-boats and fire companies rush to the scene from New Orleans, twenty miles away. Casing-head gasoline, pouring from the buckling plates of the tanker, makes the river about her an inferno. Spectators are cleared from the levees, lest there be other explosions, but the fearless smoke-eaters wade into the blazing hell and finally conquer the flames. 4. U.S.-MEXICAN BORDER BRIDGE PACT DOOMS GAY PEON WEEK-ENDS: FORT HANCOCK, TX - Another old Latin custom, the weekly opening of the Rio Grande ford between this place and Porvenier, Mexico, is doomed with promise of a bridge to span the border river here. Every Saturday morning U.S. customs men travel fifty miles from El Paso to open the ford for legal passage, for one day only. Hundreds of Mexicans await the signal to ride, drive or wade across and make whoopee for one day on U.S. soil. Another picturesque bit of the old West soon to pass into history. 5. GAR WOOD LAUNCHES NEW SPEED DEMON IN TRY FOR DON’S CROWN: ALGONAC, MI - Spurred by Kaye Don’s sensational seizure of the speed-boat title for Great Britain this week, Gar Wood, veteran American racer, takes the first trial spin in the newly completed Miss America X, a mystery boat which will bring back the speed record to the U.S., American sportsmen hope. In its debut, the racer is impressive, with none of the original bouncing defects of the speedy British craft. It will have to go more than two miles a minute to beat Don’s boat, Miss England III, however, and the eyes of race fans already are turned toward the Harmsworth contest next September, when the two water monsters meet in personal combat — and what a battle THAT’LL be! 6. NATIVES FACE FAMINE AS LOCUST SCOURGE RAVISHES FARMLANDS: TAMAGRUT, MOROCCO - The feared plague of the ancients — locusts — millions of the ravenous insects, sweep a wide swath through Central Morocco, devouring every leaf, every blade of grass and growing thing in their path. This is the annual movement of locusts toward the Atlas Mountains, and a period of dread for the hapless native farmers. Nothing, not even fire, can turn them back. Faced with starvation because of the devastating hordes, the entire male population of the district fights desperately with fire and with death-traps to head off the relentless invaders. 7. ROCKET-GLIDER PILOT DROPS FROM BLIMP IN SENSATIONAL FLIGHT: AURORA, IL - William G. Swan of Atlantic City, whose pastime is soaring aloft in gliders shot into the air by rockets, tries a new death-defying stunt, that of having his glider borne several thousand feet up by a huge hot-air balloon, then cutting loose and sky-rocketing in immense circles. He finally reaches the ground safely but almost comes to grief when the deflated balloon nearly hits his glider in mid-air. This flight, says Swan, is a big step toward cross-ocean rocket-plane travel, which he sees as an actuality before many more years have passed. (LOCAL – BROOKLYN) BEATRICE LEWIS WINS REVIEW CONTEST HONORS IN SEA TRIP TO COAST. (LOCAL – CANADA) TORONTO DAILY STAR: FRESH AIR CAMP.

Collection

MCA/Universal Pictures Collection

Series

Motion Picture Releases of the Universal Newsreel Library