The Tyne Tees Television North East Newsview crew record the visit of Miss Newsview, Valarie Denis, to the USA, leaving on the Trans World Airline's (TWA) Boeing 707 flight from London Heathrow to Washington in June 1964, landing at JFK airport. The film covers a visit to the New York World's Fair and trip to Washington DC, home of US political power. Credit: Tyne Tees Television Presents Title: Miss Newsview Visits USA Miss Newsview, Valarie Denis, waves from the steps as she...

The Tyne Tees Television North East Newsview crew record the visit of Miss Newsview, Valarie Denis, to the USA, leaving on the Trans World Airline's (TWA) Boeing 707 flight from London Heathrow to Washington in June 1964, landing at JFK airport. The film covers a visit to the New York World's Fair and trip to Washington DC, home of US political power. Credit: Tyne Tees Television Presents Title: Miss Newsview Visits USA Miss Newsview, Valarie Denis, waves from the steps as she boards a Boeing 707 at London Airport. The plane taxis on the runway.  On board, Denis sits at a front seat in the cabin. She takes photos through the window of the plane. Two air stewerdesses serve drinks to passengers (or sell duty free perfume). Another pulls down a screen for a cinema show. Denis puts on her headphones. Newsreel plays on the screen.  Meanwhile, inside the main cockpit, the pilot checks his instruments. The navigator makes slide rule calculations. Aerial view of the USA. The plane lands at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York, and Denis disembarks. She is met from the plane by her host and companion for the New York visit, Julie Walton, an air stewerdess from Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. View down busy 5th Avenue, New York. Denis steps off a coach along with Julie Walton and stares up at the Empire State Building skyscraper. Next, she emerges on the observation deck of the building peering over the wall at the spectacular view of Manhattan. Shot of the elevator mechanical indicator indicating the 102nd floor. Denis looks through a coin in the slot telescope, pointing it towards camera. She and Walton enjoy the views.  Denis and Walton catch an aquafoil ride to the World's Fair. The aquafoil speeds down the Hudson river and East river to Flushing Meadows - Corona Park, site of the World's Fair, and the passengers get off. The two women stand at the gateway to the World's Fair, "a look back at the past, a peep show of the future". A helicopter rises from the helipad of the Port Authority's pavilion. Denis and Walton wander around the Fair with the rest of the crowds of visitors.  A monorail train glides through the Lake Amusement area of the Fair. Fountains play in the grounds. Official World's Fair balloons are on sale and Denis buys one. Pavilions are all very Space Age and influenced by car culture, a futuristic, mid-century modern style known as ‘Googie architecture’.   Visitors are taking a ride in Ford Mustang convertibles on the guided driveways of 'Ford's Magic Skyway' in the Ford Motor Group's pavilion. Two delighted nuns enjoy a ride in one of the cars.  Denis and Walton meet Miss World's Fair, beauty queen Ann McEwan. The two women continue on their stroll around the exposition. Scattered amongst the pavilions are refreshment and souvenir centres run by the Brass Rail Food Service Organisation with roofs made of air-filled fibreglass cloth that resembled a cluster of balloons or marshmallows. Denis glances from a bridge at an 8 lane highway through the site. She looks at a futuristic 'car of tomorrow' in the General Motors pavilion.  The two women chat about the exhibition at a fountain. Two American women walk by in checked knee-length shorts. Denis asks for directions from a Pinkerton's National Detective Agency guard, employed for security at the Fair. He points the way. People queue at another highly decorated pavilion. Denis and Walton walk towards the Unisphere and catch a rest from the heat beside its fountains. Overhead, people are riding in gondolas on a sky ride. Four sailors in uniform take a picture of the two women from Newcastle, posing and laughing. A capsule-shaped elevator speeds up the side of an observation tower at the New York State Pavilion, designed by Philip Johnson and Lev Zetlin, and the tallest structure at the World’s Fair. Panoramic view from an observation deck of the different sectors of the Fair, also listed in the commentary. Denis enjoys a drink on one of the observation decks at the pavilion. Next, Denis takes a Circle Line river boat sightseeing cruise of New York’s waterfront. Travelling shots from the boat include views of the Statue of Liberty. The Staten Island ferry passes. The cruise sails under the Brooklyn Bridge, passes giant apartment blocks, the Brooklyn Naval Yard and the old Brooklyn Bridge. Next, it travels by the United Nations building, automobile junk yards, and the Manhattan waterfront. After the river tour, back in Manhattan, Denis takes a Central Park horse and carriage ride. In midtown Manhattan, she is dazed by the bustle, neon lights and advertising in Times Square and Broadway. A plane takes off for the next destination on Miss Newsview’s American visit. At Washington Dulles International Airport, Denis disembarks and tries out the airport’s new ‘mobile lounge’ from the plane to the terminal. She moves through the modern airport designed by Eero Saarinen and boards a bus to her hotel, passing the Potomac River, and on down tree-lined avenues near Washington. She arrives at the International Inn, Thomas Circle, 14th & Main Street, North West Washington (now Washington Plaza) with its domed, year-round Hawaiki Pool. Denis looks out from an exterior walkway at the modern hotel. Travelling shot of the approach to Capitol Hill and the White House. Denis takes a photo and walks down the steps of The Senate at the domed Capitol Building. She visits the Library of Congress building. Thousands queue to pay their respects at the John F Kennedy (JFK) grave and Eternal Flame, a memorial to the assassinated president at Arlington National Cemetery. Denis stops to drink from a water fountain during a furiously hot June day. She also visits the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tour then takes in George Washington’s former plantation and home, Mount Vernon estate, on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Alexandria, the Washington family tomb, the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. Denis then visits the picturesque Old Town, Alexandria and Carlyle House Historic Park. There’s a brief shot of a street in a poorer area of the city, a young African-American child playing outside. At Washington National Airport, TV cameras are rolling as Pennsylvania’s Republican Governor Bill Scranton arrives during his campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. A crowd with placards are there to welcome him as he steps from the plane and waves. He gives a press conference. Denis manages to get a handshake when he goes walkabout. The motorcade drives off with supporters following. Denis watches as the political circus moves on. Back in Washington DC, Denis takes a tour of the White House. She then presents a picture album to one of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s aides, outside the White House. The photos illustrated a restored Washington Old Hall in County Durham, England, the ancestral home of the family of George Washington. He thanks her and disappears back inside. She wanders over to the Jefferson Memorial on the long, grassy National Mall, reading an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence carved into the walls of the memorial chamber. As the USA tour comes to an end, Denis gets into a striking automobile (with tailfins) and drives away. Credits: Cameraman Norman Jackson Film Editor Jeremy Lack Sound Mixer Jim Goldby Written by John Sleight Narrator Bob Langley Credit: A “Newsview” Film