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Our Town Austin
Gordon Wilkison
Sound
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1955
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B/W
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English
  • Map
  • Highlights
    Mustang Monument, Texas Memorial Museum, UT Austin campus
    Elizabet Ney Museum, former home of 19th century sculptor Elizabet Ney
    O. Henry Museum, former home of writer William Sidney Porter
    The Old Land Office Building, which houses records of the Confederacy and other historical documents
    A promotional piece for Windsor Park homes and the Nash Phillips - Copus real estate and development company, including a tour of the company with staff members, including architects, surveyors, and contractors
    Clyde Copus, Ed Stackley (FHA inspector), and Charles Zunker (construction company superintendent) work on the job site
    Tour of Ravel and Company interior design studio and galleries, as well as interiors of homes the firm helped decorate on Lake Austin and Niles Road
    An advertisement for Twin Oaks shopping center, a modern "symbol of progressive community living, American style" 
    Hyden's Supermarket storefront
    Lamme's Candies and Spudnut Shop storefront
    Camera Shop and South Optical
    Mode O'Day and Fashion Shop
    Winn Stores Five and Ten
    Toys, Kara-Vel, and Twin Oaks Cafeteria
    Tour of the Economy plant for Built-right and Western Provincial Furniture, showing workers operating lumber shaping machinery as well as hand carving, assembly, finishing, inspection, and upolstery of the economy sofabed and other furniture
    This segment features Antonio Reyna, Sr., who worked at Economy Furniture for 30 years
    Overview of the activities of Bergstrom Air Force Base
    An overview of The Bar K Ranch resort on Lake Travis and the many outdoor activities available
    Other recreational areas in the Austin area, including Caswell Tennis Center
    Municipal Golf Course on Lake Austin Boulevard
    Barton Springs Pool, spring-fed pool 
    Industrial development in South Austin, including along South Congress and Industrial Bouldevard
    St. Edward's University
    Profile on Calcasieu Lumber Company, including headquarters on the Colorado River, building and frame shops, and Calcasieu Appliances on 6th and Colorado and 6701 Lamar
    Lewis Brownlow, Manager of Northside Calcasieu
    Calcasieu factory on Industrial Blvd
    Dress rehearsal for "The Miner's Daughter" at the Austin Little Theater or Austin Civic Theater, playhouse at 2828 Guadalupe
    The Musical director and business manager of Austin Symphony Orchestra prepare for their 18th season
    An in depth look at Kelly Smith Cleaners at 511 W. 19th St., including an introduction to the staff members and the jobs they do
    A look at Lake Austin and the water sports practiced there, such as the Austin Ski Club featuring Bonnie Barnes
    Canned Mexican foods from Walker's Austex Chili Company. Includes a visit to the local meat packing plant, a tour of canning headquarters at 310 San Antonio, and the finished product on market shelves.
    Possibly Ed Brown, who worked at Aus-Tex, and was later transferred to a new plant in Conyers, GA
    Texas Relays at Texas Memorial Stadium, including racing, long jumping, and vaulting events
    Tour of the Polar Ice Cream Company plant
    Annual Round Up Time Parade, featuring the UT marching band, the Texas Rose Queen, and floats made by college students
    UT Tower lit up at night
    Austin Moonlight Towers
    Local movie theaters, including the State Theatre on Congress Ave
  • Transcript
    -building and the beautiful Mustang monument. The inscriptions tell the whole story. 
    The Statue of the Mustangs standing in front of our Texas Memorial Museum symbolizes the pioneer spirit of the Lone Star State. Much of the fabulous story of Texas is told in the fascinating displays of the Memorial Museum. Famous personages from the past such as Elizabet Ney, the world renounced sculptress who was among the first great Texas artists, are brought to light by collection of memorabilia and art exhibits. 
    The home of America's best loved short-story writer O'Henry has been preserved along with many of his possessions at 409 East 5th Street, thus giving us insight into the character of this great Austin citizen.
    Authentic relics and records of the confederacy are housed in the picturesque Old Land Office Building; truly, in Austin, the past lives with us in 1955. We in Austin can be proud of our beautiful residential districts and the Nash Phillips Copus Company has contributed many of the fine homes in and around our area—finer homes at lower cost. From start to finish the company, Austin's leading realtor, takes care of the customers giving them sound advice and trying to fit their picture of a dream house to their personal budget. The company architect meets with the customers to draw up tentative plans for the future residence. Surveyors get to work, starting the development of a plot of raw Texas land
    Nash Phillips Copus owns hundreds and hundreds of acres of Austin land, showing their foresight and faith in our city's dynamic growth. Bulldozers and graders take over from the surveyor, smoothing, grading and leveling the land before the actual building can begin. Clyde Copus, Ed Stackley—the FHA inspector—and Charles Zunker—superintended for the construction company—study the plans. Many of the major sections of the home are prefabricated before they reach the job site. 
    Once the prospective home owner brings his problems to the Nash Phillips Copus, his worries are over. The company works in close conjunction with the best surveyors, engineers and construction firms in Austin in order to produce more home for the money and quality at no extra cost. Looks easy, doesn't it? With workmen-like precision and speed, the new home takes form. The roofers go to work and there will be no leaks in this roof, you can bet on that. Full proof construction at reasonable prices make for satisfied home owners. 
    Customers should keep their eye on detail work, for it is in this respect that true quality shows. The asbestos siding is cut and then applied. The brick layers and stone masons on this job are real craftsmen as they put on the finishing touches—the marks of true styling on their work. And of course, that all important coat of paint goes on last and with only a few minor adjustments left, the dream house is being completed. 
    Mr. Nash Phillips himself, the Director of the National Association of Home Builders, displays the new home filled with most modern conveniences to the proud couple, and indeed they may be proud. Organized in 1946, The Nash Phillips Copus Company has developed land sites for modern homes and for industry as well. Personalized supervision in the planning and construction of the home leads to future happiness and satisfaction—one specific example of more home for the money and quality at no extra cost.
    The wide shaded streets, the beautiful, comfortable homes of our residential districts are sure landmarks of gracious living the modern way—the Austin way. How prophetic our founding fathers were; if they were to see our roads, our sky scrapers and, above all, our fine homes, they would know that their nineteenth century dream had become a twentieth century reality. 
    To do justice to the interiors of our homes, we in Austin can boast one of the Southwest's most unique decorating studios, Ravel and Company. For fifteen years, home makers of Central Texas have visited this distinguished group of interior designers for the finest in furniture and accessories, such as the graceful hand curved chairs imported from Southern France. In another part of the Ravel Galleries is the eighteenth-century dining room with its priceless gold chandelier, which has prisms of genuine hand-cut baccarat crystal. The table center piece was made in 1790 by a London silver smith. In the Ravel Gift Galleries, people of discriminating taste may choose gifts ranging from five dollars to a thousand dollars—one of the most beautiful collections of English silvers is displayed. Mr. Torrens consults with customers about the selection of a wedding present. Any bride and groom would be happy to receive gifts and silver from the incomparable Georg Jensen Company. 
    The conference room is a particularly inviting spot where the Ravel designer can show his client a completely detailed decorating project. While Ravel does not necessarily suggest that you be the first to try the new, neither does he ask that you be the last to set the old aside at the extensive modern furniture department. All over Austin, we can see homes which have been made more beautiful by the personal touch of Ravel and Company's designers. In the stately residence of Mr. and Mrs. David Harold overlooking lake Austin, Ravel created a family playroom for young people and people with young ideas.
     Mr. Ravel himself is going to take a look at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brad L. Sharp located in West Austin on the scenic Niles Road. Mr. Ravel can be justly proud because his company did quite a job in adapting the beautiful Sharp house to modern needs. Let's take a look with him. The multi-purpose garden room, designed as a game and sitting room with a special emphasis on practicality, is typical of contemporary designing practices. And the playroom, a popular spot for family relaxation, is characteristic of the fine work which Ravel people can do to warm and beautify our dwellings.
    One of the symbols of progressive community-living American style is the shopping center. Clusters of attractive stores centrally located in the suburb are rapidly replacing highly-congested downtown shopping areas, and we in Austin certainly boast the most modern of these new commercial developments in the Twin Oaks Shopping Center. Stores of all types fill every family need with a variety of reliable, reasonable products. Twin Oaks is easy to get to; there is plenty of parking space for all. All we the customers have to do is drive in and park and then take our time browsing here and there, buying food stuffs and clothing, taking advantage of the service stores, the cleaners, and the laundry, and the shoe maker.
    The theory behind the shopping center, the idea which has made it an immediate success, is simple. People today do not have the time to do their day-to-day shopping downtown. Parking spaces is—as we all know—difficult to find. The shopping center—on the other hand—located within easy reach of our homes, offers speedy, comfortable service for all of our ordinary needs. We don't have to fight our way through traffic. And Twin Oaks in particular offers such comfort to its customers that, once there, shopping becomes a pleasure rather than a chore and we find ourselves lingering in these beautifully designed stores, doing our buying the modern way, the Austin way, the Twin Oaks Shopping Center way.
    We have seen how our homes are built, but our homes need furniture too. And a company now in its twenty-fifth year of operation constructs high quality furniture right here in our town. Let's take a look inside the busy plant and see what goes on in the course of an ordinary working day. Let's see how raw wood is transformed into the famous Biltrite—or western provincial-brand furniture. In the rough mill, lumbers are cut into dimensions by a Deal automatic cutoff saw. Rough stock is cut easily into manageable pieces. The boards have now been cut and are ready to go through the milling process. They are run through the molder, a plaining process that makes them perfectly uniform, so smooth that scarcely a bump or a rough spot is left. 
    And to think that, in the not too distant past, this lumber was part of a tall tree in an American forest. Now it is being shaped by a special, double-end trimming boring machine, which is capable of making an angle cut and boring in one operation. Precision and accuracy are watchwords at this stage and in all other stages of the economy process. Lumber of the highest quality available is used.
    An Onsrud automatic shaper, a machine of unusual speed and accuracy, does precision shaping to conform to any specified pattern up to six feet in length. Machinery now does the job easily that used to cause a lot of sweat and tears and time to the carpenter. But Western Provincial furniture is given its distinctive character by hand carving, and the young man with the skilled hands makes use of a spindle carver in his work. A semi-automatic turning lathe does precision turnings of any prescribed shape. This is a perfect example of the combination of the skilled human personal touch and modern machinery, working together to produce furniture fast enough to fill economy's orders and yet maintaining a high standard of craftsmanship. And the factory must work at full production to keep its wonderful furniture on the move to stores all over the United States and Canada. 
    A vertical boring machine with eight spindles drills holes carefully and to the exact measurements for this piece of furniture. Western Provincial fine furniture for fine homes combines the typically American and the essentially western in its styling. The horizontal borer takes over and drills rapidly. These operations prove that the end product will be sturdy and well-built as well as beautiful and distinctive, designed with personal comfort in mind and giving many, many years of comfortable use. 
    Large surfaces and small parts alike are handled by the four-drum endless bed-sanding machine which can handle forty-eight inch flat surfaces and still can work with unbelievable accuracy. Much of Western Provincial and Biltrite furniture is made from solid Kiln Dried Appalachian ash hardwood—a tough wood which has an innate glowing beauty and warmth unmatched by any man-made material. A durable DuPont lacquer preserves this wood luster through the years so that we the customers can be equally proud of our buy in the days of the future.
    A whole battery of drum and brush sanders are used for odd shapes and unusual sizes which cannot be run on the main drum sander. All the component parts are moved from the mill to the assembly room. A rough chair frame of the completely reupholster type is undergoing assembly. All of the joints are double doweled, glued and corner braced for special rigidity and strength. Final finishing takes place before the various items move to the paint room. Furniture in the unique wagon-wheel design is put together. Some items such as case pieces which are assembled of completely milled parts require only a final sanding. Other pieces are hand sanded and also glazed for colored tone in preparation for their final spray coats. What a busy scene. The distinctive Western Provincial and ranch-home styles begin to take on their final look
    Five spray booths are used at the plant to keep up with the steady flow of furniture and furniture parts, applying that final finish. All pieces at the plant are thoroughly inspected to make sure that the machines and the skilled human hands have done the job to precise specifications. A great deal of thought and care goes into the planning as well as the actual construction of all Biltrite and Western Provincial furniture. It is warm and friendly because of its authentic styling and its superb, unbeatable comfort.
    Upholstery, of course, is a crucial step in the economy process. What uses a fine frame of the cushions and the springs in the padding are anything short of the best. A six-inch semi-automatic electric knife cuts thirty layers of upholstery fabric simultaneously. That stack of covers is plenty thick, but the knife cuts through them as easily and as accurately as we go through a piece of cheese in our kitchen. This device is truly an example of skillful mass production, making manufacturing possible on a large scale. Skilled workers put the various pieces together as the fabric goes through the sewing operation, which follows precise patterns to fit cushions like that tight-fitting glove. 
    What are these springs going into? Why, the most modern type sofa bed—to fit the demands of our modern-style homes and apartments. Permalator is applied to prevent sisal and cotton from becoming embedded in the springs. And sisal insulator is also applied eliminating that unpleasant spring feel and creating a foundation for filling. The springs will thus be durable and at the same time will thoroughly cushion the impact of the body on the couch. 
    The upholstering process on the frame continues. Pressers are used in order to achieve uniformity in the finished product, be it a sofa bed or a chair. Economy furniture coverings are particularly distinguished, both beautiful and practical. There is a wide selection of smartly styled fabrics or there is DuPont's famous supportive fiber lite sown with nylon thread. You will find true shoes-off comfort and a friendly invitation to complete relaxation in the Western Provincial Furniture which recalls our colorful pioneer days. And what is best of all, the prices were down to earth that is simple for any family to add more and more new pieces throughout the years to come.
    The process is almost finished, and final work and assembly is done on the sofa-bed unit. Hinges are applied. The unit is assembled with hardware, the bedding box is completed. Did you ever think of using the spare space of the bedding box for storage? It can be done easily and it's useful too. No, nothing can beat the economy sofa bed for its easy functioning—it fits right into our modern living. 
    All furniture is checked in the quality control department. After inspection, samples of all items are sent to the large air conditioned showroom where they are kept on display for the benefit of visiting buyers from retail and wholesale furniture stores from coast to coast. All items are inspected before shipment for tailoring, seating comfort, and general appearance. Eight specially built vans are on the road at all times delivering furniture from the loading docks at the plant. The economy is justly proud of its product and of the distinctly western flavor of Biltrite and Western Provincial furniture manufactured in Austin, the heart of the true West.
    One of the busiest, most important spots in our Austin area is our Bergstrom Airforce Base. Planes are on the go around the clock at the base landing and taking off. New Air Force personnel are being trained either as pilots or as members of a ground group. This hubbub of activity is certainly a reassuring site to all of us in Austin, for an up-to-date, progressive, well-trained air force is the key to the successful defense of our country. We owe perhaps most of all to these men who keep constant vigil over our borders, for only a strong America can be a free America. And the familiar view of planes overhead, friendly planes—our planes—give us on the ground—us civilians—the warm feeling of security, the assurance that, come what may, these loyal men in the blue uniforms, these temporary citizens of Austin and permanent citizens of America, are keeping our country safe for us and for our children.
    For the vacation of a lifetime we in Austin have a nearby paradise, The Bar K Guest Ranch. Located just thirty-two miles away on Lake Travis, The Bar K provides wonderful fun for everybody. For reasonable rates, all of us can enjoy the pleasure of the great outdoors. Surely, the natural beauty of this vacation spot is hard to surpass. Situated on a sheltered finger of Texas' longest lake in the midst of majestic cynic hill country, its forests and fields provide a perfect background for a number of sports or just plain comfortable relaxation. For the active sportsman, there is hunting over thousands of acres of game field wooded hills`.
    There are lots of fish in Lake Travis and the Bar K folk will see to it that you get a nice string of Bass, Cat fish, Carp and Crappies every time out. Twenty-five miles of riding trails are laid out, either for the accomplished horse man or just for the average city dude who does not know a Brido from a Bronco. There is skeet shooting, hiking, boating and swimming, practically every sport and that wonderful fresh highland air. Camp fires, barbecues, hayrides, calf and goat roping exhibitions and fishing rodeos are also regular events at the Bar K. For the kiddies, there is a wading pool and a completely equipped playground. And for that lazy day when we hardly feel like doing a thing, there is shuffleboard, horseshoes, photography or just plain doing nothing amid beautiful surroundings. What a wonderful spot for the entire family—the fun seeking business man, the working girl, the house wife, teenager, and the little toddler. When you stay in one of the Bar K guest cottages you have the best in accommodations. Each spacious unit can sleep six, and is equipped with screened in porch, tiled shower and lavatory, beauty rest mattresses and springs, comfortable chairs, air conditioning and a complete kitchenette, and if we don't want to do our own cooking you can get a thick juicy steak at the Bar K restaurant. 
    There is a wonderful feeling of fellowship and companionship among the young and old alike. And what is best of all the prices at the Bar K are low enough to fit everybody's budget. Whether it is just for a day, for a weekend, or longer, the Bar K is the place to go for a perfect vacation the year-round.
    Everybody needs a time and place for recreation and fortunately for us Austin is equipped with the finest facilities for many outdoor sports. The Caswell Tennis Center offers a whole battery of play courts and a club house to youthful and veteran racket wielders at such a low cost that anyone can play. Tennis is good exercise for everyone and fun too. It strengthens and coordinates young muscles and keeps older people limber and in shape.  Are you a duffer or do you shoot in the seventies? do you have trouble breaking one hundred or can you play with the pros? you can be either and still enjoy the long rolling fare ways and fast, smooth, manicured greens of the Municipal Golf Course, one of the two public courses in Austin. Located on Lake Austin Boulevard the course is easy to reach. What could be more fun than having a foursome for golf and spending the whole day rumbling about this beautiful eighteen holes.
    But in the hot days of summer when the mercury in our thermometer soars up, then it is time to go for a cool swim. The Barton Springs natural swimming pool is opened annually from mid-march until October. Swimming is great for the kiddies, it is a wonderful body conditioner as well as being a virtual necessity for any human being. We all should know how to swim, and capable instructors are available to coach the youngster in the fundamentals. The Barton Springs Pool is a large spring-fed pool one thousand feet by a hundred and twenty-five feet, an average of 27 million gallons of water flow through each day—that is a lot of fresh water, but keeps a lot of people happy in summer time—and what more can you ask. 
    The development and improvement of our town is being carried out continuously. In every direction, North, South East and West, Austin is on the go expanding and progressing. Along South Congress and Industrial Boulevard and in the entire South Austin area new buildings are under construction new industries are moving in. Mr. Otis Jung, one of the most civic-minded citizens in our city has played a major role in the industrial development of South Austin. On Otis Jung Industrial development sites, the land is being cleared, foundations are dug and modern warehouses and factories can be seen either completed or in various stages of construction. This is truly an encouraging site. The strength and the very life of Austin depends on its industrial development. Prosperity and wealth are all around us in the present but we must strive to keep it that way in the future. Mr. Jung is working actively with this goal in mind, through his efforts and those of people like him, new industries are being attracted to Central Texas and to Austin, thus insuring the welfare of this area for years to come.
     New industries mean new jobs, increases in population and therefore an enlarged market for our manufactured product. When we build for the future we are preparing the way for our young people too. When they reach maturity, they will find a rich inheritance and an active progressive town in which to live. If we keep on bettering our town in every way possible, then the chain of progress which dates back to the founding of Austin will remain unbroken, and the happy life we enjoy now will be enjoyed by the future citizen of Austin and of Texas. 
    Answering all kinds of needs for Austin home owners and building contractors is the Calcasieu Lumber Company whose main store located on the Colorado river opposite the Center of Austin. On the first floor a customer examines samples from Calcasieu's extensive wallpaper supply. Also on the first-floor a building contractor shops for tools; many contractors use Calcasieu for their materials. In our area air conditioning is fast becoming a home essential, Calcasieu carries a complete line of the latest units. The company's reputation for a complete dependability is an important factor in buying builders hardware. The main store handles all items for the building and just about everything imaginable which we need in our homes. Nearby is the frame shop, another large building in the Calcasieu area, Mill craftsmen study blue prints for the assembling of window frames. In the mill operations, rough material is dressed for use in window and door frames. Free fabrication makes the Austin builders job an easy one. 
    Just last year the swank new Calcasieu Appliance store was opened at Sixth andColorado, following the trend of locating brand stores about the city for the convenience of the customers. A store manager proudly displays a brand-new Westinghouse refrigerator—modern uncluttered attractive shopping areas are the keynote. A picture framing display highlights the complete gift apartment. At 6701 Lamar Boulevard near our newest residential areas is the Northside branch—the paint brushes are real top quality. Both sides stock a complete line of building materials, paint and hardware.
    In 1944 in keeping with it plans for a continued expansion, Calcasieu opened a large factory for the manufacture of furniture located on Industrial Boulevard, a rapidly developing industrial area in South Austin. Customer confidence has led to a variety of progressive improvements in the companies' operations. The site of men hard at work in the plant proves that Austin is one of the most rapidly expanding industrial sites in the whole south-west. 
    Raw lumber has been sized and now goes through the drum sander. The building of furniture has been the latest step in Calcasieu's goal to provide everything, literally everything, under one roof that we the home owner of Texas have to have. Reasonable price and reliable workmanship are Calcasieu's mottoes. In the paint spray booth, finish lacquer is applied, giving the furniture from Calcasieu that lasting polish look, which we all seek in our furniture. The Calcasieu company offers us a microcosm of our town; both are expanding seeking progress and perfection, truly Industrial, Austin moving forward hand in hand.
    The events are the shows put on by the Austin Little Theatre or the Austin Civic Theater as it's known officially. Long arduous hours are spent in rehearsals by those of us in the show under the skillful direction of the theater's abled personnel. Preparing for a one particular show—a Western farce, to be given at the play house at 2828 Guadelupe- our Leroy Wheeler, the hero in bandana and checkered shirt. Mr. Windy Wane casted the Sheriff Deadeye and Claude Allan playing Judge Rudolf Maverick, a "Yankee villain in God's country." The play entitled "The Miners' Daughter" or "Trapped in the Shaft," was written by a male pre-civic theater as a drama of love and action in wild and wooly Texas. But most notable is the tremendous enthusiasm which those participating in the Civic theater have shown.
    Culturally Austin is truly an advanced city. We are extremely fortunate in having Ezra Rachlin as musical director of our Austin Symphony Orchestra, which is presently making plans for its eighteenth season of providing wonderful music for Austin and Texas. Mrs. Audrey Fenzel is a capable business manager, seeing to it that the orchestra operates within its annual budget of 50, 000 dollars. The Orchestra has a regular schedule of eight subscription concerts and four student concerts, and plans are now being made towards offering additional entertainment to our community. In the past, our Austin Symphony toured other Texas cities and nearby states offering a well-rounded program of both the classic and contemporary in symphonic music and at the same time presenting our guest soloist, a world renown—yes in every way our life in Austin is varied.
    One of the oldest yet most modern cleaning plants in our city is the Kelly Smith Cleaners at 511 West 19th Street. Established in 1913 the company pioneered and has featured the famous now nationally known sanitone cleaning process for more than 23 years.
    Mrs. Ray Publiscus, sales lady, receives cleaning from Mrs. Jamie Clemens while Mrs. Jamie Baker, another sales lady, talks to Mrs. Mary Pitts about cleaning an evening dress. Mrs. Emmy Drake takes care of the marking and identifying of garments; all garments must be identified tagged and priced for later assembly. Arthur Knoll manager of cleaning department places garments into a dry-cleaning washer; garments must be separated by an operator with years of training and studying the reaction of completely new materials to cleaning processes. Delicate garments are hand cleaned other clothes maybe damped in to the machine. After cleaning, most of the garments are placed into dryers where they are deodorized. Then they are ready to pass on to the spotting department.
    Ben Gomez, a highly trained technician with years of experience, removes all difficult spots that did not come out in the regular process. His knowledge of chemistry tells him just how far to go before possible damage is done to the material, a tough job with all our new fabrics.
    Mrs. Catherine Navarro demonstrates the minute care which is given all formals and other wearing apparel made of delicate material
    Another Kelly Smith finisher, Mrs. Anita Gonzalez, puts the final touches on cashmere coat. Garments which have soft nap such as cashmeres or most sweaters are put on a steam form so that they do not receive a hard press
    The finishing and pressing of men's garments require a somewhat different technique. Mrs. Sanchez of the Kelly Smith staff puts the final pressing in the pair of pants. The job which the good cleaner has to do is twofold. Naturally he must clean and press clothes according to our requirements, it is what we pay him for. But in order to maintain a complete confidence he must take good care of the clothes we entrust to his care.
    Mrs. Coulson inspects each garment for spots that have been missed, rips, and missing buttons before routing them either to the assembler or to the trimming department. Mrs. Betsy Hicks sews a rip in a pair of trousers while Mrs. Detrick Coax sews buttons on a coat. After inspection, and when necessary trimming, the garments are assemble by Mrs. Aider Boweck, all the customers' clothes are brought together with the invoice giving the description and prices. A special feature of Kelly Smith is the storage vault presided over by Gertrude Kelly. The fur coats have been previously gassed in an airtight chamber to protect them against insect damage. They spend the whole summer safe and sound in the vault.
    The familiar Kelly Smith delivery truck handled by F.W. Lindsey, leaves the plant on a daily round of pick-ups and deliveries. Mr. Lindsey is taking some clothes to Mrs. Will Watt of Austin, a loyal customer to the company for many years. Mrs. Watt, together with all of us who have made use of the past efficient Kelly service, is certain that her clothes are in safe hands: the dependable hands of the employees of the Kelly Smith Cleaners of Austin.
    At Work and at play, we Austin folk are a busy, active people. Within easy reach of our city limits is beautiful Lake Austin, the southern most of the long chain of Lakes which form the famous Highland lakes of Central Texas. The facilities at the Lake for all sorts of water sports and activities are wonderful: water skiing and swimming and boating. Canoeing is very popular among the young people who make frequent use of this water wonderland. As the waters of the Colorado river pour through Marble Falls Dam, they enter Lake Travis and then Lake Austin which is twenty-one miles long and the most historic of the Highland lakes, dating back to 1893 when the old paddle wheel river boat Ben Hur carried site seers up the Lake from Austin.
    Even today a stern wheeler makes chartered cruises from its docks near the Tom Miller Dam. The most modern tourist accommodations await visitors beside cool little coves or nestled in the deep wooded hills. Hundreds of tourists who once came just to visit have returned to make this area their home. Anglers will brag of the fighting black Bass or the Brim or the Blue gill. Sailors find ideal water for small skips or cruisers. The wind jammer can count on some frisky sailing. Hunters will find in the hills near Lake Austin some of the best deer and turkey hunting in the entire country—fox hunting is a good sport too. But the water itself is best of all, and whether we want to sit in the sun or glide through the water the miles of sandy beaches are there just for our use.
    But the highway way of life, a new prosperity to hundreds of thousands of Central Texans. The combination of low cost labor and low cost electricity are attracting many factories and manufacturers to the cities of the LCRA region, making Central Texas a real land of opportunity.
    Water sports—partly because of the natural advantages of Austin and the surrounding country side—have an immense popularity among us. Approximately seventy-five members form the Austin's Ski Club, originally organized as a snow skiing group. Interest quickly turned into water skiing however. The club hold regular meeting each month but members devote as much free time as is possible to actually practice out in water. Beautiful model going through her phases behind the motor boat is the fan skier Bonnie Barns. Ms. Barns certainly makes a lovely picture as she swerves through the water scheming speedily along surely and easily. 
    Of course, it not all as easy as it looks and the beginner will take many a wet spill before he can master the skis the way the experienced ski club members do. But it is fun anyway and makes for wonderful sport. The toughest part is learning to reach a standing position once this is done though it is not too long before the novice become a pro and is able to do the fancy turns and maneuvers which makes it a beautiful sport to watch and a wondrous glorious thrilling experience. Skimming along over the smooth clear waters of the lakes of our Austin area
    Are you in the mood for some good Mexican food? Today it's as close as your nearest food store where you will find authentic Mexican style flavor in any can bearing the Austex label. These fine foods are prepared at Walker's Austex Chilly Company located at 310 San Antonio street in Austin. In addition to Mexican foods, the company specializes in the canning of beef stews, spaghetti and meat balls, tomato sauce and cheese, corn beef hash, and maxene chili powder seasoning. The story of Austex's canned meat really begins in a nearby meat packing plant where slaughtering, processing and grading are carried out under the direction of the Department of Agriculture Inspector. Only high quality US inspected beef is used for Austex foods. Final beef inspection is completed by the government inspector who is specifically assigned to the Austex plant. Now the preparation of canned chilly begins. Beef is carefully cut and precooked in sanitary stainless steel kettles before other ingredients are added. The tangier flavor of Austex's chilly come from spices and seasonings which are blended fresh daily in a separate operation. In addition to chilly, Austex is justly famous for tamales all beef wrapped in a snowy jacket of genuine mesa meal make this the tamales of true Mexican flavor—tamales just like Pedro used to make. Spices are important to the tamales too and must be accurately weighed before going in to the beef mixture around the rich chilly gravy. All spices are important under rigid food and drug department regulations.
    Shiny metal cans are unloaded from rail cars under conveyor lines which carry them to a sterilizer where they are cleaned at high temperatures. After sterilization, the cans are fed into the filling machine where exactly the proper amounts of beef and chilly gravy are automatically added. Each can is then automatically sealed and coded to show the name of the product and the date it was packed.
    On the tamales line meanwhile, 38000 tamales per hour are formed by a special machine. Tamales are mechanically wrapped in parchment paper and cut to size. As they roll on by stainless steel conveyors Austex's girls pack them into freshly sterilized cans. Here they pass under a filling station where gravy is added. The cans are then sealed.
    Filled cans are washed and loaded in cooker baskets, 400 in each, then hoisted into retorts or industrial pressure cookers. Under extremely high pressure the food in cans goes through its final cooking process. This process is regulated by precise instruments to be sure that even the slightest variation in cooking time does not mar the delicate consistent flavor of the product. 
    After cooking the cans are cooled in circulating water baths after which the United State government inspectors selects from each basket his samples for thorough testing. An electric unscrambling unit lines the cans single file and the conveyor moves them on to the labeling machine.
     From its small-scale beginning in 1900, Walker's Austex chili company has grown to the point where it produces 120,000 cans during an eight-hour shift. Ingredients for Austex products come into Austin from all parts of the world; cumin from the Mediterranean, peppers from Mexico and California, Carrots from Texas and Arizona, potatoes from Idaho. These fine raw materials are combined in the most modern- wrap around labels and are affixed to Austex cans. Firmly secured in place by two strong glues. Should a can be improperly labeled or dented, it is ejected to the waiting case. This machine is full proof since it will not operate until all 24 cans are in the harper. A full case every time is guaranteed top and bottom flaps of cases are glued by an automatic sealer aided by compression unit which complete the operation in ten seconds. Speedy machinery of this type lends itself to Austex mass production. The completed cases are stacked in groups of forty-eight and are then moved to their location in the warehouse by an electric fork-lift truck.
    From the warehouse Austex's fine foods are shipped throughout twenty-four states and through export firms to many foreign countries. Throughout this sales area, thirty company salesmen and 36 food brokers represent the famous Austex line of ready to serve foods.
    In a year's time, the Austex plant produces more than 30 million units for distribution throughout the Austex marketing area. Railroad box cars and commercial truck line handle most shipments. Beef stew, one of the best-known Austex products is an interesting operation too. This product is a combination of select cuts of beef with potatoes, carrots, peas and rich gravy. Number one Texas carrots are washed carefully before going through the steam peeler in this unit the thin outside peeling is removed by compressed steam, quite a change from the paring knife we use in our kitchens.
    Of course, some final trimming with a paring knife is done on this inspection line to make sure carrots and potatoes are spotless, ready to be diced and added to the other ingredients in the beef stew.
    Whether it is chili con carne or beef stew or the famous mexene chili powder, the same careful filling procedure is enacted with variations of course with each individual type product. The Mexene formula has been a closely guarded secret for more than fifty years, often imitated but never equal. The patented Mexene sterilization process protects the seasoning and ensures its purity for a long periods of time. It is truly unbeatable seasoning for all Mexican type foods and many American dishes as well.
    Inspection of the finished product for quality and consumer acceptance is a constant practice. Of course, the chief cook has a personal pride in his work, but representative of the sales department and the production department take part in the sampling also.
    The leaders of Walker's Austex keep a close surveillance on the daily progress of production as well as on top policies. Frederick W. Catterall Jr. The President and General Manager heads the Staff of capable experience executive.
    Yes, all of the Austex products are tasty treats tamales with chilly gravy, chilly with or without beans both will delight the entire family. Chili beans are delicious either cold or fried Mexican style, enchiladas can be topped with grated cheese and onion. All and familiar Austex labels ensures the housewife of mouth-watering dishes for her dinner table or for between meals snacks many exciting and exotic recipes can be derived from all of these foods. 
    It is a long way from sides of beef to the carefully and skillfully prepared finished product in the can on the shelves of our supermarket and grocery stores and any well stocked store will carry a wide variety of wonderful can goods from the Walker's Austex Chili company of Austin.

    Sports play an important part in our lives as we grow older many of us still find time to play a few sets of tennis or nine holes of golf. But sports like track and field are for the young. Each year some of the top track stars in the country gather in Austin for the Annual Texas relay. In all events the competition is fierce but our native Texas athletes are at their best and it is with pride that we watch them perform, for even if we can't participate—and how many of us could come close to the maximum performance of the participants, it is wonderful to watch the runners, jumpers and weight men striving against each other and against the records set in the past. With the Olympics coming up again soon American track Athletes are working at top speed training and improving in order to beat the rest of the world in sport. And many of the great stars of future Olympics games can be seen right here in Austin at the thrilling Texas relays.
    In the Summer or winter, Austin eats a lot of Ice cream and the Polar Ice Cream Company, makers of quality checked ice cream ,really fills this demand. Mr. Bill Knight adds fresh milk and rich cream, sugars and other ingredients to the mix, which is then heated to 160 degrees per 30 minutes in order to attain complete pasteurization. Homogenization breaks up the butterfat, sugars and other solids so that they will not separate later. The mix is pumped through the homogenizer and over the cooler which drops the temperature from 160 degrees to 40 degrees and handles 400 gallons each hour. Mr. Knight is now on the final stage of adding flavoring into this batch of mix before it is frozen into vanilla ice cream. For fruit flavors, all fresh fruit are added careful measurement is necessary to ensure that standard Polar flavor and quality.
    The Mix is pumped from holding vat through an instant freezer and then is packaged in half gallon containers every piece of equipment at the plant which touches the ice cream is made of glittering stainless steel. Filled containers are placed immediately on the conveyor which speeds them into a cold storage vault for hardening at twenty degree below zero. Ice cream remains in the vault until it is properly hardened and ready for consumer use.
    Another machine automatically dispenses fills and caps dixie cups. This operation is not only time saving but more sanitary as well since the cup is never touched by human hands until it is filled and capped and ready to be packaged in lots of two dozen. Lena O'Douglas, the Company laboratory technician, makes one of the many tests necessary to ensure us, the Ice cream consumers of Austin, that Polar ice cream is a fine quality checked product every time. Constant checking reveals the slight inconsistency every time.
    The Company is a typical story of success through our American system of free enterprise. From a meager beginning in 1933, the company has grown to its present size with a huge fleet of mechanically refrigerated trucks furnishing drug stores, cafes and grocery stores throughout Central Texas with this tasty product. Polar was the first company in Texas to be invited into the Quality Check Organization, a group of ice cream manufacturers with the highest product standards in the nation, which merely proves that we in Austen already know that polar ice cream is the most mouth-watering taste treat in town.
     What's this? It is the annual round up time parade, one of the biggest events in our whole year. The parade has become a real Austin tradition and folks come from near and far to see the marching and the floats and the general excitement which takes over at this time. Traditions are a wonderful thing and  even a comparatively young town such as our Austin has more than its share. 
    The round-up is just one of the more spectacular traditions and it gives us a warm feeling to know that the rest of Texas and even people from the other parts of United States have come to associate Austin with the traditions of the cattle empires of past and present and the great western myth which has become a rich part of American culture.
    The pounding of drum beats and the blaring of the many bands which take part in the parade signal the arrival of marching feet. In steady precision, the marchers move through the center of town taking their proud place in one of the great pageants of our South West. 
    But most spectacular of all are the floats. As we know all the work is done by College students and they have to work within a limit of 200 dollars maximum cost. The students plan for months and months, competing for the prices which are awarded annually for the best job. Their floats show immense ingenuity and originality, always something new or different, funny or serious, elaborate or sometimes surprisingly simple, all wonderful and exciting to watch as they move slowly past with the rest of the spectacular round up parade. 
    It is always exciting to see our town at night; even the most familiar streets look different with most shops closed and the neon light flashing on and off but Austin has a peculiar nighttime feature and when we say its moonlight every night in Austin we all know its special meaning, for we have the unique distinction of being the only city in the world lighted by artificial moonlight coming from the tall towers which dot our city and cast the soft blue light everywhere. We can be proud of the tower lights; their enchanting light casts a spell of beauty over the towering oaks the most covered walls and the new high striking sky scrapers which have become a part of our skyline.
     Night time entertainment can be found easily in Austin. Movies are popular and with good reason: because we get the latest production form Hollywood and abroad at our own motion picture palaces. It is fun to go out and have a night on the town.
    But whether we spend the night out or at home we know that we can be happy in our town. At work or at play its certainly is as a nice place to live. There are good jobs for all. Our stores are well stocked with modern products. We have beautiful homes and wide spacious streets and a general sense of prosperity and well-being which is just... well, just hard to beat. But then we've come to expect this friendly happy atmosphere or this is our town, Austin, Texas USA. 
    (End of Audio) Transcribed by Adeptwordmanagement.com