The Head Start Program at the Watts Community in Los Angeles. African American children in Watts. Oscar Anderson and other leaders of the community collect money to build a Head Start Program. People put money in a basket. Anderson works at a construction site and collects material. He begins to build the Head Start Center. Black men lift a structure and put it into place at the Center. Little black children help by carrying beams. A black boy playing.
Documentary portrays life in a disadvantaged community in the Bronx, NY. Statistics for: population, average age, education, migrants, rate of employment, aid to dependent children, youth population, homicide rate, suicide rate and psychiatric hospitalization. Comparative figures of the Bronx, Central Harlem and NYC.
Film opens showing a commercial DC-9 in flight, overhead, approaching for landing at LaGuardia Airport, with landing gear and flaps extended. Scene shifts to hazy view of buildings silhouetted against lighter sky. View of rooftops with a boy walking across one. Buildings with pigeons on the roof. A woman dries clothes on a roof. A boy flies a kite from a roof. Cars parked on the street below. Pigeons flying. Youths playing basketball. 1:08 to end footage taken from atop 700 East 156th Street. 1:08 follows a train northwest along the Westchester Avenue line. 1:18, a view East of the newly elevated Bruckner Expwy and Whitestone and Throggs Neck bridges in distance. 1:21,a view to the Northwest, 3203-3211 Park Avenue is the curved building in the foreground, George Washington Bridge seen in the distance. 1:25, view west down 156th Street. 1:29 Train runs along Westchester Avenue to 156 and Tinton. 1:34 panning from south to west, Consolidated Edixon plant in Port Morris can be seen in distance. Rikers Island can also be seen in the East River. ( Note: A very large number of the buildings shown burned down in the next 10-20 years.)
View of housing in the Bronx from a train. View through the train of a 2 or 5 train window heading northeast along Westchester Avenue. The Prospect Ave station is passed. A man in the train. Buildings in the area. A family seated on the fire escape of a building. A little girl on a balcony. Cars and trucks on the street. People in the window of a room. Men playing baseball in the street.
Uptown - A Portrait of the South Bronx. A boy flies a kite from a roof. Buildings in the area. A subway train approaches a station. People wait at the station platform. A busy market in the Bronx. Shops, displays and sign boards. Men and women on the streets and shopping in city stores and markets. A policeman in the crowd. Migrants from various countries in the commercial area with shops and stores. People read the newspaper. Many sells a newspaper with headline, "America Falling." Elderly citizens on the streets. A young African American man works as a shoe shine. The Hub area, intersection of Melrose, East 149th Street and Third Avenue. Third Avenue El before it's removal in 1973.
Opening scene shows marquee of Art Theater, at 1077 Southern Boulevard, where Spanish language films are showing. Glimpse of sign in beauty parlor window reading: "Hair straightened" (in English and Spanish). Sign for "Gilroy & McLoughlin" Bar& Grill, Cabaret. A musical record shop. Womens gowns, including a bridal gown, in a shop window. Photo portrait of President John Kennedy and wife, Jackie, in a shop window. Paper posters in window, referring to religious Mystical Crown, and showing illustration of Christ wearing crown of thorns. A shop called "CuchiFritos y Pasteles." Picture of saxaphonist, Don Santia, in a club window. Women's clothing hanging outside a shop, with sale prices boldly displayed on the items. Pictures advertising entertainers, including two women and a male guitar player. Items in a toy store window that also shows a religious picture. Items in a hat shop window, including a straw hat labeled "Puerto Rico." Flashing neon sign in window reading:"Casa Legre."Shop full of religious wares. The "Progresso Barber Shop."A drug store advertising Louis Levine, Doctor of Pharmacy. Two boys walking past a shop displaying sunglasses, spinners on sticks and other gadgets. People gathered at a very busy produce market. A man weighing bananas. A woman paying for her purchase. Two men very busy tending customers. Man loading bananas into a paper sack. A little girl dressed all in white with a veil and carrying a flower follows her mother past the market. ('Possibly going for her first Communion.) Woman examining melons. A man dispensing soft drink sodas, and snow cones or shaved ice drinks from a stand on the sidewalk. A couple looking at used furniture. A mother placing a diaper over her husbands shoulder so he can burp their baby. A lone boy on bicycle passing a couple walking along the sidewalk.
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