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S Pers

[[image - logo]] PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS SYSTEM
P. O. BOX 45278, LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
LOS ANGELES 45, CALIFORNIA
TELEPHONES: OREGON 8-2561 ORCHARD 7-8121

October 4, 1957

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Tubby:-

In the midst of the Mexico-Chicago activity this is probably not the time to tender a report on the motion picture situation. However, the situation insofar as Columbia Pictures is concerned is as follows:

Mr. Ferde Grofe, Jr. has left Columbia and is now co-producer with Buddy Rogers (he married Mary Pickford). They have temporarily shelved "The Silver Eagle," which is the title of the story treatment that, in effect, deals with Mexicana on a semi-fictionalized basis. I am awaiting their word.

Meanwhile, Mr. Alexander Lapiner, Los Angeles theatre owner and studio executive, is interested in making a film which, produced in Mexico, would deal with Mexicana on a documentary basis and it would be released for distribution to both Spanish and English audiences.

The story line (now being put into synopsis form) would see the picture tentatively entitled "Mexican Eagles" opening with an impressive scene at the Mexico city airport during the inauguration of a new DC7C flight by CMA. It would have Lic. Angel Carbajal, Minister of the Interior, addressing an airport audience and commenting about the growth of Mexico's aviation and the glorious participation therein by CMA. And as he speaks, the camera would rove to various principals of the cast and there would be a flash-back to CMA's beginning, i.e., flying of payrolls to oil fields and the ensuing struggle for survival and ultimate growth and economy. 

The hero of the story would be a Mexican who, as a World War I member of the Lafayette Escadrille, returns to Mexico to become the first Mexican pilot employed by George Rihl. Here, of course, is where the fiction sets in.

The plot of the story revolves around the hero's romances and the "wild and woolly" aspect of Mexicana's pioneering era of aviation throughout Mexico. Eventually the picture would show Mexicana entering the 4-engined era and poising itself on the threshold of the jet age, our hero, now elderly, is an Operations Flight Manager and he, together with management of CMA, are proud of the fact that the captain of the inaugural flight that Sr. Carbajal is praising is being flown by his son.

Sr. Lapiner will be in Mexico City on October 15, and until the 26th. He will be staying at the Reforma Hotel, and will be calling upon you for an 


The System of the Flying Clippers