Airline stewardesses — they are 50 and still flying high

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 12

Airline stewardesses — they are 50 and still flying high

By

STELLA BRUCE,

Features International

She is waitress, motherfigure. nurse and fantasy lover all rolled into one. She has the lowest divorce rate among working women, and the hignest chance of headaches and nervous breakdowns. She took to the air for the first time just oO years ago this summer. That was when the world’s first air-hostess —- a blonde American named Ellen Church — taok off from San Francisco to Cheyenne in a Federal Airways’ ten-seater, dressed in a pill-box hat, pinstripe suit and biacrt gloves. . . Two years later, British Airways had five stewardesses on their Ensign airliners. Known as “flight attendants” they looked after female passengers and served tea and biscuits.

Among their instructions were to “maintain the respectful reserve of a well-trained servant — a ready smile is essential — and as a general rule don’t speak unless spoken to. unless a matter cf ■ safety is involved.” Now. half a century later, the 65,000 hostesses working for the world’s major airlines complain that the “servant image” still exists, with up to 16hour working days, inadequate time off, and poor pay and conditions. They have even formed the Stewardesses Anti-De-famation League to protest against the image, in books and films, of air girls as free-living swingers and good-time girls. It is a far cry from the mid-thirties when hostess-

es manning four-engined Frobisher airliners from Britain’s Croydon Airport had their hands and fingernails examined before tire flight to make sure they were clean, and were allowed “the very minimum of powder and lipstick.” The only jewellery permitted was a watch and a small bracelet, skirts were worn at calf-length, stockings were plain and darkcoloured. Shoes had to “conceal most of the foot and be firmly buttoned or strapped.” When stewardesses first came on to the airline scene, their duties, accord-

ing to the handbook of the Association of Flight Attendants, included: Winding the clocks and altimeters in the cabins.

Swatting flies in the cabin after take-off. Warning ■ passengers against throwing lighted cigar butts out of the windows.

Helping passengers remove their shoes if they 'SO desired, and presenting them — thoroughly cleaned and polished — at the end of the flight. Comforting passengers of a nervous, disposition and . calming fractious children.

Displaying an even temper and a willingness to accept long hours and difficult conditions.

Pointing out landmarks and interesting sights as the journey Bv the end ot the 19305, however air hostesses were beginning to become more sophisticated, iney wore silk blouses, pencilslim skirts and berets worn at a jaunty angle. They were also permitted to speak to the passengers without being spoken to first. As a publicity brochure for a 1933 British Airways flight from London to Brussels put it: “Passengers lolling at ease in comfortable chairs express astonishment that the aircraft’s speed can be accompanied by such

smoothness, steadiness and absence of noise and vibration.

“On every flight is an experienced and friendly stewardess to cater for passenger comfort and security who will dispense food and other refreshment on the journey and act as your guide, and friend.” Mrs Barbara Case, now a grandmother, who flew for America’s United Airways before the war, remembers: “There were no hostess training schools in those days but we were given instruction in first aid — and how to serve soup without pouring it over the -passengers. “I once flew every day

for three weeks with never more than seven hours off at a time. The planes were draughty, noisy, and either too cold or too hot.

“Often passengsrs would have hysterics when they got airborne for the first time. On two occasions elderly passengers actually died on the plane. “And through all this vou had to keep smiling — all for $8 a week.” Half a century later, times have certainly changed. For instance, Japanese Airlines hostesses get six months training on full pay, taking in everything from dealing with amorous passengers to delivering premature babies. Scandinavian Airline stewardesses have to speak three languages, keep slim and fit, and be highly attractive — a rejected applicant went on to become “Miss Sweden.” To join Air France, a young woman must be attractive, bilingual, unmarried, and able to pass rigorous exams. And British Airways hostesses are selected by psychologists, must weigh in at least seven and a half stone, and possess a formidable array of languages. But if these qualifications had applied in the summer of 1930, then Miss Ellen Church would never have got off the ground.

“I have had no experience in aviation,” she said at the time, “but I have worked in a restaurant, and I do make very 'tasty, sandwiches ...”