PSA’s 1978 graduating class of stewardesses
PSA’s in-flight magazine. Jan 1971
Can you imagine if you were on a flight and this was waiting for you to read? I love that one of the cover lines is “PSA Keeps The Hemline Up”
Gerőfi Józsefné a MALÉV stewardesse a vállalat külföldre induló gépe előtt. Fotó: Szurok János. Repülés, 1959. május, hátsó, belső borító.
HA-MAL Il-14
I just found out today through my boyfriend that apparently ABC is working on a new television drama for possibly the fall that is entirely centered on the lifestyle of pilots and flight attendants of the iconic Pan American Airways. The series would take place during the height of Pan Am’s popularity, spanning the 1960’s and the kinds of people and situations these flight attendants were exposed to.
Already people are saying that this will be the next “Mad Men” since the show will be taking place during the same time frame and will revolve around the characters’ relationships. Many of the people involved with the show, however, say that the show is almost the opposite of “Mad Men” because of the role women will play on the show. Many of the women took on the jobs of flight attendants in order to live an adventurous, glamorous life of jet setting across the globe, without the burden of husbands or children (a sharp contrast to most of the women on “Mad Men”). Supposedly, one of the producers was a former Pan Am flight attendant, and is drawing from some of her own personal experience since she worked for the airline for approximately 7 years.
If this show does indeed become a reality, me being the vintage and 1960’s amateur historian that I am, I would definitely tune in to see if it’s worth the initial hype. I have to say though, that I am skeptical on how interesting of a show it could be. The reality is that a show like “Mad Men” has reached the level of success it has because of incredible writing and the benefit of being on a cable channel that allows for greater liberty regarding language, subject matter and explicitness. Let’s face it: “Mad Men” is filled with quite a bit of scandalous adultery that can at times be somewhat graphic. But that’s okay because it’s cable.
A channel like ABC that is part of Disney will certainly be much more careful and guarded in terms of how they approach the topic of the lives of Pan Am flight attendants. Even when portraying the interactions with the random celebrities that frequented Pan Am at the time (many bands and musicians during the 1960’s traveled via the airline).
It’ll be very interesting to see if this show does indeed become a reality because even after all the years that have passed, Pan Am is still as iconic as it was then. The logo can still be found on baggage and carry on’s popular with hipsters and vintage lovers alike. There have even been portrayals of the sexy but sweet Pan Am flight attendant through the movie “Catch Me if You Can” and even more recently the “Toxic” video by Britney Spears.
All in all, I’ll definitely be keeping my ears open for further developments on this. In the meantime, check out CNN’s article on the possible future show. Let’s hope that it’s worth this blog article.
