30 Vintage Photos
Groovy stewardesses, early 1970s.
The 1967 “memoir” Coffee, Tea or Me? purported to spill the beans on the hijinks and sexcapades of two real-life airline stewardesses, a profession we now describe as “flight attendant.” The book was in fact written by Donald Bain, who years later admitted he made a lot of it up because he didn’t get salacious stories out of the real stewardesses he interviewed. The tales were either a deterrent or selling point for the profession, depending on one’s own inclinations (it was the free-love era, after all). The book and the fashion trends of the ’60s and ’70s turned stewardesses into glamorous fantasies for many travelers. Today, we know that these Florida Air employees, in their high-cut shift dresses and purely decorative headbands, are being degraded and exploited. Indeed, they look miserable. Cute, but miserable.
The 1967 “memoir” Coffee, Tea or Me? purported to spill the beans on the hijinks and sexcapades of two real-life airline stewardesses, a profession we now describe as “flight attendant.” The book was in fact written by Donald Bain, who years later admitted he made a lot of it up because he didn’t get salacious stories out of the real stewardesses he interviewed. The tales were either a deterrent or selling point for the profession, depending on one’s own inclinations (it was the free-love era, after all). The book and the fashion trends of the ’60s and ’70s turned stewardesses into glamorous fantasies for many travelers. Today, we know that these Florida Air employees, in their high-cut shift dresses and purely decorative headbands, are being degraded and exploited. Indeed, they look miserable. Cute, but miserable.
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