AUGUST HEAT ~ BOBBY RYDELL & JOEY BISHOP ~ FLYING A JET ~ IS THERE SMOKE IN THE CABIN?

So many of my letters begin with "I went to mass today".....I certainly was a "church going" girl. I even went with some of my boyfriends. Those were the days when we believed if we missed mass, and got in a horrible accident and died, we would go to hell. I guess I also thought I would go to hell if I "necked" too much with a boy...........Oh, those days of yore..............

August 27, 1963

Dear Mother,
     I didn't go out on flight Sunday. I had terrible cramps. I went to 11:30 mass and didn't eat because I wanted to go to communion. (If we ate after midnight, we couldn't receive the Eucharist.) It was about 96 degrees in Kansas City and the church was so hot, I had to get up in the middle of the sermon and go outside. (No a/c in most churches in 1963.) I was afraid I was going to faint. I felt pretty lousy the rest of the day from the heat and cramps, so I went off schedule. That's the first time I went off for that reason.
     I went back on schedule Monday morning and I'm flying with a girl who is #3 in seniority in K.C. and she's very nice. The other girl has been flying 6 years and my flying partner is on reserve and has been flying 4 months. She's good for a new one too.
      We had Bobby Rydell on flight. He's a rock & roll singer and was in the movie "Bye Bye Birdie". Flying on a jet is sure different from the connie. This is my first flight coast to coast (LAX to IDL- Idlewild in NY - before JFK). on a Boeing 707. We only have 30 people in coach. What a joy it is to work a flight like this. It's been real smooth all the way. Up front they have Royal Ambassador service, which I'm not qualified for yet, and had never seen. It's fantastic!!! They use a cart to set the tables, and the china is white with a red stripe and "R/A" on it. You wouldn't believe it! The captain announced when we went over the Grand Canyon, and then the wheat fields over Kansas - there's big circles in them - that's how they irrigate. Flying like this is so different, I don't believe it. I even got to talk to almost everybody. How interesting to hear about their travels, family and such. Now this is what this job is all about! We layover in N.Y. for 17 hours and we're going to try to go to a Broadway play. By the way, I am writing this as everyone is either sleeping or reading and I don't want to disturb them by "aisle talking" - I already did my "talk to the passenger duty".
     I am so looking forward to next spring. (Transferring to International Flying out of NY) Even if Helen doesn't go, I'm going to. I had a French woman on our flight to NY who couldn't speak English. I was so proud of myself when I could tell her what time it was in French. She was pleased too.
         Love, Tish


September 4, 1963

Dear Mother,
     What a trip! Besides the man who was deathly ill, other things happened. I had Joey Bishop on flight from LAS to LA. They didn't even know he was going to be on because no one told us. I didn't recognize him until I was passing gum and candy and he said "No thank you." Then I could tell by his voice. I looked at him several times before I talked to him. Then I said, "Aren't you Joey Bishop?", and he took off his glasses and said "It is I". He was very nice. I asked him if he was going to be on the Jack Parr show soon, and he said no because the sponsor wouldn't let him. Mmmm....wonder what that's about?
    Then we had a little scare from LAX to ORD. After take off and the seat belt sign was off, there was a loud bang that sounded like it came from the cargo compartment. I was working the back, and the girl up front came back and said the cockpit door flew open and they asked if there was any smoke in the cabin. Then later, before we landed, one of the girls was in the cockpit and the F/O said maybe we blew a tire and asked the Engineer how much fuel we had. She left the cockpit with her heart pounding after hearing all this, and came back and told us. The girl I was working with and I started reviewing the emergency procedures in our book. She wanted to check the slide by the galley door, and pulled it out too far. The pin snapped and the slide started coming out! Well, I almost died. The little hole the pin goes into is so small - and we had to stuff it back in....somehow! Well, we got it in, but then we weren't sure it would even inflate if we did have an evacuation!  So I had to tell the engineer to have it repacked in ORD, which caused a delay! I was so embarrassed, but the dumb girl didn't want to be the one to tell them. I told that girl not to pull it out too far, but she wanted to see the whole thing. Stupid! To top it off, she had broken some glasses and all the tiny pieces still were on the floor, so when I was kneeling on the floor trying to get the slide in, and she was just standing there saying "oh no, oh no!", I ran both of my stockings and they were my last pair. Each run was about an inch wide. I don't want to fly with that girl again.
     Well, I am so glad I am over that Ken Boyle. I never will hook up with a motorcycle cop as long as I live. I just have to be sure I don't make any more illegal U-turns - ha ha. I talked to Larry today (Ken's best buddy) and he said Ken has moved. You'll probably have a fit - he moved out to a horse farm out at Swope Park. Larry said it's getting so bad, he comes to work with horse shit on his boots. I really laughed. Larry can make things sound so funny. He said at least he's occupied and he hasn't gone out with a girl once since our break-up.
     Ron called me last Sat. and we talked. It seems like he took the hint of me not enjoying necking very much. (What???? and I'm telling my mother this????) He asked me if I was mad at him, so I went into explanation of how I am, etc. (This is hilarious to me.) I told him I wasn't "that kind of girl", and I got the same statement I've always had before in return. He said there weren't many girls like that, etc. I'm beginning to think this is a line as there certainly must be plenty more. (I'm shaking my head as I type this as I can hardly remember "that girl" who was 21 going on 22 years old.)
     Love, Tish

HAWAII ~ MY FIRST AIRLINE VACATION

Honolulu - April 21, 1963
Hilton Hawaiian Village

Dear Mother,
Well, we made it. Last night we still couldn't believe it. Now that we're up and see the sun, ocean and palms, we believe it. Our flight over was fabulous. Pan Am's pursers were great to us. Gave us two free drinks, first class menu, glasses and kidded around a lot. We are in a beach house. Our room is like a tea house with sliding doors onto a porch from which we can see the ocean. Jan and I are beside ourselves with excitement. Spent a lot of time on the beach today. Jan got burned, but I'm turning black. Met a real native named Ike. - he's a beach boy - and he brought us some pork from the luau the hotel was having. Wish you could See it here - it's so beautiful.

April 23, 1963
Dear Mother,
Our purser friend from Pan Am called and we had breakfast with him and then went shopping at Waikiki. I bought my first mumu - Suzy Wong type. I sat on the beach next to Lloyd Bridges, star of "Sea Hunt" he was with his wife and two darling little boys and a daughter. (The little boys, of course, were Beau and Jeff Bridges!)

April 24, 1963

Dear Mother,
We're at the airport waiting to go to Kauai on Hawaiian Airlines. Last night we had a lizard in our room - only about 3" long, but we were petrified. Finally called the desk and they sent up a boy with a broom. It was hysterical. He was afraid of it too and stood on a chair. We about split our sides laughing.

April 26, 1963

Dear Mother,
We're going back to HNL today. We met a couple from SFO by the pool and got acquainted. They invited us to tour the island with them yesterday. They rented a car and we had so much fun. They were really nice to us - been married 12 years - no children. We enjoyed our day very much. Picked wild flowers, saw caves and beaches that were impossible to describe. At one place we took a long narrow walk through a "rain forest" and there was a cave with ferns draping over it like a curtain and a native sang the Hawaiian Wedding Song. I'll never forget this as long as I live.

April 28, 1963

Dear Mother,
Saw Joan Crawford  today in the lobby. Wonder who she was with? Yesterday I tripped on a rock by a palm tree here at the hotel. It really hurt my little toe - so much in fact, that I went to the hotel doctor and he said I fractured it. So I have all 4 of my toes on my right foot wrapped in tape and I limp. This cost me $10.00 which is worse. I don't know why TWA didn't teach me to be a little more graceful.

April 29, 1963

Dear Mother,
We were awakened by hotel security today. He had to check up on my little accident. He had to have the whole story. They said it wasn't broken, just torn ligaments, or something like that. I had to sign two papers and settled for a check for $25. So, I made $15 richer! Yippee! (Read the next letter for the bad news!)

May 4, 1963

Dear Mother,
Well I could hardly stand to have my heels on to get home from HNL the pain in my toe is still so bad. Didn't notice it was that bad until I tried to put on shoes. It still hurt a lot after I got home so I went to the TWA doctor and they x-rayed it and it is broken in two places. I had to go off schedule and can't work for about two weeks or more because I cannot wear shoes!  Also, I don't have any sick time saved so I am loosing so much money. I can't believe I signed that paper with the Hilton Hotel. I could have been compensated for all this, but they told me it wasn't broken and I signed the papers. I will never do anything like that again without having an x-ray. Now I will be broke again. Oh well, that's a lesson learned.