August 15, 1936
THE STATE
Page Three
“W WOULD not think of trading my
I job in the air for
оно
on the
Ж
ground” says Miss Inox Davis,
attractive Winston-Salem girl who
about two months ago been mo a mem¬
ber of the newest profession for young
women, that of stewardess or hostess
of modern transport planes speeding
over continental airways. She is Hying
regularly on the New
Уогк
Chioago division of United Air Lines’
coast-to-eoast route, and is enthusiastic
in contemplation of the most thrilling
career open to young women — one
which affords opportunity to come in
contact with celebrities, the great and
the near-great of the land — the most
famous people of the wide, wide world.
“Although I have been Hying hardly
more than two months, 1 am thrilled
lieyond expression. There is no chance
for monotony when one is constantly
meeting and entertaining the most in¬
teresting travelers and I enjoy every
moment of my journeys," Miss Davis
exclaimed during a recent conversation
with friends.
Some of the Requirements
One of the requirements for a posi¬
tion ns air stewardess on United Air
Lines is that the applicant must be a
graduate registered nurse. This qualifi¬
cation is imposed not solely because of
necessity to attend sick passengers, as
only throe per cent of air passengers
are susceptible to air sickness, but l«e-
causo the discipline in the training of
a nurse and her ability to deal with all
types of jieople, admirably prepares
her for such a responsible position.
When Miss Davis was a student of
Richard J. Reynolds High School in
Winston-Salem and all through the
three years at her home following her
graduation, her chief ambition was to
prepare for a nurse’s career — she
hadn't Iteeome air-minded, then.
During her student years in Newark
Memorial hospital, New Jersey, she
made an excellent record, her average
never falling below 93 on any subject.
After gaining her diploma, she look
the examination for stewardess and
passed with "flying-colors." Now she
is Hying two thousand miles daily in
regular duty. So far as has been
leurncd, she is the only North Caro¬
linian among the 150 stewardesses on
tho United Air Liues, the first of whom
were employed in May, 1930, on the
Chiengo-Sau Francisco division of the
company’s coast-to-coast route.
To the land-minded folks hack home
who have quixxed her about her novel
She Flies
2,000
Miles
a ©ay
AML incidentally.
Miss Davis is (lie only
Rortli Carolina girl
wlio is serving as
stewardess on one of
t lie giant passenger
planes that flies from
coast to eoast.
By
LI L A M. WEIR
Miss Inez Davis, of Winston-
Salem, in her stewardess uni¬
form. She is a daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Davis of that
city.
work. Miss Davis obligingly describes
just what an air hostess is, what she
does and bow she gets that way. A
hostess is a part of the crew on the
giant passenger plane. She must be
trim, slim, dressed in n smartly tailored
uniform and it goes without saving that
she must Ik? good looking and wear a
pleasant smile. She must not weigh
more than 125 pounds even when
buttoned up in her coat and carrying
her packed week-end bag which she
takes on all trips. She must not meas¬
ure more than five feet five inches in
height. She must know the nursing
profession. And 8HB MUST BE
SINGLE, and not under 21 nor over
28 years of nge. If she gets married
she loses her job.
Must Quiet the Passengers
To say that she must have a pleas¬
ing personality covers a multitude of
characteristics. She must have charm,
poise, intuition, the patience of Job, a
fine sense of humor and she must have
tact and above nil — a dauntless spirit.
She must keep calm always when
nervous passengers tremble with
jR'euliar fear and tightly grip their
chair-arms when the forces of nature
threaten to wreak their vengeance on
the ship and its cargo — when crashing
thunder and stormy gales drown the
motor's roar.
Tho tactful hostess ]tcrlinps will ad¬
just a shade to shield the passenger’s
eye from the lightning’s gleam. Placid¬
ly she will offer some reading matter —
pass the cigarettes — anything to divert
the anxious mind of the passenger
from the fury of the storm.
An air stewardess must Ik? prepared
to perform any service from sowing
a button on a man’s coat to earing
for a tiny infant when a nervous
mother becomes air sick. One steward¬
ess said she helped a superstitious wom¬
an to throw her shoes out of the win¬
dow to ward off had luck — and then
she had to wire to the nearest city for
another pair to Ih> rushed to the air¬
port.
It is a regular custom for tho
stewardess to pass out chewing gum
and cotton — the former to help lessen
the pressure on car-drums — the latter
to dim the noise of the motors. To
the hostess goes a lot of credit for tho
small percentage of air sickness, since
her ability to ontortuin in one way or
another, diverts tho mind of a pas¬
senger from more unpleasant thoughts.
The air stewardess is not so different
( Continued on page twenty-four)