Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

Since I've been enjoying the books by Ruthe S. Wheeler (or Graham M. Dean, as has been alleged), I thought I'd go ahead and read another of her (his) books from back in the day.  While not part of any particular series, it is included in the "Books for Girls" published by Goldsmith, under which banner a number of series were published - the 2-book Janet Hardy series, the 4-book Penny Nichols series, the 2-book Peggy Stewart series, the 4-book Dorothy Dixon series, among a number of single titles.  I regret spending so many years thinking title published by Goldsmith, Saalfield, and Whitman were inferior in quality simply because the art and paper did not compare with the bigger publishers - I have discovered a number of really great books by these publishers, and this happens to be one of those!

Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines was published back in 1934, some twelve years prior to the Patty O'Neal book published by Whitman (Patty O'Neal on the Airways), which also dealt with a stewardess - only the books are reversed.  In Patty O'Neal, a girl wanting to learn how to fly eventually becomes a stewardess, while in this book, a girl who becomes a stewardess gets a desire to learn how to fly!  No real mysteries in this story (well, unless you want to count the very brief episode in which an entire group of passengers, along with Jane herself, become violently ill after someone poisons their food); rather, this book is more about Jane's career as a stewardess and the many adventures she finds along the way - and boy, is this girl a magnet for trouble!

I think one of the most interesting aspects of this book is that when the story opens, Jane Cameron and her best friend, Sue Hawley, are attending their graduation from Good Samaritan hospital in University City, where they are both receiving their nursing diplomas.  It is after the graduation ceremony that they are informed by the supervisor of nurses that Federated Airways is looking for girls to serve as stewardesses on their flights, a new service being offered.  I never thought of nurses moving into the field of flight attendants (or stewardesses as they were referred to back then, since it was only women who served in those roles); however, some research revealed that way back in 193e0, a registered nurse by the name of Ellen Church is the one credited with convincing Boeing that having nurses aboard their flights would be of great assistance to passengers, and Boeing agreed - hiring female nurses at a salary of $125 per month (Commercial Flight in the 1930s).  Wheeler must have been aware of this salary, because in this book, Jane and Sue are offered $125 per month in their new positions with Federated Airways (p. 52).   That's not exactly an extravagant salary, considering that in today's money, that would equate to only $2,894.83 per month!  According to the research, the height and weight requirements of 5'4" or shorter and 118 lbs or lighter also coincides with the requirements Wheeler writes into her story (p. 19).

With regard to the story, Jane and Sue find themselves in one tight spot after another without any break!  On their first training flight with several other stewardesses-in-training, the plane they are on crashes, and the girls are forced to help their teacher rescue the pilot and co-pilot before the plane explodes!  From there, Jane gets called to assist an extremely wealthy woman as a private stewardess in her cross-country flight to see her ailing son in New York.  Before you know it, aerial bandits are forcing the plane down to take Mrs. Van Verity Vanness (gotta love that name!) for ransom!  They manage to evade the bandits, and Jane is rewarded not once, but twice - first, with a check for $500 from a newspaper who wants an exclusive story of the plane's bout with the bandits (p. 139), which was definitely no small sum back in the day, the value of which today would be more than $11,000; and second, with a $1,000 bonus (p. 142) from Ms. Vanness herself - which would have been a HUGE bonus for the day, as such amount would be worth $23,308.36 in today's money!  Off that one incident, Jane certainly got rich!  Oh, and that reporter from the newspaper who got the exclusive - her name was "Ruthe" Harrigan (p. 139).

Wheeler does not provide her heroine a time to rest, for before you know it, Jane ends up taking on the role of a stunt pilot (she had been taking lessons from a rather handsome pilot who was showing her favor and attention) in a movie being filmed at the Federated Airways airfield in Cheyenne - a role that nearly costs her her life when the plane does not function as it goes flying towards the ground!  Jane jumps out and parachutes to safety as the planes crashes in a ball of fire and metal, all while being filmed (making it the best crash scene filmed by the camera crew!).  From here, Penny and her teacher are called upon to travel to a remote town to deliver some much needed medicine for sick children during a turbulent storm, and, of course, the plane is forced down - but they make it out alive, just in time to get the medicine to the children, saving their lives.  And without time to blink, Jane then heads off on yet another flight, on which a child movie star and his mother are aboard - along with two unsavory men who end up hijacking the plane and taking the child, his mother, and Jane hostage!  But Jane manages to outwit them, using their own sea plane as a means for her to escape with the star and his mother.

I think Jane says it best as the book ends, just one year after she and Sue become stewardesses:  "Jut think how much more can happen in the coming year," replied Jane, wondering vaguely what new adventure might be ahead of them.  Good grief, after everything they went through in just that one year, one would think the poor girl would want a break from it all!

The cover art depicts the scene from the first airplane crash in which Jane is involved, as she watches the plane go up in flames.  And I love how the cover art extends over onto the spine as well (with part of the burning wing and one of the young stewardesses running from the wreckage visible there). That same "Two Taylors" signature that adorned the covers of the Janet Hardy books appears here as well.  I would love to know just who that is....

This was a good read, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys vintage children's series books, even though it does not have any mystery element to it.   I'd call it more of a career girl / adventure story.

RATING:  9 prepared lunches of sandwiches and salads out of 10 for high-flying adventure and danger wrapped up in a wonderful story with a truly likable young heroine!