It's 1964. You're serving soldiers on their way to Saigon while seeing explosions on the ground below. All you want to do is take one innocent shopping trip in the Saigon Airport gift shop but can't because of possible gunfire.

Your face is on the cover of the Welcome Aboard magazine that sits in each of your passenger's pockets as you walk up and down the aisle in your three-inch heels collecting trash with a tray and gold linen napkin. When you're not on flights to Saigon, you pass the faces of Elvis or Cherand chat it up with folks like Bob Hope and Robert Redford. This week you'll probably receive another orchid letter because your customer service is just that good.

Sit back and enjoy - as my very own aunt JoAnn Donovan takes you on a short trip through what life was like as a stewardess in the '60s (with the help of my interrogating, of course).

BH: What first inspired you to apply for Continental? What were you doing prior to that?

JD: I really wanted to fly for United Airlines because of their uniforms and shoes. I loved them! I had always wanted to be a "stewardess" since I was very young. My father (your grandfather) owned a furniture store and every June he would go to the Chicago furniture market to see all the new home furnishings for the upcoming year. My mom, my two brothers and my sister (your mom) would all ride to Stapleton Airport for dinner and wave good-bye. I was always watching the United stewardesses walk through the airport in their navy blue suit and blue and white spectator three-inch heels! I always loved the uniform (I LOVE uniforms) but when it was time for me to interview, Continental was the only one hiring. I was in college at CSU as a liberal arts major and all I could think about was being a stewardess and being able to travel. I applied in Denver and they flew me to Los Angeles for the second interview, I was hired and on my way to training school.

BH: What were the requirements for someone to get hired?

JD: Height: 5' 3" (not under 5'3" or over 5' 8"); weight: in proportion to height (could not be overweight); age 21 and single; no braces; no eyeglasses; no bleached hair - We had to sign a letter that we would retire at 32 and be able to attend an eight-week training school in Los Angeles.

BH: It was a BIG deal to be hired as a stewardess, right? My mom still has the article from the when you were hired.

JD: Yes, there was an article published in the Lakewood Sentinel. I'm not sure you would call it a big deal to be hired by an airline, but it was a glamorous job in those days. You had to be 21, (couldn't be overweight) and had to be single. In 1962 - when I was hired - most girls were married by the time they were 21. Girls in the early '60s were mostly school teachers, nurses or stay-at-home moms. Women in the workplace were not as prevalent as today - the family was the utmost of importance and the husband was head of the household and finances.

BH: Back in the day, your position was called a stewardess and today it's called a flight attendant. Why did it change and when?

JD: All the airlines used the term "stewardess" when I was hired, but the airlines I was with referred to us as "airline hostesses." By the late '70s, everyone was called a flight attendant because males were being hired and they had to have a name for both men and women. Care and comfort of the passenger was the number one priority at that time and today the primary responsibility is passenger safety. Emergency training is required twice a year. I have heard now that the term "cabin crew" is beginning to replace the name "flight attendant" because of their role as members of the crew.

BH: Tell me about the weight requirement before the first flight of every month and what you and the other ladies would do to meet it.

JD: As we got older it became harder to maintain our weight. We would take diet pills, water pills and sit in the saunas at our apartments the night before the flight - eat for three weeks, starve for a week and then the pills! So therefore a lot of weight problems resulted from the way we tried to maintain our weight. This and all the rest of the discriminatory policies came under attack after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Flight Attendant Unions were using the Civil Rights Act in the courts to bring an end to these policies and bring professionalism to the flight attendant career. Weight was eliminated through the courts and so was the marriage clause! They determined it was illegal to take a certain group of people in a corporation and weigh them. To make it legal, they would have had to weigh the whole company.

BH: Describe your uniform.

JD: Black, long-sleeved sheath dress with jacket, red beret, pearls, black three-inch heels, white gloves - our suitcase for overnights was a red patent leather hat box.

BH: What were your normal tasks?

JD: Making passengers feel comfortable, hanging their coats, passing magazines, pillows and blankets, serving a meal on every flight - except at midnight - we served fruit and a sandwich tray.

BH: My mom remembers going up to a bar on a second level when she was, oh, 12 - while riding on a plane you were working on. She's still convinced it was a dream. Was it?

JD: That was no dream. She flew with me from Denver to L.A. I was the flight attendant on the Boeing 747. It had 350 seats and a lounge/bar upstairs with a TV.

BH: Instead of carrying around a trash bag to collect people's cups and wrappers, you carried around a gold tray with a linen cloth?

JD: We carried just a normal wide flat tray - but we covered it with gold linen napkins. We had gold linen napkins in first class to cover tray tables!

BH: How has the idea of flying changed over the years? Describe how passengers used to treat it and what they wouldn't have been caught dead wearing.

JD: For SURE no jeans, T-shirts, tennis shoes or flip flops and for SURE no crocs. Passengers were dressed up - men in suits and sport coats and women in dresses and suits.

BH: Name some of the famous folks you saw while working for Continental.

JD: Elvis, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Bob Hope (always soo nice), Jill St. John, Clint Eastwood, Cher, Smothers Brothers, Little Richard, Tom Jones, Bill Cosby and more. Being based in Los Angeles, it always seems like there were famous movie stars, politicians and sports figures!

BH: What were the regular locations you flew to?

JD: When I first started, I flew on the 56-passenger plane called the Viscount from L.A. to Houston with six stops to Houston (12 hours), would spend the night and have six stops home. Then, Continental purchased jets and I flew the Boeing 707 from L.A. to Chicago with stops in Denver and Kansas City. I flew lots of charter flights to Europe and New York.

BH: What were your favorite parts of the different cities?

JD: Always going out to dinner, lunch or breakfast, theshopping was always fun (no malls), the hotels were interesting and the sightseeing when we had time was great.

BH: Tell me about the time you were flying soldiers to Vietnam.

JD: In 1964, our airline was awarded the military charters to Southeast Asia (Vietnam). The war had just begun. We would fly from Travis Air Force Base in San Francisco to Hawaii, then to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. We would stay there and fly to Saigon every three days taking all the G.I.s. I would be gone from L.A. (where I was based) for 28 days! When we flew to Saigon, we always wanted to get off and shop in the Saigon Airport gift shop - but we weren't allowed to get off because of all the gunfire and explosions around the area. Saigon was known as the "Paris of the East" because it was owned by the French.

BH: Tell me about the kudos letters you would receive.

JD: We had two kinds of letters from passengers: orchid letters, which were complimentary, and onion letters, which were uncomplimentary. I received LOTS of orchid letters and no onion letters.

BH: What magazine were you on the cover of?

JD: I was on the cover of Welcome Aboard magazine that is in all the seat pockets on every Continental flight.

BH: Did you get any other press?

JD: I had quite a lot. I was always being sent on public relations trips in and around the Los Angeles area - sometimes special charter flights and conventions in other states. I had lots of great experiences.

As you can see, this lady has many stories to tell - and this is probably not even half of it. If you have any questions for JoAnn, feel free to e-mail me at horvatb@yourhub.com and I will be sure to pass any questions along to her.