Ann Hood: Fly Girl

Mary Anne Ivison (Voiceover)  0:02  
The Women of ill repute with your hosts Wendy Mesley And Maureen Holloway. 

Maureen Holloway  0:07  
Wendy I know I pretty sure I've told you this before, but but bear with me.

Wendy Mesley  0:12  
Okay. All right, go. I'll support you.

Maureen Holloway  0:15  
So when I was little, thank you. So when I was little when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up as you do was we always ask kids this, I said, I wanted to be either a cowgirl. Not that that was a viable choice even then, but I liked the boots, and I wanted to be a stewardess as they were called at the time. Everybody did.

Wendy Mesley  0:35  
Oh, well, that's kind of neat. I wanted to be a comedian or like, you know, as you know, I'm not quite funny enough and and then why are you laughing? Funny. Yeah. Well, I did a show and people laugh It was great for so you know, people laughed and gravy. And then I decided that's not gonna work. So I was going to be a psychiatrist. Only that meant like, going to school for a long time. And yeah, like that's why I decided to become a journalist because she can be an instant expert on like, everything just don't.

Maureen Holloway  1:02  
Absolutely it was it was a simpler time. boys wanted to be trained conductors. I know that that they wanted to be that are pilots and girls wanted to be ballerinas. I don't have any little kids in my life right now neither of us do. But I wonder what the next generation actually aspires to be?

Wendy Mesley  1:18  
Well, I did some research and well American research because we're about to talk to an American and kids today American kids obviously they want to be in the here's the list in order a doctor, a teacher, a veterinarian, we know lots of kids who want to be veterinarians, a musician let that kind of want to be a musician, but I had no talent there either. Or, or a movie star that yeah, that'd be kind of cool. But journalists, like it's used in the days of water days. It used to be a big deal. Now there's like there's 17 17/17

Maureen Holloway  1:50  
is still on the map. A writer is number nine. So you know we were living the dream podcaster hasn't yet made it to the list. Because most people think of that as a hobby not a real job

Wendy Mesley  2:01  
well or there's influencer a lot of people want to be an influencer. I mean, I don't want to be influenced Thank you very much. But but that's

Maureen Holloway  2:09  
but what happened to stewardess or as we call them now? Flight Attendants

Wendy Mesley  2:12  
they're not on the list and maybe the name has something to do with I mean, I'd rather i i know it's very old fashioned, but I'd rather be a steward rather that than someone who's attending to people.

Maureen Holloway  2:23  
Yeah, attending to people. Yeah, but back in the day they were the epitome of glamour the beautiful sexy perfectly turned out traveling the world and high heels meeting fascinating people gorgeous man you know the days of Pan Am and Twa those you know, Come fly with me.

Wendy Mesley  2:42  
Yeah, it was mostly men. And apparently some of the books that sounded like women were written by men so there's there's Come fly with me. There's come Catch. Catch Me If You Can. Coffee, tea or me.

Maureen Holloway  2:53  
Coffee to me was written by a man.

Wendy Mesley  2:55  
Yeah, I just I just learned that. So wasn't that glamorous?

Maureen Holloway  2:59  
I don't know. I don't know. But we're gonna find out because we have the perfect guest to answer those questions and hood. And her cat Gertrude who's with us is a best selling author, novelist, short story writer teacher knitter and former flight attendant or stewardess as they were called back in the golden days when she flew for TWA

Wendy Mesley  3:27  
Yeah, so and hood. Her latest book is fly girl. She joins us today to talk about well, just talking about the jet age and is it over high end

Maureen Holloway  3:36  
high and why?

Wendy Mesley  3:39  
Nice. Thank you so much for joining us. So you've written this book. And you know, I'm so old I immediately went back to coffee to me, which I think was written before I was born but it was still I'm exaggerating, but it was still a huge and then I read your book and it's by a man

Ann Hood  3:54  
i No,

Maureen Holloway  3:56  
no, no, no, no, no. Ads book is not by a man.

Wendy Mesley  4:00  
No, not Ansbach coffee tear me

Ann Hood  4:03  
know. Me I swear was funny because I reread coffee to me when I wrote this because I had a vague memory of it. And I was like It couldn't be as bad as I remember. I mean, bad now I thought it was quite titillating when I read it in like seven or eight years and it is really terrible. Yeah, it

Maureen Holloway  4:23  
is terrible and they're portrayed and drawn like they remember the cover they were all as they describe them as busty sex pots which is so my stripper name

Wendy Mesley  4:33  
when I turn around to a lot of dads ladies and gentlemen

Maureen Holloway  4:37  
busty sex pots, right yeah, but but let's let's get there was a criteria of it wasn't fair. It wasn't right. But you had to be young and beautiful.

Ann Hood  4:52  
Yep, pretty much that was it. They couldn't say that on the applications even then, but you when you applied you got like a height and weight check. RT and if you didn't match up they said don't even bother apply you know you're not going to get an interview some of the applications I applied to a bunch of I wanted TWA or Panem because to me that was glamour. It when you dream of being a stewardess you don't dream of like going to Columbus Ohio or something no offense to Columbus but you dream of going no offense to Columbus you do go to Paris and Rome and you know Cairo and and those were the airlines that went there Pan Am and Twa. But smaller airlines, the application was just one piece of paper, age weight height done.

Maureen Holloway  5:32  
This is your window. This is your window be travel the world and find a man and if you don't do it, yeah. And if you don't do it, then God love you go and be a writer.

Wendy Mesley  5:41  
Well, in one of the books that said if you're not married by 28, like Like come on and be a stewardess. But and if you're not married by 28, then TWA won't want you because of you couldn't pick up a man.

Ann Hood  5:55  
And then you're also droplets. Husband.

Maureen Holloway  6:01  
So So what was the what were the height weight requirements to reach the overhead.

Ann Hood  6:07  
So you had to be above 540 It couldn't be too tall. The height bit I think actually was for safety and for work reasons. You couldn't be over 510 or 11 couldn't be too tall either. And again, it's to move through the cabinet easily you know, they're the ceilings are not super high. The weight? Well, that's debatable. But for example, I'm five, eight, and the maximum I could weighs 140 pounds. Did you have weigh ins weigh ins? Yeah. I got hired at 122 pounds. And so I couldn't go over 122 I didn't have 18 pounds to play with.

Wendy Mesley  6:47  
Oh, so you had to be the same way just when you signed up? Yep.

Maureen Holloway  6:50  
Wow. Okay about the uniforms. They were custom fitted to you weren't they?

Ann Hood  6:58  
size zero uniform?

Wendy Mesley  7:00  
So you were five, eight and 122 pounds and that was it. So you'd like starve yourself?

Ann Hood  7:05  
Literally. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Such a fine like wool. Ralph Lauren designed TWA is but every bit like Halston did brand gifts. And they had ultrasuede. But they had the kind of a sexy

Maureen Holloway  7:19  
look that is glamorous. Oh, yeah.

Ann Hood  7:23  
Valentino did Pan Am's. So they were gorgeous. And you'd get it and then you'd go to the TWA Taylor, who would cinch it up the waist for you. And Hemet and if it only you like I could never borrow my roommates jacket or something, you

Wendy Mesley  7:39  
know. So we have this idea of it being so glamorous and net? Yeah. And then all the rules changed. And so they dropped the weight thing. They dropped the height thing, they dropped the marriage thing. And now I'm in deregulate, wait, you couldn't

Maureen Holloway  7:53  
be married, you couldn't be married?

Ann Hood  7:56  
I could. So I was hired in 1978. And really the only requirement that I suffered under was the wait. We could then get married. We could have kids and be over 28. And still.

Maureen Holloway  8:10  
Well, that's mighty kind of.

Ann Hood  8:13  
You're exactly right in quoting that TWA is infamous for saying like on a news show or something. If a man doesn't want her by the time she's 28 TWA shirt doesn't.

Wendy Mesley  8:24  
And you were so drawn to it. I mean, you grew up in a small town. This was the way it was adventure. And so you're sort of torn between this a sexist, but I'm 21 and I'm sexy, and I want to see the world. So it was, yeah, you had sort of a foot and you knew it was wrong, but it felt kind of like enticing.

Ann Hood  8:41  
That was very enticing. And you know, I always say that era, the late 70s It was very confusing for women. Because we had one foot still in the past, you know, like I went to college with with girls who were saying they came for their Mrs. Carl? Yeah. Wow. So sexism, you know, rules still. But women were also starting to get into business and making strides in feminism. So it was kind of confusing because I understood how sexist the job was. Obviously, I had read coffee to me, I knew. But I wanted to see the world. I was from a tiny town. And I would say that I really fit the profile for people who wanted that job. Get me out of this tiny town.

Maureen Holloway  9:22  
That's this town. Did you see the world? And

Ann Hood  9:25  
I did and it was beautiful.

Wendy Mesley  9:27  
What was the best part? I think you wrote about seeing the pyramids for the first time.

Ann Hood  9:31  
Oh my god, seriously. I mean, I had I've flown to a lot of international cities before I went to Cairo. But I remember being on the bus from the airport to the hotel, and seeing all the signs like billboards and street signs in a different language, a different alphabet. And I was like I have really come far, far away. It just had I guess it was the place that felt the most exotic to me. And I mean, standing near the pyramids is pretty cool.

Wendy Mesley  9:59  
That's pretty Because I was at a flea market the other day and there was a lady and she remembered me because I was a political reporter. And there weren't very many women doing political reporting 1000 years ago, as I like to say, if you'd like to say, Yeah, but she was talking about how I couldn't be married. I as soon as I got pregnant, I had to quit. There was a hole. So she was she's old. Well, I guess she's in her 60s. But she remembers she remembers the old days but, but then deregulation came along, right. And so I guess it's the whole image of it was the stewardesses who were young and sexy and, and then deregulation, atmosphere was cheaper, and everybody got to fly. But then the rules change and there was older my husband makes jokes about the Air Canada, which is our big airline here, but them being old and grumpy and French Canadian. Whereas in the old when they started, they would have been, they would have well, he loves French Canadians, but he doesn't like them old and grumpy. He would like much prefer they, they'd be like the 28 year old I love you, man. I love you. And now it's helpful a woman you

Maureen Holloway  11:03  
can tell him he's old and grumpy. He is a man

Ann Hood  11:10  
it's hard to believe but I remember a flight out of Phoenix, Arizona, where a guy was denied boarding because he had on flip flops.

Wendy Mesley  11:18  
And now they're all in sweatpants.

Ann Hood  11:22  
And now they barely have a you know, they have those tags are done.

Maureen Holloway  11:26  
Well, that's the thing too and but million questions about flying now some inside, but people don't dress to travel. Now my sister who lives in Paris and his French are than the French and flies a lot for work. She dresses to the nines when she travels into travels by yourself more often than not on business. And she if anyone's gonna get upgraded she is She's ready. She's ready. She's alone. And she looks right. Yeah, and that still applies I think.

Ann Hood  11:55  
I think so. Yeah. You know, I think with the deregulation what happened was it started feeling more like I was working on a Greyhound bus. Yeah, in an airplane, you know, the plane started getting they were more used in a way because they jammed so many people in so they got tired faster. I mean, the actual the way they looked, and people were crabby because they they weren't getting food anymore, or, or they had to pay for it. And the pitch between the seats was so small, and a bunch of crabby passengers equals a bunch of crabby flight attendants. Yeah.

Wendy Mesley  12:31  
Yeah. Well, David Sedaris, the American comedian who writes a bunch of books he writes a few years ago about a flight attendant telling him about passengers who really pissed them off. And you know, when they go by at the end of the flight, and they they gather all your stuff and saying to him, your trash your family's trash, but actually meaning your your trash, please. But so I Yeah. Your trash your you are trash. You're trash your family's trash.

Maureen Holloway  13:01  
What's the other one about the coffee? Yeah, so

Wendy Mesley  13:06  
I told this, I ran into an older flight attendant who remembered me from the old days, and we started chatting in between the sort of drink service. And I told him that Davis adera story about the your trash, you are trash. And he said, Well, what we usually say is you for coffee? As I'm like he says, don't tell anyone that you have for coffee, which was actually well, you can imagine. Yeah,

Maureen Holloway  13:30  
so tell us I mean, now that it's a story can be told, did you ever have personal ways of dealing with difficult passengers that you would share with?

Ann Hood  13:41  
I have to confess it, it's not that I'm the nicest person in the world, but I just had this attitude of even on a long flight. I'm never going to see this person again. So you know, they could be crabby because flight attendants are blamed for everything. The weather. Yes. The delays the lost luggage, you know, you get it, you take it. But I used to just stare at them and with a smile on my face stare blankly and walk away. Sorry, but it never really bothered me that much. I never had a passenger that really upset me because it was like, I'll never see you.

Maureen Holloway  14:12  
Okay, I have a sis maybe dark but a friend of ours was on a flight a few months ago and the person died on the flight. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, actually was my son. Yeah, he was. He didn't didn't die.

I know that this has happened to you. So I won't make light of it. And lost a daughter at the age of five. But we'll get back to that. But back to this particular situation. Aiden was coming home from his honeymoon. And someone died in and they were they were flying business class. It was a wedding gift. Just to explain. Yeah. But somebody died back and back and coach. And and you know, it was it was awful. It was a big to do. And much to everyone's surprise nowadays and probably even when You were fine. There's no place to put people who died. No,

Ann Hood  15:03  
no, I did have a friend, a male flight attendant friend of mine, who someone died on his flight. And they were on their way to Paris from Boston. And, you know, they told the pilot, this guy's dead. I mean, he was dead. He just, it was kind of funny in that they put the food in front of him does have that reputation, but I didn't know why. So he told the pilot and the pilot, like looked at the maps and you know, the computer thing and said, we're at the point of no return, it's going to take us just as long to go back. So we're gonna continue on to Paris, put a blank. Yeah, male flight attendants walked this dead guy as if you were drunk from Coach into first class and belted him into a first class seat. There was no no one. And was it like an empty row? And there he Wow. Yeah, they lay until they landed.

Maureen Holloway  15:58  
There he lay. Holy smokes. Now going way back before your time at the dawn of flight. They were they were supposed to be nurses, weren't they?

Ann Hood  16:07  
No, it was this brilliant woman named Ellen church who actually had her pilot's license. But the airline wouldn't let her fly there. No, a woman cannot fly an airplane. And so she was mad because she knew that aviation was the future. You know, she knew the 20th century was going to be shaped and transformed by aviation. And so she was a registered nurse. And so she said, I have I have an idea. You should have nurses on the planes, because at that time, they flew below 10,000 feet. So everybody's threw up. It was so bumpy. And so she said, I can take care of the sick people. And I will be a calming influence. And they thought it was a great idea. She got seven of her best friends from Chicago. And they were the first eight flight attendants.

Wendy Mesley  16:46  
Wow. And now we're in the in the Super space age like the jet age is over. But the Space Age is here. And you've got all of these Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and what's his name? Branson with flying. Richard Branson flying these massive penises in the air and conquering Mars. And whatever. Yeah, but the fascination with space will for you. It wasn't just adventure of travel. It was like being in the sky and being

Ann Hood  17:11  
reading in the sky. Yeah, you know, I was talking to a friend the other day, she wasn't a flight attendant. But she had just come back from Italy. And she was talking about Italy a little bit her flight a lot. And I said, Oh, I get it. I love flying. And she said, there's a lot of good stuff up. To me up there. And I have to agree.

Maureen Holloway  17:32  
Yeah, I do too. I mean, there's a lot I don't like about flying just like everybody else. But I love the excitement of going places. And you know, just getting on the plane and taking off. You've no matter how cramped you are. You're, you know, Louie CK is is a disgrace, a disgraced comedian, but he had a bit where he would die. He was on a talk show. And he was saying, People complain, but you're, you're, you're in a machine that's flying through the air. I mean, how can we take that for granted?

Ann Hood  18:05  
Yes, I had a great line about that part of the same bit where he said up people complain about not getting the Wi Fi. It's like, you're 35 That was enough to get Wi Fi up here.

Wendy Mesley  18:16  
Yeah, well, that's like the cell phone thing. Like for years, there was this ban on cell phones. And I'm like, Really, my cell phone is going to bring down the plane. And now they sort of pretend that it's not a good thing. But I mean, that's a joke, isn't it? Isn't it? Well, you can get Wi Fi now for your phone? Or your tablet? I mean, really, as long as Yeah, as long as as it lasts, which is until you're up at 20,000 feet or whatever. I use my phone. Don't tell anyone. This is top secret, right?

Ann Hood  18:46  
I'll tell you my biggest complaint about flying other than you know, your your seats are so small, is I don't like that. They don't have screens sometimes. And they say, you know, you can watch on like the American Airlines app. But I don't have a tablet and sort of stuck on a flight for 11 and a half hours. My daughter and I just came back from Hawaii. And I was like, You're kidding me. There's no movie.

Wendy Mesley  19:08  
I know. Well, there are you just have you just have to pay for them. Like Like everything else. But what I want to know is about the Mile High Club. Does that still even exist? Or like how would you do it? It's so cramped in there. He can't even turn around

Ann Hood  19:22  
all the time. wants to be in that bathroom anyway, but no, all the time. And we were told it was really I mean, we knew passengers weren't supposed to be in there together. But we were basically told, Do what you feel comfortable with. And so there would be those very efficient flight attendants. At the time, I would always just say, you know, God bless them because that is pretty gross.

Maureen Holloway  19:50  
Yeah, but people who smoke they some people still think that they could still sneak a smoke. Yeah, in the bathroom out. I bet I was on a flight not long ago where there's somebody is like, for God's sake, buddy.

Wendy Mesley  20:05  
Well, we used to smoke in the front cabin and think that there would be like this magic wall that would go up and stop, stop. Yeah, but not really. Oh, it's like, you know, don't open the door, you might fall out. Well,

Ann Hood  20:18  
I was describing my first flight to an audience that kind of bookstore or something. And I was saying, how would I get off my hair smelled of soy smoke and my jacket smelled a sweater. And a woman's hand goes up. She's like, 20 She just did the plane catch on fire. on airplanes, what? Oh, yeah.

Mary Anne Ivison (Voiceover)  20:47  
The women of ill repute.

Maureen Holloway  20:50  
Let's talk about the fear of I'm not not necessarily the fear of flying with some people desperately have and I'm sure you've had to deal with that. But situations where, you know, somebody told me you can't die of turbulence. Yeah, and that's why we were in the middle of a turbulent flight. And that person was my husband and the person who was afraid was me. But I don't believe I think you can No,

Ann Hood  21:14  
you can't type. You can't get hurt. Yeah, I mean, if you're not buckled in, that's why they say I was sit with your seatbelt. And my husband never does. It drives me crazy. I like put your seatbelt. Work come to us. We could hit unexpected turbulence. And, you know, I actually I'm saying this, but I did just hear in the news that someone died in turbulence on a private plane, but they weren't belted in.

Maureen Holloway  21:38  
Oh, yeah. So they got flung around. Yeah, they got flung around.

Wendy Mesley  21:41  
Well, the other thing I love is like the big speech that and I'm sure you gave it at the beginning, which was everyone if if there is some strange thing and we end up going into the water, or if there's a crash was very low likelihood, stay calm, and like who's gonna stay calm? And if you crash, you're gonna die. Right? But it's not.

Maureen Holloway  22:02  
It's not common. You know,

Ann Hood  22:04  
my favorite one was, you can use your seat cushion as a flotation device. I like this Chiclets size. That always I always felt like kind of that I was lying when I said that, but I guess ever so briefly, it can work. Get waterlogged. But that's

Maureen Holloway  22:23  
your primary purpose, right? As a flight attendant as a stewardess that is safety and to and to be of assistance in an emergency. So what what have you been called upon? What? I guess I'm asking you what was your Drummond most dramatic flight experience?

Ann Hood  22:42  
You know how many flight attendants on our plane by how many emergency exits there are, there has to be a flight attendant, a drawer. And any extras. They don't do this anymore. It used to be if the flight was full, they would send an extra flight attendant actually sat with the passengers. Yeah, but otherwise, it says many as doors. That's why 747 said 16 or whatever, cuz they were eight doors or whatever it was. You know, my scariest one was when the pilot asked me for Jack Daniels on a 747 on an international flight. Wow. Yeah. And I said, you know, this is what we were trained to do you never bite or, you know, Oh, you don't mean that? And he said, Yes, I do. And so I brought coffees to the other to the

Maureen Holloway  23:30  
coffee to the other to the other

Ann Hood  23:33  
do because they needed to stay away. And I said, Yeah, are you sure you don't want anything? He said, I told him what I want. Well, and then I was in first class setting up what at my service, we came out and got to Jack Daniels. It took them into the cockpit. That was my scariest flight.

Wendy Mesley  23:48  
And you all landed safely. Wow. And there was no like weaving or anything? No.

Maureen Holloway  23:54  
So the pilot is king. Yep. It's Captain, the captain. I mean, I sail and if the captain is okay, we don't argue with the captain. But

Ann Hood  24:04  
that's right. It's the same thing. And what scared me because it was a long flight. And this was kind of at the beginning, but I don't know how many times he came out and got more. I mean, I wasn't like, Oh, I was imagining that maybe he made other trips out, you know. So that was my scariest landing because I thought, oh,

Maureen Holloway  24:20  
did you report him though?

Ann Hood  24:22  
And, okay, I'm so embarrassed to say I didn't. Because you know, you're saying he's the captain. I heard of a flight attendant. I mean, from the flight attendant was Eastern Airlines. She got blackballed, but by the pilots because she reported one of them for drinking. Wow, it affected the flight she flew and how she was treated on the plane. And what I noticed was when that guy asked for the Jack Daniels, the first officer didn't make eye contact, he looked away, and I thought he won't back me up. If I report this guy,

Wendy Mesley  24:53  
I want to go back to the turbulence thing, because I'm just realizing I've always had this question. Like, I always have to go To the bathroom just before the the light comes on saying Don't move, don't move. Of course you do.

Ann Hood  25:06  
One on the plate. It's you now

Wendy Mesley  25:11  
I always think that the bathroom if the light goes on when I'm in the bathroom that I'm safe.

Maureen Holloway  25:19  
It means you're having sex.

Wendy Mesley  25:23  
Yeah, there's nobody there. But I'm having a grand old time. I'm waiting and waiting. nobody shows up. But I always think that it's safe in the bathroom. Should I be heading back?

Ann Hood  25:36  
Oh, it's not saved in the fat and trapped in? Yeah.

Maureen Holloway  25:40  
And it's a way to die when waiting.

Ann Hood  25:49  
Already by the end of the flight, and they are you

Maureen Holloway  25:58  
so are you a good flier? And as a passenger?

Ann Hood  26:02  
Weight flyer? Yeah,

Maureen Holloway  26:05  
I bet. And how do you pack

Ann Hood  26:07  
light, I only bring I bring a carry on bag. I spent a month in Europe with one carry on bag last summer.

Maureen Holloway  26:12  
Wow, I've done I'm the same I take great pride in not checking luggage if I don't have to.

Ann Hood  26:19  
I think the key is, you know, you shouldn't bring a lot of shoes. People bring too many shoes, you have your heavier shoes that you wear on so they don't take up room. And then you have your sandals or sneakers or whatever in the bag. And then you have room for everything.

Wendy Mesley  26:32  
Any other tricks like you see all these things online about how you can sleep. You know, if you lay up the if you have the spare bed in the middle, you lay it down as there is any of that No, it's all

Ann Hood  26:44  
baloney. We were told in training, that if you fly International, and even if you do like coast to coast, because that three hour difference can also give you pretty bad jetlag, there's no way to fight jetlag your body, it just takes too long for those rhythms, whatever the circadian rhythms, to adjust. And just like you're going to be tired, and we were actually allowed if we were on international for a long time to call in with jetlag to just say I have flown three straight months. I don't know what time of day it is. And they, you know, take a couple days off.

Wendy Mesley  27:18  
So are our girls, women men? Because there's lots of male flight attendants these days, are they still having fun? Like it's not as glamorous as it used to be, but it's still fun.

Ann Hood  27:29  
It's fun. It just is fun. I mean, I think their job is harder. Because as I said, angry are passengers, more passengers pay cuts. They work longer hours than we did, we had a pretty nice, but it's still fun. You're still in San Juan, you know, in the middle of winter, in a hotel on the beach, or you're still with your friends walking around San Francisco or wherever. And it's funny because I have met so many people on this book tour, who became flight attendants in middle age. It's really it has, I'm so impressed. They were not allowed by their parents to be a flight attendant to have that sexy, you know, that sexy image like

Maureen Holloway  28:07  
almost famous right? With a daughter takes off. It's like what do you do?

Ann Hood  28:13  
Exactly. Or they got married or they just, you know, went to college and did something else. And then the kids have grown and they're like, I want to be I always wanted to do this job. And I'm gonna do it. And I met so many women out there, it just happened to be all women 4050 Even 60 years old, do it just starting the job. Is

Maureen Holloway  28:31  
that great? Even 60 that

Ann Hood  28:35  
lucky I wouldn't want to do it again. But you know, I?

Maureen Holloway  28:39  
But it's but it's great. Why not follow your dreams as long as you can. I want to ask you a little bit about your your career between your accomplishments between those days. And now. So you went on to become a writer of a successful 114 novels, short stories, essays. You teach writing, I know that you wrote about grief because you lost your little girl quite a while ago. So sorry to hear that. And you took up knitting. And you wrote about knitting and you wrote about knitting and grief. So and all these things are wonderful, and and interesting. So what brought you at this point in your life to go back to that original career?

Ann Hood  29:25  
That's a great question. I have to say that since I had the job. So for all these decades, I say it was or was a flight attendant. People want to hear about it. I say I'm a writer, their eyes kind of glaze over. Like, have I read anything you read on a resume. Everybody wants to hear the stories. And for years, people would urge me, you know, even my editor, my husband, you should write about it. But to me, it was really just a bunch of anecdotes. And it wasn't until I realized number one that I flew at one of the most fascinating times to have the job, you know, was the tail end of no pun intended, of the golden age of flying. And I saw everything start to change. So historically, it was interesting. But also I realized that I kind of grew up on 35 That was a bit, it was a coming of age story, really, you know, kid from a small town with her, Dorothy, Emily.

Wendy Mesley  30:22  
I remember the wedge.

Ann Hood  30:26  
You know, I had like, lip gloss. And all of a sudden being part of a 747 crew walking through the airport in Paris, looking like I knew what I was doing. And feeling confident. You know, I really everything I learned on that job has served me really well in my whole life. And so when those things kind of came in game together, I thought, um, it's time to write this book. And lucky me, I started writing it during the pandemic, because when I was like, not even going to the grocery store, like washing my boxes before I brought them in, every day, I'd sit down, and I'd write about that beautiful time when I flew all around the world all the time, and I had such freedom. I mean, it was really a great escape from those lock downs we had.

Wendy Mesley  31:09  
And I don't think he married a 28 to the guy who moved in from from first class. Or did you know to confessions?

Ann Hood  31:19  
Well, a few months ago, I've married a few times, but

Maureen Holloway  31:25  
it's hard to keep in one place.

Wendy Mesley  31:30  
Okay, so we don't need to go there. But yeah, but the last time wasn't 28.

Ann Hood  31:36  
No, yeah. No, that you know, I had that wonderful. I met the guy in 47. F. And he was my boy. I know. I still call him that if Mr. 4747. But we went out for years and I met him on a flight. Most of my dates from airplanes. Were duds. I have to say. I always have

Maureen Holloway  31:56  
luck. Yeah. Yeah. This is a complete aside. But the first time I saw the man who became my husband, he was on the calendar. Oh, really? It was a it was I don't know if this was I do but I can't remember. It's it's, it was the University of Toronto man on campus calendar. Yeah, I know. He was his acuity. And yeah, he was a pinup. And he was September. He was Mr. September. And then yeah, and then I ended up meeting him through work and we got married, but I still call him Mr. September just like your man and 47 F so

Ann Hood  32:32  
I love that story. Yeah,

Maureen Holloway  32:35  
I know. Why. So does he

Wendy Mesley  32:38  
bone up on the wall now?

Maureen Holloway  32:50  
And you're, you're a great storyteller. You're a great writer. I bet you were a fabulous stewardess.

Ann Hood  32:57  
Stewardess.

Maureen Holloway  32:59  
You were,

Wendy Mesley  33:00  
who became a flight attendant. And now you've written about it and you're not he was? I was. I'm still amazed by this. That the guy who wrote or if that was a guy who? Coffee to me. And he pretended to be these two women who talked about busty. What was your your stage name on the side, the side hustle. But he was a PR guy for American Airlines. I just think that that is it's just so cool. I know. You've written one and you actually were a flight attendant.

Ann Hood  33:28  
I was not once the sex.

Maureen Holloway  33:35  
The book, the book is called Fly girl. And it's just been an absolute pleasure talking to you. And

Ann Hood  33:40  
this was so fun. It went really quickly. Have a great day. Thank you for having me. Gertrude.

Wendy Mesley  33:48  
Gertrude, lovely to talk to you. Oh, she knows her name. Thank you. So I'd forgotten about Mr. September.

Maureen Holloway  34:04  
You know, what's funny about that is that I had it framed as a gift. And then the the, the frame got damaged or something and I went, so I put it in the basement because it didn't look at and he pulled out another calendar. And now we have the two.

Wendy Mesley  34:20  
Well, as long as you don't blow it up, you're good. Yeah, I

Maureen Holloway  34:23  
know. I know. I think it's hanging in the guest room, which is fine. But that is funny. How are we refer to her husband's?

Wendy Mesley  34:31  
Yeah, it's so interesting. I mean, she's talking about sort of wistfully about the days when when women were women and men were men and it was all men in the first class and it was girls who perched on the on the edge of their seats and flirted with them and then got married and then things changed. And then, yeah, no, everything's changed but she kind of misses the old days. Like why we know

Maureen Holloway  34:53  
we're now because we're, we're modern, empowered women who don't put up with any shit. That's who we I'd like to think we are. But I mean, there was a time where people would enjoyed that that party being in that role. I mean, there was a lot they they were in high heels, and they were being harassed. And there was a lot that was negative about their high heels. But you got to pay me or somebody got in some way I got to be paid, because I'm not worried. That's why you're what? I'll do it for money.

Wendy Mesley  35:22  
I'm just like, Linda evangelist. Yeah, give me $10,000. And I'll get out a bit.

Maureen Holloway  35:27  
No, it was a different time. And I don't think I don't think that she should, or any woman who was in a more traditional role back then should give themselves a hard time. I mean, you did it. You enjoyed it. That's great. I'm glad that it's not that way, for a lot of, for a lot of reasons. But you know, as we say, it was a simpler time. Yeah. And

Wendy Mesley  35:48  
it wasn't that long ago, there was a quote, I wrote it down somewhere of the guy who bought TWA, which was the airline that she worked for, for so many years. Yeah. And he was saying that, well, let's just cut the wages of all there was deregulation. So there was way less money around generally, but let's just cut the the wages in particular of the flight attendants because women aren't the breadwinners. Yeah, and this was I mean, it was a it wasn't a 1960 but it was 9090 Yeah, still

Maureen Holloway  36:16  
and not being able to be a pilot. I mean, that was that was it there was a hierarchy a very sexist hierarchy, no doubt not arguing about that. But if she'd been she looks back at that time with joy and still finds joy in flying then you know, we should do that as well if we can. But is she

Wendy Mesley  36:32  
married to Mr. September? No. September

Maureen Holloway  36:41  
October, I will be right until December. Anyway, that was lots of fun. Lovely to see you. Bye. Bye.

Mary Anne Ivison (Voiceover)  36:48  
Women of ill repute was written and produced by Maureen Holloway and Wendy Mesley. With the help from the team at the sound off media company and producer Jet Belgraver

Transcribed by https://otter.ai