Jet set : the people, the planes, the glamour, and the romance in aviation's glory years / William Stadiem.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stadiem, William, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Air travel--History--20th century.

Air travel.

Jet planes--History--20th century.

Jet planes.

Upper class--History--20th century.

Upper class.

History.

Cloth or Hardcover.

History--General History.

Social History.

Modern--20th Century.

Popular Culture--General.

Local Subjects:

Cloth or Hardcover.

History--General History.

Social History.

Modern--20th Century.

Popular Culture--General.

Physical Description:

xiii, 368 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Ballantine Books, [2014]

Summary:

"In October 1958, Pan American World Airways began making regularly scheduled flights between New York and Paris, courtesy of its newly minted wonder jet, the Boeing 707. Almost overnight, the moneyed celebrities of the era made Europe their playground. At the same time, the dream of international travel came true for thousands of ordinary Americans who longed to emulate the "jet set" lifestyle. Bestselling author and Vanity Fair contributor William Stadiem brings that Jet Age dream to life again in the first-ever book about the glamorous decade when Americans took to the skies in massive numbers as never before, with the rich and famous elbowing their way to the front of the line. Dishy anecdotes and finely rendered character sketches re-create the world of luxurious airplanes, exclusive destinations, and beautiful, wealthy trendsetters who turned transatlantic travel into an inalienable right. It was the age of Camelot and "Come Fly with Me," Grace Kelly at the Prince's Palace in Monaco, and Mary Quant miniskirts on the streets of Swinging London. Men still wore hats, stewardesses showed plenty of leg, and the beach at Saint-Tropez was just a seven-hour flight away. Jet Set reads like a who's who of the fabulous and well connected, from the swashbuckling "skycoons" who launched the jet fleet to the playboys, moguls, and financiers who kept it flying. Among the bold-face names on the passenger manifest: Juan Trippe, the Yale-educated WASP with the Spanish-sounding name who parlayed his fraternity contacts into a tiny airmail route that became the world's largest airline, Pan Am; couturier to the stars Oleg Cassini, the Kennedy administration's "Secretary of Style," and his social climbing brother Igor, who became the most powerful gossip columnist in America--then lost it all in one of the juiciest scandals of the century; Temple Fielding, the high-rolling high priest of travel guides, and his budget-conscious rival Arthur Frommer; Conrad Hilton, the New Mexico cowboy who built the most powerful luxury hotel chain on earth; and Mary Wells Lawrence, the queen bee of Madison Avenue whose suggestive ads for Braniff and other airlines brought sex appeal to the skies. Like a superfueled episode of Mad Men, Jet Set evokes a time long gone but still vibrant in American memory. This is a rollicking, sexy romp through the ring-a-ding glory years of air travel, when escape was the ultimate aphrodisiac and the smiles were as wide as the aisles. Advance praise for Jet Set "An interesting, entertaining read, full of colorful characters and the author's thoughtful contemplation of the world of aviation."--Publishers Weekly "What a book! The Kennedys, the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra himself, and early financiers like Eddie Gilbert are dealt with in depth. It was the beginning of the frenetic, desperate world we now seem to be living in. I lived intimately through it all in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, and I have yet to find a mistake in William Stadiem's amazing book. All the players are here: Bobby Kennedy, as a menace to much of the fun; Joe Kennedy, his father, having young ladies procured for him; lawyers making millions getting 'socialites' out of hot water. And the changes: the creation of disco and rock and roll, the rise of Great Britain's popular music and fashion appeal, plus New York as the so-called 'Four Hundred' became the four million, and on and on."--Liz Smith, gossip columnist"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 The Flying Chateaux 3

2 Set Designer 23

3 Skycoons 158

4 Jet Wars 76

5 The Profiler 07

6 Heavenly Host 126

7 As American as Ice Water 147

8 Blind Ambitious 170

9 Flight Risk 188

10 007 and the 707 208

11 Swinging London 226

12 Coffee, Tea, or Me? 242

13 The Tripping Point 276

14 The Last Playboys 299

15 Final Destinations 320.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780345536952

0345536959

OCLC:

879648937

Online:

Cover image