Jane Stewardess of the Airlines

 

    Jane, along with her best friend Sue, have just completed their nurses training and are spending their graduation night worried about their lack of employment. Lucky for them the dean of their nursing school has received a request from Federated Airlines for two trained nurses. The company plans on hiring them as stewardess which was a newly created job field at this time. 

    The girls have to catch a flight to Federated's headquarters for their interviews. This is their first time on an airplane and to their misfortune the plane crashes. Jane helps the injured pilot escape from the cockpit right before the plane goes up in a fiery explosion. Due to her leadership behavior during the incident Jane is immediately given a job. 

    Jane's first assignment is to accompany the wealthy Mrs. Van Verity Vanness on a last minute dash across the country to reach her ill sons bedside. The flight takes place at the same time air bandits have been active and there is a close call with the bandits almost overtaking Jane's plane before the U.S. military comes in with aerial guns blazing. 

    Jane is paid by a newspaper to tell her story about the incident and Mrs. Van Verity Vanness gives Jane a check as a thank you. Jane uses this money to take flying lessons and get her pilot license. 

    When a film company comes to town to use the airport as a filming location Jane is giving the job of stunt pilot. The special effects equipment on her plane malfunctions causing a fire and Jane has to parachute out of the plane as it dives into an explosive crash landing, all while film cameras roll.

    Jane is soon given a promotion to assist in training new flight stewardess which comes with a substantial raise.

    As winter comes along many flights get cancelled due to snow. As Jane is checking in at the airport one day to learn her flight has been cancelled she overhears that an isolated village is having a flu outbreak and no medicine has been able to be transported to them due to the snow. Veteran pilot Slim Bollei decides to make the dangerous trip to the village and Jane accompanies him. The plane gets lost in the snow then makes a minor crash landing but still gets the medicine safely to the villagers. 

    As the one year anniversary of Jane and Sue becoming stewardess rolls around Jane happens to be a passenger on Sue's plane. Aboard the flight is child film star Jackie Condon as well as two shady looking men; Bardo and Mellotti. The two men end up hijacking the plane and kidnapping the boy. The passengers and pilot are dropped off at an isolated area in Canada but Sue and Jane are kept on to take care of the child. The men take the plane to an isolated shoreline bare of anything except two cabins and a seaplane. After night arrives the three kidnapped victims escape the cabin to the sea plane in which Jane flies them to freedom at dawn. The criminals pursue in the commercial plane but the U.S. coast guard is spotted just in time to make a rescue of the three.  

- Out of the first four plane trips in this book two of them end in crashes and one is attacked by air bandits. Not the best publicity for the newly emerging commercial flight business.

- This book had a lot in common with Vicki Barr and I read them as existing in the same world. So when Jane is walking through the Chicago Airport I got a little sentimental thinking that this is the same airport Vicki would be walking through 13 years later. 

- The movie stars names were based off of real movie stars and I found that really amusing. For example child actor Jackie Condon would have been fictionalized Jackie Coogan, leading lady Claudette Bennett would have been Constance Bennett, etc. 

- The kidnappers/hijackers are an example of anti-Italianism that was common at the time. I always find these offensive depictions of Italians very interesting as it seems to be a forgotten part of America's history.

- Jane is a bit of a boring character because she is perfect. She is top of her class at nurse school and she instantly becomes the top stewardess and pilot when she ventures into those fields. She's so perfect that she is constantly offered fabulous job opportunities; besides being given one of the two open stewardess positions she is also offered to accompany Mrs. Van Verity Vanness on an around the world trip, and offered a job in Hollywood as an actress. If the book didn't end when Jane, Sue, and Jackie are rescued by the coast guard Jane would have probably been offered a job with them. 

- One part I really liked was when Sue was on a flight that had almost crashed. After they land safety and Sue gets all the passengers off and on their way she sits down in the empty plane and has a cry. I wish Jane had done something like this as it would make her seem more human. Instead Jane goes through multiple plane crashes and air chases but never seems to have much if any negative emotions due to it. 

    Overall it's a fun easy read with amazing cover art. If you enjoy Vicki Barr than I would recommend this book.

Vicki Barr: Behind the White Veil

    I've read this book just once before and I recall having mixed feeling about it. I was excited at first to see Vicki was now working in my hometown of Seattle but the story quickly went to Alaska where it stayed. Although I don't remember very much of this book I do recall finding everything about it unique; the location, mystery, events, characters, and especially the ending. I really thought all that was great but I recall it feeling, like most Vicki Barr books, boring. However I gave it a full 5 stars on GoodReads so lets see if my opinions changed.

- Ok, ok, I don't want to always be yelling "racism!" at all these old books because I know it was a different time and whatever but some things just make me go "what the heck". Now that Vicki is assigned to a run between Washington and Alaska she has been warned by her boss, Ruth Benson, to be aware of "Indian" passengers because, according to her, Native Americans do not discipline their children so the kids will run wild, causing chaos for Vicki. Sure enough on Vicki first flight a Native American child starts cutting his seat-belt with a hunting knife while his parents "proudly" watch. A woman, the wife of a university professor grabs the boys wrist and threatens to spank him. When the parents get upset Vicki worries they'll pull out knives too. Vicki, however, doesn't think anything bad of the woman who threatens, multiple times, to physically punish a child that's not her own.

- I'm on page 19 and I'm struggling to find motivation to continue on. I'm not very interested in finding out about the mysterious hot springs or the share-the-ride stuff. I think a big problem with Vicki Barr books is how long the chapters are, the next chapter isn't until page 30 and just struggling to get through over 10 pages of details and explanations that set up the mystery. I think this whole series would have greatly benefited from being cut into 25 short chapters like Nancy Drew. Some of these books even have 20 page long chapters and it makes them feel never ending.

- Vicki and Max go to eat at Maison Blanc which at the time was a famous Seattle restaurant. Unfortunately the restaurant was burnt down in the 1960's by a burglar so I guess I won't be retracing Vicki's steps through Seattle. Vic also remarks at how steep the Seattle hills are. Always found it strange that San Francisco's hills are legendary whereas Seattle's seem to be kept a shameful secret. They also go to Ivars Acres of Clams and the Chinese room of the Smith Tower, both still open.

- Once the group gets into the valley the story picks up and becomes fascinating. I love how Vicki and Jenny decide to keep optimistic attitudes and be a comfort for everyone else. Also Blair and Alex's distaste for each other really adds to the mystery setting.

- Its a little annoying how Vicki needs Max's approval to leave camp and search for an exit, she's a grown woman. None of the other members of the group require his permission.

- After several meals Jenny throws her paper plate in the fire saying if they ate off them again they'd get ptomaine poisoning. I didn't know what that scary sounding thing was so I looked it up and ptomaine poisoning is what they use to call food poisoning. I love learning old facts like that.

- I like how Vicki and Jenny sort of bond and have a nice friendship. Vicki can confide in Jenny her plans for sleuthing and catching Mordy and Blair, and Jenny doesn't stop her the way Max would. Even though there is a large age gap between them it's not noticeable in their friendship.

- Mordy says he will tell the group where the secret exit is if Max promises not to turn him over to the authorities. Max immediately says no. Is he really going to let 6 people all starve to death because he doesn't want to make a flimsy promise? How stupid.

- Jenny makes a joke about cannibalism but honestly that's kind of a scary thought. If they hadn't gotten out there is a chance that someone selfish like Blair or with a belief in survival like Mordy would resort to it. Or when one of them dies naturally of starvation....it's a horrific thought.

- The ending makes me interested in the next title and although not too long ago I believed I wouldn't read another Vicki Barr title, I think that maybe, far into the future, I wouldn't mind.

    Overall this book is quite good mostly due to its uniqueness. Upon this reading I realized what had intrigued me so much the first time reading and that was the majority of the book taking place in one location. Within the valley the only places they can go are camp, the waterfall, and in the woods. I feel like because of this the book would make a great Nancy Drew style game. I've lowered it down from 5 stars to 4 stars cause the beginning was hard to get through but I am keeping it in my collection.

Vicki Barr: The Hidden Valley Mystery

    When it comes to the Vicki Barr series I have read 8 out of the 16 books. Out of those 8 there was only 3 that I liked enough to keep: Silver Wings for Vicki, Behind the White Veil, and The Hidden Valley Mystery.

    I've already re-read Silver Wings for Vicki and was surprised to find I enjoyed it. I had recalled finding it long and boring upon my first reading years ago, only enjoying the mystery at the end. However when I re-read it I loved the whole thing and didn't find any of it boring.

    That makes me very curious to see how I receive this book. I also found this one long and boring in some places, I was eager to finish it and had planned on getting rid of it when I finished but, after placing it in my donation pile, I had second thoughts and put it back on my bookshelf.

Now a few years have passed and I can not recall if this book is good or not, I just remember wanting it to end yet giving it 4 stars on GoodReads. So lets find out.

- Vicki's figure is described as "small and frail" which seems a little odd to me. Frail gives the impression that she is old or ill. You would think a better choice of word would be dainty or something similar.

- One thing I have to say is that whether I find a Vicki Barr book good or bad I always find them wonderfully atmospheric no matter what the location, whether it's The Castle, on a plane, in New York, Hawaii, Mexico, etc.

- I always tend to like scenes set at the New York Airport. Vicki is so comfortable and confident in place that is considered hectic and strange to the average person.

- I think it was pretty messed up of Mr. Barr to keep Vicki in suspense of whether she was going to be allowed to go on the Mexico crew or not. He kept her in suspense until there was only half a day left. If he had said no, she couldn't go then that would have cause a ton of trouble for the whole airline.

He didn't seem to care how much trouble and embarrassment he was causing his daughter. Not to mention jeopardizing her whole career.

- I don't understand why Vicki and the crew are going to Mexico if their new route is solely traveling within Mexico. None of them seem to speak Spanish fluently and they all are having to relocate. Since the airline employs Mexican crews why are they bringing in Vicki and the gang? It just doesn't make sense to me. Now maybe if the airline was just opening in Mexico and the crew was going down there temporarily to train a permanent crew it would make more sense.

- This book is attempting to be social aware by talking about how Mexico has gone through oppression yet at the same time it uses offensive stereotypes. At one point Vicki wonders what her life would be like is she was Mexican and thus how it would feel to be "uneducated and ignorant".

- After arriving in Mexico Vicki, Dean, and Capt. Jordan eat a meal at their hotel. The bill is $16.50 in pesos. Vicki learns that 5 pesos is equal to 1 USD...so their whole 3 person meal only cost $3? That's crazy. The trio also waits until after their meal to have their currency exchanged which seems odd to me.

- Vicki goes to the floating gardens of Xochimilco and honestly, I'm so sick of this place. So many of the old series has a book located in Mexico and they always go to the floating gardens.

- I like how a bullfighter gets on Vicki plane with a case of swords and it's just like yeah, no big deal. Talk about a different time.

- Helen Wells claims that in Spain and Spanish speaking countries no one ever steals, ever...because they have too much pride (nevermind the fact that when giving a brief history of Mexico she focuses on how the Spanish stole Mexico and all its resources). What a stupid blanket statement. This reminds me of how in Clue of the Broken Blossom Vicki talks a business man into taxing his native Hawaiian workers because "making them pay taxes will give them a sense of pride and make them happy". It's things like this that annoy me about these books.

- The plane being shot at is an exciting event but I feel like it's irresponsible of them to continue with the flight after the airplane tail is tied on with rope. Shouldn't the passengers be given the option of unboarding the plane and waiting at the emergency field for other transportation. They could have crashed and killed all those people.

- Vicki, Dean, and Capt. Jordan have their rear tires shot out on a lonely road and make a hasty, although clumsy, getaway. Vicki calls Cissy to ask if she should report the incident to the American Embassy. Although Cissy says yes, she then makes a big effort to convince Vicki that it's not normal for Mexico to have "bandit gangs" and that can happen in any country. It's as though she's desperately trying to make sure that Vicki doesn't get a bad opinion of Mexico even though Vicki never said or thought anything of the sort. 

    Honestly Helen Wells put so much of this kind of thing into the book. It feels like she was desperate to convince the reader that Mexico is a perfect place and the crime in the book is just for story value and there's actually no crime in Mexico and blah blah blah. I dunno, it just seems weird to me. I understand that a lot of people associate crime and gangs with modern Mexico, I'm not sure if the same can be said for when this was written, but Wells could have simple had a character say "people have the wrong impression of Mexico" instead of having this weird, awkward, preachy dialogue every time a crime occurs. It just comes across like Wells was suffering from some serious white guilt.

- I started to get bored with this book around page 160. At that point Vicki stops being suspicious of Perez and starts firmly believe he is mixed up with the bandit gang. From there forward she continues to needle and make it known to him they she knows exactly what's up which seems very stupid and dangerous. Like the whole thing with the mantilla and holding the double rabbit sculpture, that's just letting him know that she knows which is stupid considering his gang has shot at her multiple times. Does she not realize he could end up murdering her in a foreign country?

- The escape from the village by plane is really great. There's so much excitement. I feel like this book has enough excitement that it would really make a good movie.

    I still can't tell if I like this book, I guess I do even though it gets dull at one point. One of my favorite things was Cissy, she was a really fun character and even tho she's in the book a good amount I still could have used much more of her.