Evening star., 1937-04-10


Ing up on the comfort" element of
planes and their service. AS an es-
sential part of this duty, she is espe-
Cially interested in the progress which
has been made in air dining, and,
when interviewed, had great many
very enlightening things to say on the
subject.
She pointed out the almost in
credible comparison between the lux
uriouS appointments and excellent
cuisine of the newest and largest
planes with that of the days when
only flying the mail" really counted,
and passengers were taken along as q
special favor, and had to make the
best of it. Then the matter of food
didn't matter at all-the passenger
took his chance Of Snatching cup of
coffee at some landing field along the
way and, if necessary, he slept on mail
sacks or in his seat-Whether he liked
1t or not.
4 X
MISS STANSBURY, who is one of
the most vital and lovely of
young woman executives, said that the
first real attempt to serve meals on
the planes of her lines came a few
years ago with the Inauguration of the
"Shoebox" lunch-a rough version of
q picnic lunchboX, which was packed
with tremendous hunks" of bread
and Swiss cheese, bread and ham, one
apple, one banana, and few potato
chips. The contents of these boxes
never varied, and no matter whether
the trip took one day or eight, the
passengers ate the same thing for each
meal until they reached their final
destination.
viii Rogers" said Miss Stansbury,
who was practically a commuter on
our line. used to say that the minute
he was handed that 'shoebox' he could
taste the potato chips-he was so
familiar with every item in it. Some
times the poor passengers even had to
eat those huge ham sandwiches cold
for their breakfast" The co-pilot
had charge of distributing these
lunches, and, as We said before, If the
weather was bad, dinner wasn't an
nounced until things cleared up!
About the first of May, 1880, how
ever, with the assignment of steward
esses to plane service, the food situ-
alton began to really look up An at
tempt was made to serve a real meal
although still packed in box-and
the passengers we're treated to q COLA
tion of cold fried chicken, canned
fruit salad in paper cup, the same
cheese and ham sandwiches (cut
smalD and a piece of pound cake.
This was lot better than the original
box lunch, but still had long way to
go-and still repeated itself for each
meal.
IN 1882 or 1888, Miss Stansbury told
us, trays were put into use, and
hot chicken pie, baked In a paper
cup, 1ncased in another paper CUP.
and rushed onto the plane Just be-
fore taking off. was offered as
special hot piece de resistance. The
pies were good, but they had to be
eaten almost Immediately, as, if they
were kept, they became cold and
so9gy. Vegetable salads were con-
sumed above the clouds, and a little
later on the traveller by air was
tempted with ice cream kept firm by
dry ice.
Now remarked Miss Stansbury
with laugh, "the curtain rises on
the 1887 version of meals in the
air. Picture yourself sitting in an
enormous overstuffed armchair, in a
place that is quiet, spacious and beau
tifully decorated in rust, French blue
and cream. The stewardess offers
you the menu, printed on pale blue
paper. as smart as that of a FASH
1onable restaurant. You have a.
choice-a choice, mind you, flying
through the clouds-of crabfake
cocktail or tomato juice, cream of
mushroom soup, fllet mignon, roast
chicken, baked potatoes, fresh aspara-
gus. ice cream, fresh strawberry Ba-