Inspired by our Mad Men Jet Set Sweepstakes, going on now until August 2, I found one of my favorite ad photos from Delta’s early jet travel era. Here you have a birds-eye view of the “Club Compartment” lounge of a Delta Convair 880 (click on the image to see details).
It’s very early Jet Age with everyone wearing suits or stiletto pumps and fur to fly. The ”stewardess” is serving complimentary champagne. She wears a uniform designed by Edith Head, “Fashion Chief” of Paramount movie studios.
The Club Compartment’s seats are “modern, molded white Fiberglas, with rich Chinese red contrasting upholstery” – and ashtrays in every arm. Delta ads promised: “The stimulating decor invites conversation, makes friends of all occupants in short order” where “conversation is unstrained and audibility is as good as in your own living room.” If your fellow passengers failed to entertain, there was always Delta’s other IFE options: magazines, some postcards and stationary for letter-writing, and packs of playing cards!
Learn more about Delta’s Convair 880 fleet:
- Blog post and great comments on the Convair 880′s speed and beauty from last year.
- The Delta Museum’s Convair 880 page with photos and video links.
Marie Force
Archives Manager
July 17th, 2010 at 8:52 am
The Delta Convair 880 is by far one of my all time favorite aircraft. Nothing like seeing all that beautiful and fragrant exhaust as it zoomed down a runway as it lifted off for one of Delta’s “SUNSHINE” destinations from my childhood home of Indianapolis, IN. It was wonderful when airlines hired and promoted such fashion designers as Edith Head, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren to design their flight attendant uniforms. Much written ad copy promoted these events and in terms of english grammar it was referred to as CREATIVE IMAGERY.