--- description: A 1958 cover story in LIFE magazine offered a surprisingly rich picture of a stewardess-in-training's day-to-day existence. title: Stewardess School: 'Glamor Girls of the Air' in Training, 1958 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda5a892e70b068a1/69884a8ecd68481c4309f4fe/01_114062615.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Flying Was Fun: LIFE Goes to Stewardess School, 1958 by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 29, 2014 6:00 PM CUT  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Stewardess school, Texas, 1958.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 29, 2014 6:00 PM CUT When LIFE ran a cover story in August 1958 on women that the magazine dubbed “Glamor Girls of the Air,” a career as an “air hostess” was still a relatively new pursuit. The way that LIFE described that pursuit, meanwhile, verged on the (almost laughably) patronizing: --- > “” --- --- > “” --- You get the picture. But above and beyond the mid-century blather about slender hips and rich husbands-to-be, the article in LIFE offered a surprisingly nuanced picture of a stewardess-in-training’s day-to-day existence. From emergency drills and comportment exercises to the sisterly camaraderie forged during a month and a half spent working and playing together _—_ in this case, at a stewardess school near Dallas, Texas _—_ it’s clear that learning to be a “hostess with the mostest,” as LIFE put it, was no walk in the park. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Emergency exit from plane is practiced by Louise Becker who leaps down canvas slide at Fort Worth's airport. Slide is dusted with chalk to make it slippery. Louise made perfect seat-first landing. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Graduating class of air hostesses with brand-new uniforms marches to commencement ceremony, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Stewardess school, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Wearing wings, new-stewardess Barbara Cline is congratulated by Millie Alford, head of school, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Farewell for newly graduated stewardesses, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Recent stewardess-school graduates, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Recent stewardess-school graduates, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Recent stewardess-school graduates, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Recent stewardess-school graduates, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Recent stewardess-school graduates, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Recent stewardess-school graduate, 1958. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879489/stewardess-school-life-photos-1958/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879489/stewardess-school-life-photos-1958/"},"headline":"When Flying Was Fun: LIFE Goes to Stewardess School, 1958","datePublished":"2014-03-29T18:00:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:34.709Z","description":"The unrelenting bad news about America's airlines and airports -- in short, travelers hate them, and with reason -- got LIFE thinking about a time when air travel wasn't necessarily a living hell.","url":"https://time.com/3879489/stewardess-school-life-photos-1958/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Transportation","Travel","photography","Culture","airplanes","Peter Stackpole","1958"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda5a892e70b068a1/69884a8ecd68481c4309f4fe/01_114062615.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda5a892e70b068a1/69884a8ecd68481c4309f4fe/01_114062615.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stewardess School, 1958","caption":"Stewardess school, Texas, 1958.","creditText":"Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3879489/stewardess-school-life-photos-1958/","name":"When Flying Was Fun: LIFE Goes to Stewardess School, 1958"}}]}] ```