Stewardesses

PSA hired some of the most beautiful women in the industry to be stewardesses. They were one of the most powerful promotional items the company had, and as a result, a number of photos were taken of the girls (and some male flight attendants).

PSA's first stewardess was Ramona Tower, hired when the airline started service. She received no formal training, but was very attractive to the predominantly Military crowd traveling PSA. Her first uniform was bought off the rack of a local store, which served for several weeks until a passenger showed up wearing the same outfit.

Her next outfit was the custom green suit, which was worn by the small Stewardess corps between 1949 and 1955.

For the DC-4, stewardesses received a new uniform (which I do not have any pictures of, unfortunately.) For the 1958 Fiesta Del Pacifico in San Diego, PSA stewardesses received special uniforms for the occasion. .

The first major change in uniform was 1962, when the "Banana Skin" was introduced. This brown, form-fitting uniform (shown below on the left) revealed more of the girls' beautiful bodies, and caused eyebrows to raise among the mostly male passengers.

Uniform chronology:

1949: Green suit
1955: Light brown suit (summer), dark brown (winter) with embroidered PSA logo
1958: Fiesta Del Pacifico uniform during the Fiesta Del Pacifico
1960: Brown suit, more form fitting
1962: "Banana-Skin" uniform
1965: First miniskirt
1966: Celery green with pink trim miniskirt
1968: Pink miniskirt with green trim
1970: Pink and orange mini with Go-Go boots
1974: Red miniskirt with Go-Go boots
1976: Mauve and rainbow fabric skirt/suit
1980: Burgundy suit coats and pink blouses, or grey pants
1984: Purple skirts

The first stewards were introduced in 1968 on Boeing 727-200 flights, and were responsible for cocktails. (Marilyn Tritt, in her book "Long Legs and Short Nights", dryly noted that "they were not allowed to do PA announcements, because nobody could understand them. Therefore, let's face it, they were along for the ride.")