I've said it before and I'll say it again: one thing I love about the groovy age is its love affair with air travel. A cosmopolitan sensibility permeates the popular culture, and the passenger jetliner is its central symbol. Aggressive television advertising campaigns helped create and foster this image, and there's a lot of stunning painted brochure and poster artwork, on a par with some of the finest movie posters and paperback covers, to be found by anyone who cares to look.
Flying has, alas, lost much of its lustre for us. In the wake of 9/11, it's a tense, harried, sometimes invasive experience--to say nothing of the belt-tightening measures airlines have adopted (and imposed on passengers), which make it all so much less luxurious. Of course, the groovy age had its own spate of air terrorism, hijackings, and piracy, but counterbalancing that in the Zeitgeist are scenes like the one in The Opening of Misty Beethoven, where beautiful stewardesses offer passengers a variety of erotic services along with the meals and beverages (sorry, I don't have the disc or I'd post a screenshot here!). Today, the only ads I see pertaining to air travel are online services competing to promise the lowest rates—nothing to create an air of glamour or the romance of flying to destinations that hold exciting promise.
So, on to Jet Stream! First, I just love that painted cover by illustrator Lou Feck. If you think it looks "generic" (as one person said to me), look again. In the airplane and especially the airport, the gorgous telltale stylings that mark this as a groovy age illustration are evident.
I enjoyed the story tons, but I was a bit shocked at how much it copied Arthur Hailey's Airport: you have the terrible blizzard, the dangerous maniac onboard who threatens the whole flight, the pilot torn between two women, the fun and fascinating glimpses behind the scenes of air travel, the harried people on the ground doing everything they can to brace for the inevitable disaster . . . I would call it a ripoff, but it's really pulled off very well and with enough style that both novels are worth reading if, like me, you're a fan of this sort of thing. Hailey brings a tad more of that potboiling blockbuster energy to his story, whereas Ferguson handles the characters with a little more finesse. Really, if you like one, you'll like the other, so if this sounds like your sort of thing, I'd strongly recommend both.
