87 BOEING AND HOLLYWOOD HAVE BEEN MAKING DREAMS TAKE FLIGHT FOR 100 YEARS Lights, camera, 2003 Boeing 777-300ER commercial transport The 777-300ER (Extended Range) is the world’s largest long-range, twin-engine jetliner. story by dan raley photography by boeing | delta air lines | get t y Portraying a passenger in the cabin of a DC-6, the young woman posed for photograph after photograph. She handed her coat to a flight attendant, reclined in a window seat and tested out a sleeping bunk, smiling with each click of the camera. A Los Angeles native, married and just 19, she turned this session into her first modeling endorsement, according to the historians who have tracked her career. With a red bow fastened to her curly brown hair, she looked nothing like the pop culture icon that she would later become. From this 1945 photo shoot for Boeing heritage company Douglas Aircraft, with World War II having come to an end, the woman at the center of attention signed her name, Norma Jeane Dougherty, to a model release form. She later became unmistakably blond and a larger-than-life presence on the big screen—reinvented as Marilyn Monroe. Since the onset of commercial airline travel and big-budget filmmaking, Boeing and Hollywood have continually crossed storylines. Each industry has been fascinated by the other’s concerted push to make the world a more magical and accessible place, whether using engine turbines or cinematic narratives. They’ve shared in airplane rollouts and movie premieres. Aircraft of all kinds have appeared in nearly 5,000 films. Actors not only have been depicted as aviators, but some have brought real-life piloting skills to the flight deck, such as John Travolta and Harrison Ford. “They have been as interested in us as we have been interested in them,” said Dave Knowlen, Boeing director for Special Projects. Marilyn Monroe’s Boeing moment was one of discovery—of the world suddenly finding out about her. The DC-6 photos, which are now stored in the secure and temperature-controlled Boeing Archives in Bellevue, Wash., were taken inside a cabin prototype rather than the actual airplane. One of the images, showing Monroe surrounded by fellow passengers in neon-colored seating, ended up on the cover of the January 1946 issue of Douglas Airview, a publication for company employees. This was Monroe’s first magazine cover, according to her historians. Memorabilia collectors everywhere seem to agree with that, shelling out more than $2,000 in online auctions for each rare copy of the Douglas Airview issue, which includes a full-page advertisement featuring Monroe and others interacting with a flight attendant. The ready connection between Hollywood and Boeing is not lost on Casey Sander, a veteran character actor who lives in Los Angeles. He’s appeared in several feature films and more than 300 TV episodes, among them Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men, Grace Under Fire and Home Improvement. His father worked for Boeing. His cousin is currently a Boeing machinist. He understands the overlap of filmmaking and aviation, one fueled by the common need for diversion and fun. “Hollywood is escapism and going on a Boeing airplane is escapism—it’s a dream,” Sander said. “When you escape into a 60-foot darkened room or inside an airplane, your bad day goes away.” Douglas Aircraft, located in the Los Angeles area not far from the film studios, was one of the first aerospace companies to interact with Hollywood headliners with its airplanes. A-listers such as Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper, Hedy Lamarr, John Wayne and Shirley Temple were among those photographed
Frontiers July 2016 Issue
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