Come fly with me, Part 1

"Catch 22" went on the air in 1968, and Chuck, Les and I came up with more than a few shows that caught audience attention. Some of them were probably even as good as we thought they were.

Judging by audience reaction, our most successful show was one centered on tourism and the many destinations that were just a short flight away -- Paris, Brussels, London, Amsterdam and so on.

The Luxembourg airport was the closest departure point -- maybe a 40-minute drive -- so we decided to spice up the show by inviting each of the airlines that served Luxembourg to send us a stewardess for a live interview. We called the airlines, expecting to be turned down, but to our surprise every airline we called agreed. Sexist youth that we were in those days, we explained that our show was aimed at GIs, so we wanted gorgeous stewardesses. As show time drew near that night, the AFTV Spangdahlem studio was drenched in pulchritude.

We knew we wanted a knock-your-socks-off opening to the show. Somebody came up with an idea: We'd take the film camera to the airport and film Les and a couple of Luxair stewardesses getting on a plane. We'd use Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly with Me" as the soundtrack.

But ... we realized that would take only about 20 seconds. Chuck came up with the idea that made the introduction memorable. Once he had Les "airborne" on film, he cut to stock footage of aerial acrobatics from the 1930s, military dogfights from World War II and Vietnam, and even some early flights from aviation's experimental beginnings. Then he cut back to film of Les landing and "staggering" as he disembarked at Luxembourg, aided by his attractive stewardess companions.

I watched as Chuck created his masterpiece over the course of a week or so. How he managed to synch the film and the recording -- and to make his cuts match the rhythm of the music -- I'll never understand. It was meticulous, nerve-wracking work. We had none of the specialized equipment that would make it so much easier today.

On the night of the broadcast, the opening credits rolled, the "Come Fly with Me" film montage worked perfectly, and Les and the comely stewardesses had a rollicking good time on the set. He teased them, flirted flagrantly, and simultaneously kept the chatter on point about air travel in our corner of Europe.

The phone calls -- all positive -- started even before the closing credits. And when we took the stewardesses and the show's crew to the Spangdahlem NCO Club for dinner after the broadcast, viewers stopped by our table to tell us how much they liked the show -- and to chat with the stewardesses, who told us later that they'd never seen such a positive reaction to a TV interview.

Okay, we were shameless. But the show was a hit.