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In this episode, we are joined by Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a former Pan Am stewardess from 1972 to 1974 who went on to build an extraordinary career in Hollywood. 

Her journey is a remarkable one that spans aviation, Hollywood, and film education. She began her professional career as a Pan Am stewardess from 1972 to 1974, an experience that gave her a global perspective and a deep appreciation for storytelling and human connection.

After leaving Pan Am, Cheryl moved to San Franscico where she held various jobs. However, she always thought about either going back into aviation or pursuing her dream of being in the film business inspired in part by her brother, Ashley Boone, a pioneering film executive. 

Learn more about Ashley here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/he-was-star-wars-secret-weapon-why-was-he-forgotten-1275211/

Through him, she attended an advanced screening of Star Wars before its release in May 1977. That moment proved transformational and solidified her belief that the motion picture industry was where she belonged. So, she packed her bags and moved to Hollywood. 

Over the decades that followed, Cheryl worked on the marketing, publicity, and release of some of the most iconic films in cinema history. 

Her credits include Forrest Gump, Titanic, The King’s Speech, Braveheart, The Artist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Right Stuff, Once Upon a Time in America, The Wedding Singer, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Spider-Man 2. She also worked on two Indiana Jones films and five Star Trek films.

Behind the scenes, Cheryl broke significant barriers. She became the first African American woman to lead a major studio marketing department at New Line Cinema, and later the first African American to serve as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where she guided the organization through a pivotal period of reflection and change.

Today, she continues shaping the future of storytelling as the Founding Director and Professor of Practice at the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University (film.asu.edu). 

In that role, she mentors students and builds a program grounded in Sidney Poitier’s legacy, emphasizing inclusion, leadership, and real-world industry experience.

From the skies of Pan Am to Hollywood studios and now the classroom, Cheryl Boone Isaacs’ career reflects a lifelong commitment to storytelling, leadership, and opening doors for future generations. 

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode, we’re joined by Tania Anderson, who served as a Pan Am flight attendant from 1986 to 1991, navigating a pivotal era of transition, resilience, and global adventure for the world’s most iconic airline. 

Today, she still flies, carrying forward the spirit of Pan Am on international charter missions, and she is usually flying on a Boeing 747!

But Tania’s story reaches far beyond her years in uniform. She is an avid lifelong learned traveler and is always making connections and seeking adventure. 

Tania has been a Hollywood film extra on productions such as the films Catch Me if You Can and War of the Worlds, as well as, the television series The West Wing.

She is the author of the powerful memoir On Butterflies’ Wings, a deeply personal journey through loss, renewal, and the healing power of human connection.

In her book, Tania intertwines her Pan Am experiences with the transformative events that shaped her life, offering readers a story that is both uplifting and profoundly human.

We’ll talk about Tania’s time with Pan Am, the soul of the airline’s culture, the moments in the sky that changed her, and the experiences—some beautiful, some heartbreaking—that ultimately became the heart of her book, On Butterflies’ Wings. Her book reminds us that even in our most difficult moments, there is grace, strength, and, as she writes, the chance to rise—just like a butterfly.

Click here to purchase On Butterflies' Wings: An Anthology of International Escapades.

She also has an exciting new project in the works for 2026 as the host of an international radio show called “The Global Gratitude Show with Tania Anderson” that will be beamed to more than 150 countries from Brushwood Media. 

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode, we’re joined by screenwriter Jack Epps, Jr. and his student, up and coming screenwriter Kate Ginley, who is writing a screenplay about Pan Am and Tenerife.

Jack is now a professor and Chair of the Writing for Screen and Television Division at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, also known as USC. 

But you probably already know of him from the most iconic aviation films ever made — the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, which he co-wrote with his longtime screenwriting partner, Jim Cash. Starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, Top Gun didn’t just redefine aviation movies — it became a cultural phenomenon. It inspired generations of aviators, reignited pride in flight, and set the gold standard for how aviation could be portrayed on screen.

The film was also a popular hit during its run as a featured movie of Pan Am’s Theatre in the Air. 

Beyond the breathtaking aerial footage, Top Gun is a brilliant study in the craft of screenwriting — how character, emotion, and story structure come together to create cinematic magic.

After Top Gun, Jack Epps, Jr.  and Jim Cash went on to write a series of major Hollywood hits, including Legal Eagles, The Secret of My Success, Dick Tracy, and Turner & Hooch. 

Today, Jack brings that same storytelling mastery to his students at USC — shaping the next generation of screenwriters and filmmakers.

In our conversation, we’ll talk about Jack’s remarkable career, his insights into the art and discipline of screenwriting, the enduring legacy of Top Gun, and how Kate is carrying that storytelling spirit forward in her new screenplay about Pan Am and the tragedy at Tenerife.

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode we are joined by two special guests, Steve Ford (the youngest son of President and Mrs. Ford) and adoptee Thuy Williams to mark the 50th anniversary of Operation Babylift, the frantic evacuation ordered by U.S. President Gerald R. Ford of Vietnamese war orphans in the final days of Saigon in 1975. 

The Pan Am Museum, in partnership with the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum, commissioned filmmaker Dirk Braun to create the documentary short film, Operation Babylift: 50 Years Later: 1975-2025, A Celebration of the Human Spirit.

Steve Ford has enjoyed a remarkable acting career spanning over 40 years, with appearances in more than 800 hours of film and television productions. He has worked on over 25 films and numerous guest-lead roles in television. 

Early in his career, Steve spent six years playing Andy Richards on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. His film and TV credits include Transformers, Black Hawk Down, Contact, Armageddon, Starship Troopers, Eraser, Heat, When Harry Met Sally, J.A.G., Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Happy Days, along with many others.

Steve is the third and youngest son of President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford. He currently serves on the Board of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. 

Adoptee Thuy Williams was born in Ho Chi Minh City in 1970. 

When she became an adult, she wanted to serve the country that gave her a second chance by joining the U.S. Army as a tank mechanic. 

After serving for eight years, Thuy returned to her adoptive hometown of Portland, Oregon and started her own business, a construction and roofing company called Acme High Performance. 

She is also a missionary with One Challenge and a coach of soccer, track, and lacrosse…spending her time traveling the world, using sports to bridge the gap with traumatized people in refugee camps in third-world countries and helps these kids process trauma by using sports as a way to create friendships and smiles. Thuy is on the board the nonprofit Breaking Boundaries, which takes kids from the US to do community service projects in third-world countries. 

Like Steve Ford, Thuy is also motivational speaker encouraging people to make a difference in their communities that leaves a lasting legacy for generations to come. 

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode we are joined by Donald Devito who worked for the Pan Am board of directors from the early 1960s until the end of the airline. Also, joining us is his son, Dr. Donald DeVito, a renowned musical educator. 

The senior DeVito will share stories working for the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1950s and being hired by Pan Am in the early 1960s to work for the corporate board of directors and founder Juan T. Trippe. He was on a first name basis with Mr. Trippe and coordinated the materials and presentations for board members such as aviation legend Charles Lindbergh and banker James Rockefeller, among others. 

His hiring by Pan Am was tied to his cryptography training in the U.S. Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency where he served in the 1950s during the Cold War in Rangoon, the Philippines and Libya. 

Don’s son, the junior Dr. Donald DeVito, will share his memories of traveling around the world as a Pan Am kid and how that shaped his career in education. Dr. Don is a music educator at the Rawlings Elementary Center for Fine Arts since 2018 and is an adjunct instructor in the University of Florida Online Masters in Music Education program. 

From 2001 to 2018 he was the music director and special education teacher at the Sidney Lanier Center, a public school in Gainesville, Florida, for students with disabilities between 3 and 22. The music programs are global in scope and linked online with universities and music programs internationally through research, cooperative music making, and professional music education organizations.  

Dr. DeVito was named the 2011 National Teacher of the Year by the Council for Exceptional Children.

The elder Mr. DeVito, his sons, and their families live in Florida. They even have a rescue horse that lives on their farm affectionally named "Clipper" in honor of Pan Am! 

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode we explore Operation Pedro Pan, the clandestine operation of the U.S. Government, the Catholic Church and Pan American World Airways to relocate over 14,000 children out of Cuba to the United States between 1960 and 1962. 

Our guest for this episode is Pan Am veteran Yvonne Conde who wrote the book Operation Pedro Pan: The Untold Exodus of 14,048 Cuban Children. She will share many personal insights on being one of the many children that were sent away by their parents for a better future in America in the early 1960s. Yvonne will also share her stories of working for Pan Am during her 18 years in the air as a flight attendant. Her father, Pedro Conde, worked for Pan American in Havana from the 1940s to the early 1960s. 

Yvonne is a freelance writer based in New York City and has written for Latina Magazine, Crain’s, Smithsonian, and Hispanic Business Magazine and has been featured on the NewHour with Jim Lehrer and National Public Radio. 

Operation Pedro Pan facilitated the migration of Cuban children to the United States as a response to the Cuban Revolution and the subsequent fear among Cuban families that their parental rights would be revoked and their children would be indoctrinated into communism.

Under the operation, more than 14,000 Cuban children, primarily between the ages of 6 and 18, were sent to the U.S. without their parents. The children were placed in foster homes, orphanages, and other institutions, with the intention of reuniting them with their families later. 

The operation ended during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 that put the United States and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear war. 

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode, Host Tom Betti shares insights on his recent trip to Japan where he met Charlie, a purser with United Airlines, on his inbound flight to Tokyo and on his outbound flight from Osaka met United flight attendants Leslie and Lynn who both worked for Pan Am from 1977 to 1986 until the Pacific Division was sold to United.

Tom also shares some personal travel stories and gives many updates about this program and the Pan Am Museum! 

The Pan Am Podcast was recently awarded the 2025 Platinum Muse Creative Award and the 2025 Platinum Vega Digital Award. To learn more, read Tom's interview with Muse staff about this incredible achievement: 

Tom Betti on Telling the Untold Stories of Pan Am

On April 24, 2025, the Pan Am Museum, in partnership with the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum, hosted an event in Garden City, NY celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Operation Babylift, the frantic evacuation, ordered by President Ford, of Vietnamese war orphans in the final days of Saigon in 1975. In addition, on May 9, 2025 the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum hosted an event in Grand Rapids, MI to celebrate the anniversary. 

To mark the occasion, the three organizations produced a short documentary film by Dirk Braun that premiered at both events. You can view this film on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9pNjUZwXb4

There’s also an officially branded Pan Am coffee available from Expedition Roasters Coffee Company that was recently released. There are two kinds available: Organic Guatemalan Single Origin which is more of a medium roast and Sumatra Single-Origin from Indonesia which is more of a dark roast. 

Here is the link to purchase Pan Am coffee:
https://expeditionroasters.com/collections/pan-am

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• Donate to the Museum!
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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode we are joined by Gary Bartelings, a supporter of the Pan Am Museum and founder and managing director of Bartelings, a company dedicated to unique travel experiences by private jet. 

We also welcome back to the program our good friend Becky Sprecher. She has been a frequent guest and contributor to this podcast. Becky brings great history to this episode about the flying boats of 1930s and the insight into Pan Am’s legendary passenger service. 

From June 16, 2025 to June 28, 2025, Pan Am returns to the sky for an exclusive journey for 50 intrepid voyagers aboard a luxurious and modern private 757 aircraft with Pan Am livery! This exclusive trip, called Tracing the Transatlantic, will follow some of Pan Am’s original flying boat routes across the Atlantic Ocean with stops in New York, Bermuda, Lisbon, Marseille, London and Foynes. 

For more information, visit criteriontravel.com/panam 

Founded in 2015, Bartelings was incorporated to provide discerning travel companies access to extensive expertise and knowledge to create incredible and exclusive trips for customers. 

Their aim is to create unique experiences throughout the world allowing guests to connect with other cultures, visit incredible sights –both natural and man-made– and to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world we all inhabit.

Our guest Gary Bartelings grew up in the Netherlands. His original career plan was to study at the Hotel School, however, he changed his mind and wanted to broaden his education to tourism. 

Gary started his travel career in 1987 with Qantas Airways in Amsterdam after completing his education. During his career he has been involved in everything from telephone sales to aircraft dispatch, brochure production to contract negotiation, crisis management to tour managing, public speaking to PR relationships and so on.

Having had the privilege to travel extensively around the world he believes there is no better way to connect people and cultures than through understanding, acceptance and respect. The best way to achieve that is to travel, to visit, to interact, to learn. 

Gary has a passion for travel in all it shapes and forms, he has explored Asia donning a backpack, drove a classic car through Southern India to raise money for charity and at the other end of the scale visited famous monuments of humanity traveling by private jet and each experience  strengthens his appreciation of the world we live in. 

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode we learn about the life of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, who was a pilot for Pan Am from 1945 to 1948.

Then we will be joined by a very special guest, George Takei, a legendary actor, NY Times Best Selling author, and activist. He knew “Star Trek” creator and Pan Am pilot Gene Roddenberry well for over 25 years playing Mr. Sulu in the 1966 television show “Star Trek” and six subsequent feature films.

George will share his personal insights into the Roddenberry philosophy, memories of living in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II, working in Hollywood as an actor, and how he became a pop culture icon.

His latest book, Rhymes With Takei, will be released on June 17, 2025 and can be pre-ordered.

In the early hours of June 19, 1947, Pan Am Clipper Eclipse, a Lockheed L-049 Constellation, crashed in the Syrian desert killing 15 people. Third Officer Gene Roddenberry was traveling as a passenger and became the senior officer after the flight crew was killed. He took charge of the crash site, organized and helped survivors, and sought help. After they were rescued, he decided he didn't want to fly anymore and resigned from Pan Am almost a year later on May 15, 1948 to pursue his dream of writing, particularly for the new medium of television.

For more information on Roddenberry's life, we encourage you to read Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry by David Alexander.

The audio clips of Roddenberry used in this episode are from a rare 1988 interview.

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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!

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In this episode we explore the first transatlantic passenger flights of Pan Am’s Boeing 314 flying boats in the late 1930s and we welcome back to the program Pan Am flight attendant and author Becky Sprecher who will share her insights -and family history– of these flying clippers!

Becky was our guest in Episode 7: Flying the Line and Episode 29 AIDS Epidemic of the 1980s, Remembering Those We Lost.

To learn more about Pan Am’s flying boats, listen to Episode 3: Flying Boats, Irish Coffee, and a Hollywood Star and Episode 8: A Lifetime of Romantic Adventure... From Flying Boats to Jumbo Jets after listening to this installment.

On March 29, 1939, the Yankee Clipper made history and took off from Baltimore to Europe under the command of Captain Harold Gray. On this inspection flight, the clipper traveled to the Azores, Lisbon, Marseilles, Southampton, and Foynes and back. 

On June 17, 1939, Pan American arranged for a special flight for 16 members of the press departing from Port Washington on the Atlantic Clipper; a brilliant marketing and public relations strategy for the airline. This press flight is historically and culturally significant because the radio reporters on board reported live at an altitude of 10,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean to listeners all over the country tuned into their radio sets with great interest.

The cost for a one-way ticket to Europe was $375 (that’s about $8,500 in 2024 money adjusted for inflation) or $675 roundtrip (which is over $15,000 today).

There are no original Boeing 314 flying boats in existence today. However, the Foynes Flying Boat Museum in Foynes, Ireland ahs an impressive full-scale replica of the Yankee Clipper you can tour with every detail accurately recreated. 

The Records of Pan American World Airways Inc. are part of the Special Collections of the Richter Library of the University of Miami.

Listen to the Mid Century Living podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. 

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• Visit Us for more Pan Am History!
• Support the Podcast!
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A very special thanks to Mr. Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of AMC and president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and Pan Am Brands for their continued and unwavering support!