Answer to Jenni's question.

I thought about this a couple of days after we last met, and then I thought I better post it before I forget to tell you at the next book group.

Question: Why didn't Amelia and Fred turn around and go back to Lae after that almost botched take-off?

Answer: Premium gas.

It was written about briefly in Amelia Earhart's Shoes, and then I remembered something else I read about it in With Our Own Eyes. The Engines on the Electra were designed to run on premium gas: 95 octane or so. The Electra could cruise at altitude on 85 octane, but only the premium stuff had enough energy in it to get the Electra moving with enough ground speed to create lift. In other words: the Electra needed premium to get off the ground.

Premium fuel was hard to come by in the more-remote parts of the world. She landed at Lae with half a tank of premium. Her other tanks were all refilled with regular. There was no premium fuel available on Lae at that time. She used the half-tank on the take-off, and thought that as long as she got to Howell (or some other military base) that she could get more premium.

So she didn't turn around because going back meant she was stuck there until somebody shipped in at least 50 gallons of premium gas just for her. Since she did get the Electra airborne she figured her best chance of finishing the flight was finding Howell. Too bad she got lost trying.

Biographies to read

The consensus for biographies was to read about those Hollywood types.

Here are the lucky winners:

Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door by David Kaufmann

David Kaufman has now written the long-awaited, definitive biography of Doris Day. By telling Day’s incredible, previously untold story, Kaufman takes the reader to the epicenter of American popular culture— a roller-coaster saga, from the 1940s to the 1980s. While Day symbolized virtuous America to the rest of the world—especially in her heyday, the 1950s and early 1960s—both she and that era are still perceived as being far more innocent and carefree than they really were. Indeed, what makes Day’s story so richly fascinating is the fact that she was in many ways the opposite of her image as “the girl next door.” She was also a real-life Cinderella who regretted having gone to the ball and who found a series of princes who proved far less than charming. Thanks to Kaufman’s dogged diligence in tracking down countless colleagues and intimates, he gives us: Scintillating tales of fame, beauty, money, tragedy, sexual ambiguity, and sexual conquests. Anecdotes about a vast array of major subsidiary players in Day’s life, including Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Charles Manson, Mickey Mantle, Candice Bergen, and Rock Hudson. Kaufman reveals Day’s demons while emphasizing the extraordinary credit she deserves as an artist. In the tradition of great biographies, Kaufman’s detailed work not only reveals the surprising story of one of America’s most beloved icons, but also compels us to rush back and see her best films—including The Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk, Love Me or Leave Me —and to listen to her unforgettable songs—“Sentimental Journey,” “Secret Love,” “Que Sera, Sera.” Though she made more than 550 recordings and starred in 39 movies—not to mention her own TV show for five years—the epic story of Doris Day’s life has never been told . . . until now.

This book is relatively new, coming out last year.

Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography by Richard Stirling

Julie Andrews is the last of the great Hollywood musical stars, unequaled by any in her time. In My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews had the biggest hit on Broadway. As the title character in Mary Poppins, she won an Academy Award. And, in 1965, The Sound of Music made her the most famous woman in the world and rescued Twentieth Century Fox from bankruptcy. Three years later, the disastrous Star! almost put the studio back under, and the leading lady of both films fell as spectacularly as she had risen. Her film career seemed over. Yet Julie Andrews survived, with what Moss Hart, director of My Fair Lady, called “that terrible British strength that makes you wonder why they lost India.” Victor/Victoria, directed by her second husband, Blake Edwards, reinvented her screen image---but its stage version in 1997 led to the devastating loss of her defining talent, her singing voice. Against all odds, she has fought back again, with leading roles in The Princess Diaries and Shrek 2 . The real story of bandy-legged little Julia Wells from Walton-on-Thames is even more extraordinary; fresh details of her family background have only recently come to light. This is the first completely new biography of Julie Andrews as artist, wife, and mother in over thirty-five years---combining the author’s interviews with the star and his wide-ranging and riveting research. It is a frank but affectionate portrait of an enduring icon of stage and screen, who was made a Dame in the Millenium Honours List. Once dubbed “the last of the really great broads” by Paul Newman, she was the only actress in the 2002 BBC poll The 100 Greatest Britons. But who was Dame Julie, and who is she now? This is her story.

This one also came out last year.

Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn by Donald Spoto.

Her name is synonymous with elegance, style and grace. Over the course of her extraordinary life and career, Audrey Hepburn captured hearts around the world and created a public image that stands as one of the most recognizable and beloved in recent memory. But despite her international fame and her tireless efforts on behalf of UNICEF, Audrey was also known for her intense privacy. With unprecedented access to studio archives, friends and colleagues who knew and loved Audrey, bestselling author Donald Spoto provides an intimate and moving account of this beautiful, elusive and talented woman. Tracing her astonishing rise to stardom, from her harrowing childhood in Nazi-controlled Holland during World War II to her years as a struggling ballet dancer in London and her Tony Award–winning Broadway debut in Gigi , Spoto illuminates the origins of Audrey’s tenacious spirit and fiercely passionate nature. She would go on to star in some of the most popular movies of the twentieth century, including Roman Holiday , Sabrina , Funny Face , The Nun’s Story , Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady . A friend and inspiration to renowned designer Hubert de Givenchy, Audrey emerged as a fashion icon as well as a film legend, her influence on women’s fashion virtually unparalleled to this day. But behind the glamorous public persona, Audrey Hepburn was both a different and a deeper person and a woman who craved love and affection. Donald Spoto offers remarkable insights into her professional and personal relationships with her two husbands, and with celebrities such as Gregory Peck, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Robert Anderson, Cary Grant, Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney and Ben Gazzara. The turbulent romances of her youth, her profound sympathy for the plight of hungry children, and the thrills and terrors of motherhood prepared Audrey for the final chapter in her life, as she devoted herself entirely to the charity efforts of an organization that had once come to her rescue at the end of the war: UNICEF. Donald Spoto has written a poignant, funny and deeply moving biography of an unforgettable woman. At last, Enchantment reveals the private Audrey Hepburn—and invites readers to fall in love with her all over again. “She was as funny as she was beautiful. She was a magical combination of high chic and high spirits.” —Gregory Peck “In spite of her fragile appearance, she’s like steel.” —Cary Grant “Audrey was known for something which has disappeared, and that is elegance, grace and manners . . . God kissed her on the cheek, and there she was.” —Billy Wilder “There is not a woman alive who does not dream of looking like Audrey Hepburn.” —Hubert de Givenchy “Her magnetism was so extraordinary that everyone wanted to be close to her. It was as if she placed a glass barrier between herself and the world. You couldn’t get behind it easily. It made her remarkably attractive.” —Stanley Donen “She has authentic charm. Most people simply have nice manners.” —Alfred Lunt

This book came out in 2006.

All of these are available in limited quantities (2 or 3) at the library, and are in stock at Amazon (I checked).

May the best dame win.