The video isn't the greatest quality - it's from the 1920s. But what you can see is amazing. She has no safety line, no parachute, nothing but guts!
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Gladys Ingle was a member of a barnstorming troupe called the 13 Black Cats in the 1920s. Ingles was a wing walker; in this film, she shows her fearlessness in a classic barnstorming fashion to save an airplane that has lost one of its main wheels. Ingle is shown with a replacement wheel being strapped to her back and then off she goes as "Up She Goes," a duet from the era, provides the soundtrack. In the video, Ingles transfers herself from the rescue plane to the one missing the main landing gear tire. She then expertly works herself down to the undercarriage only a few feet from a spinning prop. It's certainly a feat many mechanics wouldn't even try on the ground with the engine running."

Barnstorming was popular in the early 1920s. A pilot would fly over a small town to get attention, and then land at a local farm, where they'd use one of the fields as a runway. People could take airplane rides, and there would be an air show, where pilots would do acrobatic loops and rolls, and wing walkers would perform daring feats.

Some wing walkers did indeed die during these shows, and viewers always knew that was a possibility. In the late 1920s, the government began implementing stricter safety standards, and the barnstorming age came to an end.

Barnstorming biplanes, with somebody climbing out? ~ 1918

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I'd say Gladys Ingles was an Adventurous Wench of the highest order! She's now on my list, along with Amelia Earhart and other daring, adventurous women. Thanks to Dave for sending this one to me!
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Related posts:

1. One must have the adventurous daring

The famous church at Rancho de Taos

The tri-cultural history of New Mexico is strong here.

• At Taos Pueblo, an ancient lifestyle is maintained, in stacked-cube buildings a thousand years old.
• The church of San Francisco de Asis at Rancho de Taos, a favorite with artists, is a reminder of the Spanish, who first arrived with Coronado in 1540.
• Kit Carson's house stands near the plaza downtown, now a museum dedicated to this sometimes friend, sometimes foe of the Indians in the 1800s.

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Moving forward in time, Taos always brings me back to one of my favorite books, by a very remarkable woman:  Edge of Taos Desert: An Escape to Reality, by Mabel Dodge Luhan.

Edge of Taos Desert

In the early 1900s Mabel was a high-society New York city socialite. She was used to Fifth Avenue, wealth and privilege, and she was a patron of the arts and the avant-garde. Technically, she was Mabel Ganson Evans Dodge Sterne. Her latest husband, Maurice Sterne, was a painter, and her intention was to turn him into a sculptor.

In 1917, Mabel decided to visit Santa Fe, New Mexico, a place hardly anyone in New York had heard of. Little did she know how this would affect her.

'I want a vacation', I said to myself. 'I've had a horrid time lately. I feel like a Change.'
I got it. My life broke in two right then, and I entered into the second half, a new world that replaced all the ways I had known with others, more strange and terrible and sweet than any I had ever been able to imagine."

Mabel fell in love with New Mexico, and particularly Taos - a tiny little backwater of a place at the time. She decided they should move here, and made it happen.

It's fascinating to read her descriptions of Santa Fe and Taos, and the way people lived in those days - the Indians, Spanish and Anglos all. In the nearly 100 years since it was written, life has changed greatly here, and Mabel has a unique way of viewing and describing things that's most interesting. But no matter how much has changed, every once in awhile, she says something that makes me think "Exactly - I felt that too!"

The sky was a burning, deep blue over us and my heart rose higher and higher until I was thrilling all over. It seemed to me I had never been happy before, just from being in good air and sunshine. Really, it seemed to me, I had never been happy before at all."

Mabel was more than an observer, though. She became involved with one of the men from Taos Pueblo, Tony Luhan, and eventually married him.

She also invited numerous friends from her old New York life to spend time with her in Taos, so they could discover this new world that so captivated her. By bringing artists, writers and photographers to Taos, she changed things for Taos, her visitors, and even us today. A couple of examples.

• If Georgia O'Keeffe hadn't visited Mabel in Taos, she might never have painted her stunning New Mexico landscapes.
• If Ansel Adams hadn't visited Mabel in Taos, he might never have found his passion for photography, and created his dramatic black and white landscapes.

This is a great book by a fascinating and influential woman - truly an Adventurous Wench! If you're headed to New Mexico, or even thinking about it, this book is highly recommended.

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We've finished our last women's trip to Santa Fe and Taos for the year. I do love visiting New Mexico, and hope to be back there again before long. The big blue skies, fresh crisp air, and remarkable history and culture keep drawing me back - and then there's the delectable food!
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Related posts:

1. Taos, New Mexico - Rio Pueblo Gorge (video)
2. Veterans Day at Taos Pueblo (video)
3. So there we were... rubbed down in the desert

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself."
~ Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball, Yank Army Weekly, 1945

When I think of Lucy, I have to smile. The first image that comes to mind is the chocolate factory! For a woman who brought smiles and laughter to so many millions of people, you might think optimism was natural. But her real life was far from an easy ride.

To think that this illustrious career all started with dating a gangster. Not what you might think, though! It was to get teenage Lucy away from said gangster boyfriend that her mother shipped her off to drama school in New York. (Hmm... that wouldn't have been my first choice as a destination to get away from gangsters. Guess it worked for her though!)

So off to drama school she went. And after a couple of weeks, they sent her home again, saying she "had no future at all as a performer". A lesser woman might have given up then, but Lucy was determined to prove them wrong.

A couple of years later, she was back in New York, got into modeling, and then onto the stage. That didn't go so well, either, as she was hired and then fired by a number of Broadway shows. Some people would have given up then, but not Lucy.

She moved to Hollywood, and got into movies. She was in plenty of movies, but never very successful, and became known as "queen of the B's". After playing a wacky wife on a radio show, CBS approached her to develop it into a TV role. She agreed, but only if hubby Desi Arnaz could co-star. That was too much for 1948 studio execs -- a redhead / Cuban family? Not quite white-bread enough for them, so they refused. A lot of people would have caved in here, and gone quietly along with it. Not Lucy.

The two filmed the pilot episode on their own, under DesiLu Productions. Studio was still not impressed. Then she and Desi took their show on the road, touring the US doing a vaudeville act. It was such a success that the studio eventually gave her what she wanted, and put I Love Lucy on the air.

Her personal life wasn't easy, either. After eloping with Cuban band leader Desi Arnaz in 1940, the marriage was up and down. Lucy filed for divorce in 1944, but then they reconciled. After several miscarriages, they eventually had 2 children together, before divorcing for good in 1960.

Her second child turned into another fight with the TV studio. I Love Lucy was a major hit at the time, and Ball and Arnaz wrote the pregnancy into the season. CBS disapproved, insisting that a pregnant woman could not be shown on TV, nor could they say the word "pregnant". Huh? I mean, I suppose the networks could pretend that sex never existed, but there were pregnant women all over the country, walking around in broad daylight, in full view of the neighbors. What's to hide?

Anyway, CBS had to get approval from "several religious figures" before allowing the pregnancy storyline. They still couldn't say the word "pregnant", but got by with "expecting" instead. The show was a success, and the birth made the first-ever cover of TV Guide.

This is just the thumbnail sketch of a truly remarkable woman - TV and movie star, and head of a major production studio. She achieved these things with that optimism she talked about. If she had lost faith in herself and given up in the difficult times, the world would have missed out on a lot of happiness.

I'll let Lucy wrap it up at the chocolate factory.

For more on this inspirational woman, see Wikipedia: Lucille Ball

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Lucille Ball is my idea of an exciting and inspirational Adventurous Wench. She lived life her way, in spite of the people who told her she couldn't, and the people who said she wasn't good enough. She didn't stay within the "good girl" lines -- she broke the rules, and thereby changed the rules. I'm sure she gave some studio exec's ulcers, but by doing so, she made the world a better place. I can only hope to model some of her perseverance, strength, sense of humor, and indomitable spirit. And I'm staying away from assembly lines!
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Related posts:

1. What was frowned upon as unladylike
2. Shirley Valentine -- Greece movie recommendation