1961: Trans World Airlines becomes the first airline to offer regular in-flight movies, launching a form of entertainment that has become a mainstay of air travel.

The first film shown, on a flight from New York to Los Angeles 50 years ago today, was By Love Possessed starring Lana Turner. The screening was in the first-class cabin only and was the result of a eureka! moment by the technology’s mastermind, David Flexer.

Flexer, a film buff who owned a small chain of movie houses, was on a transcontinental flight in 1956 when he, as he realized — and recounted to Life magazine — “Air travel is the most advanced form of transportation and the most boring.”

Prior to Flexer’s realization there had a been a few rudimentary in-flight movie screenings. In 1921, for example, attendees at a Chicago fair were treated a flight over the city in a small plane while watching a promotional film for the town. But no airline regularly offered the service.

Flexer decided to see if he could bring his business to the sky. First, he had to overcome some technical problems. He had to find a way to put full films onto single reels that wouldn’t have to be switched. He also needed to build a projector that could withstand the rigors of turbulence and be light enough to mount on a plane.

His engineers told him it simply wasn’t doable.

But after three years of development and $1 million of his own money, Flexer’s team developed a horizontal design that projected large 16mm reels, weighed less than 100 pounds and was sky-ready. Flexer’s new company, Inflight Motion Pictures, then went looking for an in-flight partner.

The airlines weren’t Initially interested in Flexer’s wares. But then TWA, which at the time was looking to increase its profile, agreed to give Inflight a shot. Flexer and his team took a Boeing 707, fitted it with their equipment and spent the early part of 1961 flying around and fixing bugs.

In July of that year TWA began offering films to first class passengers. The response was extraordinary, and soon flyers were paying huge fees to get into first class to catch the show. Before long, in-flight movies were everywhere.

In-your-seat entertainment, of course, went on to become a staple of air travel. And today it is more often than not coupled with in-flight satellite radio as well as video on demand and even wireless internet.

But the next time you send one of those “I’m on a plane!” tweets, just remember the big dream of David Flexer.

Source: Various, including John Norman White’s “A History of In-Flight Entertainment,” provided by APEX, the Airline Passenger Experience Association