The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name. The image is a glossy real photograph. The card was posted in Coleford using a 2d. stamp on Thursday the 15th. July 1954.
Coleford is a market town in the west of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, two miles (3 km) east of the Welsh border and close to the Wye Valley. It is the administrative centre of the Forest of Dean district.
The card was sent to:
The Revd. I. G. T. Clarkson,
208, Stapleton Hall Road,
Stroud Green,
London N4.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"The Speech House,
Forest of Dean,
Gloucestershire.
14/ 7/ '54.
What dreadful news of
Father P.
Having a good rest.
Next halt Ross-on-Wye.
William."
The Speech House Hotel is a former 17th. Century Hunting Lodge located In The Royal Forest Of Dean. It is still going strong to this day.
A Deadly Aircraft Crash
So what else happened on the day that the card was written?
Well, on Wednesday the 14th. July 1954, the first prototype of the Handley Page Victor bomber, WB771, was lost when the tail became detached during a low-level pass over the runway at Cranfield.
This caused the aircraft to crash with the loss of the crew. The crash was subsequently attributed to design failure.
Attached to the fin using three bolts, the tailplane was subjected to considerably more load than had been anticipated, causing fatigue cracking around the bolt holes.
This led to the bolts loosening and failing in shear.
WB771 had been partially assembled at the Handley Page factory at Radlett airfield when the Ministry of Supply decided that the runway was too short for the first flight.
The aircraft parts were transported by road to RAF Boscombe Down where they were assembled for the first flight; bulldozers were used to clear the route and create paths around obstacles.
Sections of the aircraft were hidden under wooden framing and tarpaulins printed with GELEYPANDHY/SOUTHAMPTON in order to make it appear as a boat hull in transit.
GELEYPANDHY was an anagram of "Handley Pyge", marred by a signwriter's error.
The Silent Screen Star Jackie Saunders
The 14th. July 1954 was also not a good day for Jackie Saunders, because she died on that day.
Jackie, who was born Anna Jackal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 6th. October 1892, was an American silent screen actress who was one of the major players and stars of Balboa Films.
-- Jackie Saunders' Career
Before joining Balboa in 1914 at age 21, Jackie had been a model and Orpheum Stock Company theater player. She was a young 22 years old when she first appeared in the silent movie, The Will O' The Wisp.
Jackie starred in many of Balboa's films during its existence as a film-producing company.
In the 1920's and after Balboa folded, she appeared in productions produced by William Fox, Metro Pictures, Lewis J. Selznick, Thomas H. Ince and B. P. Schulberg.
Films that Saunders made for Mutual achieved enough success in Australia that in 1919 a group of businessmen from that country tried to persuade her to make films there.
Jackie's last known film credit was in 1925.
-- Jackie Saunders' Personal Life
Saunders was married to Elwood D. Horkheimer from 1916 to 1920; they had a daughter, Jacqueline.
In 1927 she married J. Ward Cohen. They were wed until his death in 1951. They had a daughter, Mary Ann, who became an actress.
-- Jackie Saunders' Death
Jackie died from cancer at the age of 61 in Palm Springs, California, and was laid to rest at the Welwood Murray cemetery in Palm Springs.
Denny Jackson notes in IMDB that:
"Although Jackie stayed fairly busy throughout
her career, she was an actress who wasn't as
noticed as some others. She was pretty, but
not beautiful. She was talented, but nothing
that was overwhelming. After The People
vs. Nancy Preston in 1925, Jackie left films
for good."
