June 26th 1947 Vanguard studios to joan F Towler

culver city, california, usa to walsoken, wisbech, cambridgeshire

5410 miles

The message

On the front - Best Wishes Johnny Sands

On the back - DUEL in the SUN

the sender

More information about Vanguard Studio aka Vanguard Films can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_Films. It was set up by legendary film producer David O Selznick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_O._Selznick) known for Gone With The Wind and Rebecca, in 1943 and was liquidated in 1951.

the recipient

Joan F Towler (1933-?) may still be alive as of September 2017. And her middle name may be Freda. She is the daughter of Hugh Lefevre Towler (1906-1997) and Hilda Louisa Goodwin (1906-1986). Hugh was a poultry farmer and his family were fruit and vegetable farmers.

In 1957 Joan nearly emigrated to Australia. She was on a passenger list but her name was crossed out and she didn't go. Her occupation was listed as short hand typist.

In 1958 she did emigrate to Australia where she may still live.

the places

Culver City, California, USA

Walsoken, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

what the card says to us

The card is a publicity picture of Johnny Sands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Sands) a supporting actor in Hollywood and later an estate agent in Hawaii. These cards will have been produced in their thousands.

The typo in the address (Wisbeck) indicates that whoever typed out the address had never heard of Wisbech and almost certainly couldn't pronounce it.

How did a Johnny Sands card come to be sent by the studio to Joan Towler? Was she a fan? Did she write and ask for one?

The studio were obviously keen to promote Duel In The Sun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_in_the_Sun_(film)), but it seems a shame that there was nothing more personal included.