The Wreck & Crash Mail Society
MEMBERS' PAGES
Crash Mail and the
Movies
By Thomas J. Richards
As
a collector and exhibitor of Movie related mail (e.g. mail to/from movie stars
and/or movie companies), I am always on the lookout for unusual items to/from
the above groups. Mail to movie
companies is less common but fan mail to movie stars numbers in the hundreds of
thousands. Some major stars received
tens (10s) of thousands of letters a week.
So I am always looking for unusual usages, mail from exotic locations,
censored mail, POW mail and, of course, Crash Mail. Over the years I have been able to acquire a
few items and this article and hopefully a semi-regular series in the Bulletin
will cover some of those items.
There
are some very interesting crash covers relating to the movies such as the Jan
16 1942 crash of a TWA aircraft near Las Vegas, Nevada. This crash took the life of the famous movie
star Carol Lombard. (Figure
1). Only eight of
these covers are known from this crash.
I have always wondered who tabulates these numbers, but I have only been
able to acquire two of them and have only seen one other. The cover has the normal cachet. I have never seen a Type a cachet – so
I assume it is much scarcer. Does anyone
have any more knowledge about this crash?
See American Air Mail Catalogue (AAMC), 6th Edition, Volume 1,
Interrupted Flights section.
Figure 1 - Cover from
TWA Crash near Las Vegas, Nevada - AAMC # 420116
Others
are addressed to Studios such as the Figure 2 Christmas card to Hal
Roach Studios. The National Air
Transport crash was at Huron, Ohio on December 20, 1928. The American Air Mail Catalogue catalog
states: “Mail carried, 493 pounds, of which only a few pieces, badly burned,
were recovered.”
Figure 2 - Cover to
Hal Roach Studios - From National Air Transport Crash at Huron, Ohio - AAMC
#281220
The
theme of this article is to show the three crashes that I believe have
generated the most crash mail to movie stars.
1. The Jan 15, 1944 air crash or train wreck. Its location is not known, but is most likely
in the California area. In an earlier
article in La Posta (March 2003); I followed up Henry Berthelot’s earlier
articles and I identified eight different types of markings for this
crash. Figures 3 and 4 show a
couple of them.
I
have mail from this crash to:
-
-
Gene Autry (4)
-
-
Lou Costello
-
-
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
-
-
Deanna Durbin
-
-
Martha O’Driscoll
-
-
Donald O’Conner
Figures 3 & 4
2. The Aug. 6 1948 train wreck at Terre Haute, Indiana. Figures 5 and 6 show examples from
this crash.
Figures 5 & 6
I
have mail from this crash to:
-
-
Deanna Durbin (9)
-
-
Joan Crawford
-
-
Donald O’Conner
-
-
Errol Flynn (3)
-
-
Robert Hutton (2)
-
-
Dennis Morgan (2)
-
-
Bud Abbott
-
-
Yvonne De Carlo
-
-
Warner Bros (2)
-
-
Lauren Bacall
A fellow movie star
mail collector has a similar number from this crash.
Figure 7 shows a portion of
the news article covering the crash.
There do not seem to be any varieties in this marking.
Figure 7
3. The third was a train wreck at Cadiz, Ca. in January
1960. Figure 8 shows an
example. Most of the mail from this
wreck that fits my collection was sent to Lawrence Welk. One could argue that he does not fit the
“movie star” definition but he was a major player in the entertainment world.
I have mail from this
crash to:
-
-
Lawrence Welk (13)
-
-
ABC Studios (2)
-
-
Lennon Sisters
-
-
Diane Lennon
-
-
Kate Smith
Figure 8
While
I guess after seeing the number of “mail to the stars” crash items that I have
encountered, I would have to judge POW Fan Mail to the Stars as being more
elusive, but there is something about Crash Mail that makes it very
attractive. I guess that is why we are
all members of this Society. Any more
information on any of these crashes or mail to stars/movie companies would be
appreciated.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Devil's Mail, by
Dr. Steven Berlin
Nordic Air Crash Mail
By John Thiesen
revised 28 Oct. 2014