This letter was found in my later mother’s possessions when she passed away. The letter is to my mother, who was living in Leicester, from her brother who joined the Air Force in 1944 and he was sent to the British Flying Training School in Terrell, Texas.
It tells of Peter and his pal Rex hitching a lift to Hollywood whilst on a weekend pass. Once in Hollywood they were made very welcome and he acquired the autographs attached.
Transcript:
Letter
Somewhere in Arizona
Hello Beautiful,
I'll bet this is a surprise for you. Well I will explain. We, Rex, my pal, and I, are returning from Hollywood by train and it is no line either.
Last Saturday we went on leave at 1400 hrs and proceeded to tour the local dromes for a lift. We didn't get one however until Sunday at 12 o'clock from a field near Fort Worth when we set off in a B,26 (Marauder to you). We flew for four hours over some marvellous scenery. Including prairie, desert and mountains. It was really beautiful and the sun beat down from a cloudless sky.
We landed at Tuscon, Arizona and had a meal and stayed 1 hour and then went on to San Diego over more desert and mountains. I wish you could have seen it. We got to San Diego 2 hrs later which made it 6 hrs flying time or 7 hrs from Ft Worth to S.D. It was 5 o'clock by their time (they are 2 hrs behind Dallas).
So we hitched a lift to Los Angeles (129 miles away) and arrived at Long Beach just south of L.A. at about 9 (2100 hrs).
We went to a house with the people who gave us a lift and had a drink and then caught a street car into L.A. and arrived at about 11.30. We spent the night at the Y.M.C.A. and then on Monday about 14.30 we set out for Hollywood which is a suburb of L.A. We went for dinner in L.A. at a restaurant done up like an Hawaiian garden. With palm trees and a waterfall inside and canaries in cages all over the place. A Scotchman who had lived in L.A. for 20 years treated us.
When we got to Hollywood we went to the U.S.O. and dumped our gear, and then went around town. We met Martha Raye's father and went for a few drinks. At night, we went to the Hollywood Canteen and met a girl called Linda Christian who is a model. We also met Joan Crawford and I got her autograph. We also met Wendy Barrie's mother and Freddie Bartholomew's aunt and Lon Hall's sister.
Tuesday I got up around 11. In the evening we went to the Canteen and saw Eddie Bracken who was in "Miracle of Morgan's Creek". He did a grand show with some good jokes and tales, smutty and otherwise.
At 11.30 we went to a nightclub called the Florentine Gardens. We saw a wizard floor show with bags of girls showing their legs. In one of the acts they take servicemen on the floor and of course being English we were on and we had to do a Hula Hula dance with the girls. Of course we chatted them up and took them home after the show which finished at 1.30. We got home at 3.
Next morning we went to Paramount but didn't see any stars as they weren't working. We met some more gorgeous gals however and also a new film actress named Ray Stott. She was very shy. You'll probably hear of her. We then went to Monogram Studios and met Sydney Toller.
In the evening we went to the Florentine with an American sailor and we all went on the stage again. We didn't take the girls out however as they had a rehearsal after the show. Too bad, eh!
On Wednesday night we stayed with an Englishwoman who is married to an american. We had dinner there. Before dinner we had sherry and after dinner we had brandy.
Her husband is an artist and was a designer and such like for one of the studios. He has four "Oscars". They are beautiful.
The next day we went after dinner to Joan Winfield's place on Santa Monica Beach. Joan is an Australian and lives with her mother. She works for Warner Brothers. We spent the afternoon and evening there with Dean Harens and Dean's mother as Joan was working. Dean is famous on Broadway. You will soon hear of him as he has just about finished a film called "Xmas Holiday" in which he plays opposite Deanna Durbin. He is 23 and is a grand chap. The house is right on the beach and it used to belong to Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous strip-tease artist. We went swimming in the Pacific twice and had our photograph taken with Joan. Then we had dinner and also rum and bourbon whiskey, then Dean drove us to town as we had a date with two girls and we took them to see Cover Girl.
On Friday we played tennis at [unclear] were we were staying and then had a swim in their pool. We then came into L.A. to catch the 3.30 train (15.30) and it will take around 50 hrs to get to Dallas. Right now I am in the Arizona desert and all I can see is sand, cactus and hills just like in the cowboy films.
Well, cheerio, my dear little sister and all the best
Love
Peter xxx.
P.S. Give my love to mother and remember me to everyone
P.P.S. Joan thinks you're cute. She said so when she signed your photo.
Postcard 1
[unclear] Barrie (Wendy)
Good luck Pete, and best to Leicester, Cary Grant.
Sincerely
Barbara Salemann
Postcard 2
Hello Barbara
Peter is at the Canteen and we send greetings
Joan Crawford
