Not sure who Doreen and Jack are (our guess is Jack Hawkins and his wife), but I bet they were thrilled to receive this during the holidays of 1958. Taken on location for John Ford’s The Horse Soldiers (1958).
Has John Wayne ever looked cooler than he does here? Fact is, everybody looks terrific, from the beautiful Constance Towers to Ford himself.
Here’s hoping your holidays are safe, fun and filled with whatever it is you want them filled with (cowboy movies, maybe?).
Great pic – Merry Xmas Toby.
What a lovely picture. So rare.
The sight of the young boys in uniform reminds me of that powerful scene in The Horse Soldiers when they go into battle.
Would it really be Jack and Doreen Hawkins? Wonder what the connection wold be?
Jack Hawkins had starred the previous year in Ford’s film Gideon of Scotland Yard — not one of his best-remembered titles. 🙂 It’s a police procedural shot in Technicolor. I wish someone would release it on DVD — I just adore Jack Hawkins and of course anything Ford did is of great interest.
Merry Christmas, Toby!
Merriest of Christmases to you and yours, Toby 🙂
The film was released, according to the infallible (?!?) imdb in ’59 so this would be Christmas ’58… Hawkins would have his first cobalt treatment for throat cancer in ’59, so likely they were also trying to boost his mood while being tested for the prediagnosed illness? Or maybe Holden and Ford were sending a message to Jack Daniels…
Under original title Gideon’s Day, Gideon of Scotland Yard was originally a 1958 release in UK, but didn’t make it to the U.S. until 1959. It was made before Ford’s other 1958 movie The Last Hurrah so way before The Horse Soldiers.
An interesting footnote, GOSY was a color film but released in black and white in the U.S. and only seen that way here for years–but the color version has now been made available and that’s what you’ll see now when it comes along. If you’ve only seen it in black and white, see it in color if you can. A lovely movie.
Holden was also familiar, if not friends, with Hawkins as costars in the Bridge Over the River Kwai…. None of it is conclusive proof of who The Duke, Holden and Ford are sending this message to, but it’s an interesting question.
I’m convinced the message is to Hawkins and his family. There are too many connections for it to be anybody else.
Merry Christmas, Toby!! Hope you had a great day. 🙂
Best wishes,
Laura
Hawkins wrote about Ford in his autobiography, Anything for a Quiet Life. You can read what he wrote at April’s directedbyjohnford.com site: http://www.directedbyjohnford.com/blog/general/scene-jack-hawkins-john-ford-tea-and-scotland-yard/
What a fantastic shot. Looks like it could have been taken yesterday. Oh if only it was. Too bad people don’t last as long as their pictures.