VERA H. RALSTON - INSCRIBED CHRISTMAS / HOLIDAY CARD SIGNED 12/06/1980 - HFSID 159864

VERA RALSTON. Christmas Card inscribed and signed: "Dear David/and all the very best always/Vera Ralston/12-6-80" on inside message page, 4p, 7¾x5½. "Dear David" written above imprinted message, remaining writing beneath message, which reads: "With Very Best Wishes for your Happiness in the New Year". Front color cover reads: "Happy Holidays". Fine condition. Accompanied by original envelope, 8x5½. Three 15-cent Oliver Wendell Holmes stamps affixed, postmarked Santa Barbara, CA, December 1980. Hand-addressed by Ralston to: "Mr. David Wood/Willow Bank/[illegible]/Ashford/Kent, England". Return address label of "Mr & Mrs C. L Alva, Santa Barbara" at upper left corner, Boys Town seal at lower left corner. Lightly creased. Neatly opened at upper edge. Fine condition. Actress Vera Ralston (1919-2003), born Vera Hruba in Prague Czechoslovakia, first gained attention as an ice-skater, prompting Herbert J. Yates, the head of Republic Pictures, to bring her to the U.S. to become "the next Sonja Henie". Credited as Vera Hruba in her 1941 film debut in Ice-Capades, the actress, who took the name "Ralston" from the name of a breakfast cereal company, would go on to appear in 26 films for Republic Pictures - and would marry Yates (they were married from March 1952 until his death on February 3, 1966). She retired from the screen in 1958 - the year that Yates was deposed as the head of the studio. On June 16, 1973, seven years after her first husband's death, Ralston married Charles de Alva. The couple lived in Santa Barbara, California, where Ralston died on February 9, 2003.Two items.