BETTY GARRETT - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 06/12/1950 CO-SIGNED BY: PIERRE BALMAIN, LARRY PARKS - HFSID 19699

BETTY GARRETT, CO-SIGNED BY: LARRY PARKS, PIERRE BALMAIN
Actors Betty Garrett and Larry Parks and courtier Pierre Balmain all signed this guest register page for nightclub singer and entertainer Hildegarde in 1950.
Autograph notes signed "Ann McGarry (Pierre Balmain)", "Larry Parks (you are wonderful, Hildy!)" and "Here I am again like a bad penny/Love Kisses)/Betty Garrett.)", all in blue ink. With 9 unidentified signatures. 2 pages, 9 ½ x 5 ¼, 1 page front and verso. Written at right in black ink in unknown hand: "June 12- 1950/Savoy Hotel". Loretta Sell Hildegarde, aka Hildegarde (1906-2005, born in Adell, Wisconsin), popularly known by her last name only or simply as "the incomparable Hildegarde" was thought by many to be European, although she was born in Wisconsin. A classically trained pianist who played in vaudeville from 1926, she emerged as a popular singer in the 1930s and 1940s with hits like Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup (written by her manager, Anna Sosenko), The Last Time I Saw Paris and I'll Be Seeing You. She had a popular radio program, Hildegarde's Raleigh Room. She continued to perform to great acclaim in nightclubs until age 89, when she decided it wasn't fun anymore. Hildegarde was a third order Carmelite nun. GARRETT, born in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1919, got her start as a stage actress. She made her debut in Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre in 1938, in a production of Danton's Death, and debuted on Broadway in the 1942 musical revue Of V We Sing. Garrett broke onto the silver screen after MGM saw her performance in another Broadway revue, Call Me Mister (1946-1948). Her energetic dancing and acting often earned her second lead in musicals early in her career. However, her film career was ruined when her husband Larry Parks admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that he was a Communist. Most of her roles after this were on TV, including recurring roles as Irene Lorenzo on All in the Family (1973-75), which earned her a Golden Globe in 1975, and Edna Babish on Laverne and Shirley (1976-1981). She was nominated for an Emmy for a guest star appearance as Molly Firth on Becker in 2003. PARKS (1914-1975, born Samuel Lawrence Klausmann Parks in Olathe, Kansas) had prominent roles in many Columbia movies of the 1940s, seeming to break through to stardom with the title role in The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949). (In both films he mimed, while Al Jolson himself did the singing) In 1950, however, Parks was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about a short-lived prior membership in the Communist Party. Despite testifying before the Committee, reluctantly naming names of other participants, he was blacklisted by Hollywood. He remained active on stage, and returned to the big screen in Cross-Up (1958) and Dr. Freud (1962). BALMAIN (1914-1982, born Pierre-Alexandre-Claudius Balmain in Paris, France) originally started in architecture, but became a famous courtier and clothes designer. A rival of Christian Dior (whom he worked with), Balmain opened his own fashion house in 1945. His clients included the Duchess of Windsor, the Queen of Belgium, film stars of the 1950s, writer Gertrude Stein and Stein's companion Alice B. Toklas. His costume designs also wound up in over 30 movies, mostly French-language productions, between 1951 and 1970, and four Broadway productions. He earned a Tony nomination for Best Costume Design for his last Broadway production, the musical Happy New Year (1980, 17 performances). Lightly toned and creased. Show-through on both sides, which touch signature. Lightly discolored at top, right and bottom edges. Light rounded top right edge. Page was neatly torn from album at left edge. Otherwise in fine condition.