JAYNE MEADOWS - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 11/1981 - HFSID 270126

JAYNE MEADOWS
The television and film actress sends an autograph note to Phyllis Diller about her show the night before
Autograph Note Signed: "Steve & Jayne" by Jayne Meadows on verso of post card, 6x4¼. Color, depicting the R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth on front. 18-cent stamp affixed, postmarked New York, New York, 1981 November, day illegible. To comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. In full: "Would you believe it? The audiences the last night were fabulous, such laughs once they sobered up from their nausea shots! We all missed you - much love". Addressed by Meadows to: "Ms. Phyllis Diller, 163 No. Rockingham, Los Angeles, Calif. 90049". In the month she wrote this note, Meadows was seen on an episode of Fantasy Island. In December 1981, she was a celebrity guest, along with husband Steve Allen, on the game show, Password Plus. Stage and screen actress Jayne Meadows (1919-2015) began her film career in the mid-1940s as a contract player at MGM. She excelled as cold-blooded "other women", vitriolic divorcees and neurotic murderesses. One popular screen role was as the double- and triple-crossing Mildred Haveland in Lady in the Lake (1946). Meadows has appeared on dozens of variety programs and game shows. Her film credits include Casino (1995) and The Player (1992). Over the course of her career, she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards in three different decades. She married multitalented comedian, actor, author and songwriter Steve Allen (1921-2000) in 1954. The two made guest appearances as a couple in a few different television productions until his death. Her sister was fellow actress Audrey Meadows (1922-1996). Comedienne PHYLLIS DILLER (1917-2012), known for her outrageous appearance, zany outfits, distinctive laugh and a stand-up act that featured frequent references to her fictional husband, "Fang", and zingers about her sex appeal and numerous plastic surgeries, got her big break in March 1955 (at age 37), when she debuted at San Francisco's Purple Onion club. A subsequent appearance on The Tonight Show hosted by Jack Paar launched her national career, which got a big boost after Bob Hope saw Diller in a Washington, D.C. club. A favorite of the comedian, Diller would appear in three of Hope's films and 23 of his TV specials. Diller, who recorded her first comedy record album in 1959, took her groundbreaking "funny hausfrau" act to nightclubs and television variety shows and specials and she also appeared on the big screen. Her feature film credits include Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Fat Spy (1966), Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and The Silence of the Hams (1994), and she provided the voice of the Queen in A Bug's Life (1998). By 2000, the comedienne, who had trained as a concert pianist before her marriage (1939-1965) to Sherwood Anderson Diller, had appeared as a piano soloist with 100 symphony orchestras across the U.S. Despite retiring from nightclub/stage tours in May 2002 at the age of 84, Diller continued to make films (Motorcross Kids, 2004; Forget About It, 2005) and occasionally appear on TV programs, including two episodes of 7th Heaven (2002, 2003) and a guest shot on The Wayne Brady Show (2004). Minor scratches and light paper clip impression on front, light postal marking touches the "y" and "e" of Jayne. Otherwise, fine condition.