JULIUS LA ROSA - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH 1986 - HFSID 211922

JULIUS LA ROSA
B/w still from 1958's Let's Rock!, singer Julius La Rosa's only feature film, signed and dated "Happy Holiday Season!" by La Rosa in 1986
Photograph signed: "Happy/Holiday/Season!!/Julius/La Rosa/'86". B/w, 8x10 overall, image 7½x8¾ (one surface). Publicity photograph from the 1958 film, Let's Rock!. ©1958, Columbia Pictures Corp. Captioned at lower margin. Let's Rock! was La Rosa's only feature film.  La Rosa, who was 28-years old at the time, played Tommy Adane, a top recording star who has a dip in popularity when rock-n-roll became a national craze. Phyllis Newman was his girlfriend, Kathy Abbot, who helped him adjust to the new sound and regain his popularity. The film also featured Conrad Janis as Charlie, Kim Harmon and Wink Martindale as himself. Music included songs by La Rosa, Paul Anka, Della Reese, Danny and the Juniors (At the Hop) and The Royal Teens (Short Shorts, in a rousing production number). Singer/actor La Rosa (1930-2016) got his start with radio-TV personality Arthur Godfrey, was as famous for getting fired on the air in 1953 as he was for his smooth ballads, which showed his appreciation for a song's lyrics. After leaving Godfrey, La Rosa worked in clubs, on television and in summer stock. Beginning in 1969, he began an eight-year stint as a DJ for a popular radio show in New York, before returning to singing and summer stock. La Rosa, whose biggest hit was Eh Cumpari, continued singing well into his 70s and made occasional forays into radio and TV. In 1980, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy for his role as Renaldo on the TV soap Another World. Slightly soiled at blank margins. Lightly creased in lower right. Otherwise, fine condition.