ON WITH THE SHOW PLAY CAST (BLACKPOOL 1952) - AUTOGRAPH CO-SIGNED BY: MY BROTHER AND I (BOB PEARSON), ERNEST ARNLEY, TUDOR EVANS, CHARLES WARREN AND JEAN , RECO AND MAY (HERBERT RECO), GLORIA (GLORIA ARNLEY) DAY, HENRY LYTTON JR., MAUREEN SIMS - HFSID 87166

ON WITH THE SHOW CAST (BLACKPOOL 1952)


Eight performers from the revue at the English resort sign this 5½x5¼ piece of paper, in blue ink


Signatures: "Ernest Arnley", "Gloria Day", "Tudor Evans", "Maureen Sims", "Bob & Alf Pearson" [signed by Bob], "Henry Lytton", "Reco & May" [signed by Herbert Reco], "Best Wishes/Warren & Jean" [signed in unknown hand]5½x5¼ affixed to card. Titled (unknown hand): "'On With the Show' 1952/Blackpool". One unidentified signature. The seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, has been described as "the archetypal British seaside resort", reached its peak in the decade after World War II, drawing an average of 17 million visitors a year. (These numbers have diminished since, as more Britons travel overseas.) The big show offered here, performed in the summer of 1952, featured many big name entertainers. ERNEST ARNLEY (1903-1988), born Ernest William Simondson, was an English comedian in the music hall tradition, active since the late 1930s, who appeared often on stage and in TV guest spots. He performed comedic dance numbers with his wife, who performed as Gloria Day. GLORIA DAY (1906-1972), born Marjorie Inghamwas a dancer featured in a comedy duo with husband Arnley. She also sang with Jack Hylton's band. TUDOR EVANS was a British actor and baritone vocalist who played "Hajj" in the first English cast of Kismet, both in London and on tour in the 1950s. In 1960, he played the Marquess of Queensberry, sued for libel by Oscar Wilde, in a TV dramatization of the famous trial. MAUREEN SIMS was an English dancer seen in several TV performances of the 1960s. She was featured in the West End musical Man of Magic (1966). BOB PEARSON (1907-1985) and his brother Alf Pearson were popular English music hall entertainers of the 1930s and 1940s, known together as "My Brother and I". Their singing was accompanied by comedy patter. Their hit singles included "Red Roses for a Blue Lady", "Careless Hands", and a song for the Coronation, "In a Golden Coach". Actor HENRY LYTTON, JR. (1904-1965) was the spoiled son of Henry Lytton, longtime star of Gilbert & Sullivan musicals. The son is best remembered for his marriage to stage musical star Jessie Matthews, "the diva of debauchery", from 1926 to 1929. The marriage ended soon after Matthews's sexually explicit love letters were read aloud in another divorce action. HERBERT RECO was a British circus aerialist who performed with a partner as Reco and May. Herbert was the star of the act as, dressed as a clown, who walked a tightrope in seemingly bumbling fashion, appearing constantly close to falling. The act was popular in British circuses of the 1950s, and for a time Reco and May had their own circus. CHARLES WARREN AND JEAN were a burlesque and acrobatic duo made up of American circus performer Charles Warren and British performer Jean Sherwood. They performed heavily in British variety shows of the 1950's. Corners clipped. Surface creases. Slightly toned. Mounting residue on verso. Adhesive residue on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.