THE MOON IS BLUE PLAY CAST - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH CO-SIGNED BY: DONALD COOK, BARBARA BEL GEDDES, BARRY NELSON - HFSID 275360

LARGE VINTAGE STILL FROM THE HIT BROADWAY PLAY, SIGNED BY ITS TOP-BILLED STARS (NONE WOULD APPEAR IN THE 1953 ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED FILM VERSION)
 
THE MOON IS BLUE: BARBARA BELL GEDDES, BARRY NELSON and DONALD COOK
Large, Vintage Photograph inscribed and signed: "To Dick/My very best/Barry Nelson", "to Dick,/Best Wishes/Barbara Bel Geddes." and "To/Dick/Gratefully/Donald Cook". B/w, 10¼x13½. Photograph by Vandamm, New York (imprint at lower left corner and stamped on verso). Inscribed to noted Broadway producer, Richard Meyers, the co-producer, along with Richard Aldrich, of this play. The Moon is Blue, written by F. Hugh Herbert, ran at Henry Miller's Theatre on Broadway from May 8, 1951-May 30, 1953, a total of 924 performances. Bel Geddes starred as Patty O'Neill, Nelson co-starred as Donald Gresham and Cook portrayed David Slater. The play was staged by Otto Preminger, who directed the 1953 film version. That film, which was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress (Maggie McNamara in Bel Geddes' role), Best Music, Original Song and Best Film Editing, starred William Holden in Nelson's role and David Niven as Slater. BARBARA BEL GEDDES (1922-2005), the daughter of theatrical producer, director and scenic designer Norman Bel Geddes, first appeared on Broadway in the 1941 play, Out of the Frying Pan. She appeared in 15 plays from 1941-1973, being nominated for Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play in 1956 (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and 1961 (Mary, Mary). Bel Geddes, who appeared in 12 motion pictures from 1947-1971, was nominated for the 1949 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (I Remember Mama), but she is best remembered for her role as Miss Ellie on the long-running television series, Dallas, from 1978-1984 and 1985-1990 (she left the show during the 1984-1985 season after suffering a massive heart attack). Nominated for three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1979, 1980 and 1981 for her portrayal of the Ewing matriarch, Bel Geddes won the 1980 Emmy. Before Dallas, her most remembered role was that of a pregnant police captain's wife who, after being told by him that he's divorcing her for another woman, kills her husband by hitting him over the head with a shank of lamb, which she then feeds to the policemen investigating his murder in an 1958 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Lamb to the Slaughter", by Roald Dahl. Stage, screen and television actor BARRY NELSON (1920-2007) earned a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for The Act (1978). He was also seen on the stage in Mary, Mary (1964), Cactus Flower (1965), Seascape (1975) and The Norman Conquests (1976) as well as The Moon is Blue. Nelson also starred in three short-lived TV series in the 1950s, including Hudson's Bay. He is best known, however, for being the first actor to portray James Bond (in the 1954 TV presentation of Casino Royale); ironically, Nelson played him as Jimmy Bond, an American! Nelson was also seen on the big screen as the hotel manager in The Shining (1980). Former vaudeville and Broadway performer DONALD COOK (1900-1961) played leading men, secondary leads and villainous parts in films of the 1930s and 1940s. In Public Enemy (1931), he played the honest older brother of gangster Jimmy Cagney. Cook focused on stage work after 1950. Slightly creased and rippled. Fine condition.