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| MILTON BERLE & FACES OF 1937 |
| THE HISTORY BEHIND THE LOBBY
CARD New Faces of 1937 was produced as the vanguard
of a series of annual musical comedies – one
of a number of attempts by RKO Radio to revive its
long-dormant "Radio City Revels" concept.
The plot is based on an old show-business legend,
later immortalized in Mel Brooks' The Producers:
crooked Broadway producer Robert Hunt (Jerome Cowan)
deliberately produces flops so that he can pocket
the backers' money himself. His next sure-fire disaster
is a show built around talented unknowns (there
actually was such a "New Faces" series
on Broadway, yielding such stars-to-be as Imogene
Coca and Henry Fonda, but it was produced on the
up-and-up). When the show threatens to become a
hit, Hunt desperately seeks to sabotage the production.
The various subplots involve such vaudeville and
radio comedians as the recently deceased Milton
Berle (who performs a side-splitting "stockbroker"
sketch with Richard Lane), Joe Penner, Bert "Mad
Russian" Gordon and Parkyakarkus (aka Harry
Einstein, the father of present-day comedians Bob
Einstein and Albert Brooks). Among the New Faces
displayed herein are 14-year-old dancer Ann Miller,
The Brian Sisters, The Three Chocolateers and the
Four Playboys. We can imagine the fictional Robert
Hunt being pleased to find out that New Faces of
1937 was a box-office flop, precluding any follow-ups,
which paved the way for Mel Brooks to revise and
revive the plot device in his brilliant film and
play. When New Faces of 1937 was released, it was
promoted at theaters through the display of “lobby
cards,” placards inserted in display cases.
Milton Berle autographed 1000 these lobby cards
in 1994 for a company called Flash Marketing, which
provided the accompanying certificate of authenticity.
We are offering the last 107 numbered originals
from the edition subject to prior sale. These are
the original 11x14 lobby cards, with an authentic
Milton Berle autograph, not a reproduction. Framed |
| price: $300.00 |
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