This caricature shows Gordon Harker (1885-1967) as Sam Higgins in Phantom Light at the Oxford New Theatre in February 1938. It was drawn by Gilbert Sommerlad (1904-1976), a rehearsal pianist and orchestral violinist at the Brighton Theatre Royal from 1932 until 1936, and at the Oxford New Theatre from 1936 for over forty years. Sommerlad sketched the stars on stage when he wasn't needed in the orchestra pit, compiling the sketches in a series of albums.

Gordon Harker, the son of the scenic artist Joseph Harker, began his stage career as a prompter to Fred Terry on a 1902 tour. He made his first stage appearance in 1903 in a walk-on part in Ellen Terry's 1903 production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Imperial Theatre. He worked with Oscar Asche and Lily Brayton and appeared with them in London and on tour, and understudied in their 1920 production of Chu Chin Chow. He went on to appear in many parts in the West End, and from 1927 in many films, often as the endearing Cockney character. He was in Alfred Hitchcock's film The Ring (1927), and in 1935 appeared in the film of Phantom Light and with Will Hay in the film Boys Will Be Boys.