This caricature shows Alfred Marks (1921-1996) in High Button Shoes at the Oxford New Theatre on 17 December 1949. 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.

Alfred Edward Marks, born in London's Holborn, grew up in the East End and made his first professional stage appearances in variety at the Kilburn Empire in 1946. He worked as a stand-up comic at the Windmill Theatre for almost two years and performed in several musicals in his career including this production of High Button Shoes. Throughout his career he proved his versatility, appearing in pantomime and comedy as well as in serious drama He was a frequent broadcaster; appeared in several films, and in the late 1950s had one of television's first half-hour comedy shows Alfred Marks Time. He once said that there was nothing he had not done in his profession except ballet.