This handbill advertises a twice-nightly variety programme at the Palace Theatre, Blackpool, in 1912, which included early cinema billed as 'Palace Perfection Pictures'. It starred George Formby Senior, the father of the more famous comedian and singer of the same name, and a variety of other performers including Arthur Astill, billed here in his early career as 'the Whistling Ploughboy'. By the 1940s Arthur Astill was on the halls in a variety act with Gwen Fontaine, which involved the mimicry of children, and of birds and animals, obviously using his whistling skills.

This hanging card was part of a collection made by Arthur Astill (1887-1962) of publicity material from theatres where he and his wife Gwen Fontaine appeared. The names of the best-known performers appear in larger or bolder type-face, while George Formby (1875-1921), the performer James Booth who took his stage name from a Lancashire town, was popular enough to have his name printed most prominently on the handbill, and vertically down each side, with the slogan: 'John Willie, Come On' along the bottom. This was the title of the song he wrote and performed about a Lancashire man coming to London for the day with his wife. It was published by Francis, Day & Hunter in 1909 and recorded by George Formby Jnr. in 1926.