Not currently on display at the V&A

Poster

1939 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This poster advertised the variety bill at the Palace Theatre, Blackpool, for the week beginning Monday, 23 October 1939, and also the film at Blackpool's Picture Pavilion beginning on Sunday, 22 October. Like all variety shows at the time, there were two performances. or houses, a night, one at 6pm and one at 8pm. The film at the Picture Pavilion, shown twice daily, at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, was the 1939 biographical film about the sensational American husband and wife ballroom dancing couple, Vernon and Irene Castle. Their appearances on Broadway and in silent films had a great influence on the revival of ballroom dancing between the wars. Irene was played by Ginger Rogers and Vernon by the legendary Fred Astaire, another dancing couple whose partnership is better remembered today than that of the Vernons.

One of the highlights of the variety bill was the production of: 'real records made on the stage'. The poster notes that anyone in the audience who could sing, play an instrument, tap dance, or be funny, could make a permanent record of their talents free. The programme also featured the comedy sketch Sober as a Judge from Jimmy James and his company; the impressionist Clifford Stanton; Australian comedians Dinx and Trix Patson, the Danish juggler Leon Rabello, and the black American tap dancer Clayton 'Peg Leg' Bates (1906-1998), who was dancing on the streets before he lost his leg at the age of twelve. In the 1930s he became hugely popular on both sides of the Atlantic for his energetic and accomplished tap dancing that saw him appear in two Royal Command performances for King George and Queen Mary, and many times on the Ed Sullivan show on television.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Printing ink on paper
Brief description
Poster advertising a variety programme at the Palace Theatre, Blackpool, 1939
Physical description
Typographic.
Dimensions
  • Poster height: 61.3cm
  • Poster width: 32.1cm
Object history
The poster includes an advertisement for 'The picture you have been waiting to see - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'. Performers: Harry Lester, Clifford Stanton (impressionist), Joe Stein, Leon Rabello (juggler), Peg Leg Bates (monoped dancer), Jimmy James and Co. (comedians), Karina, Vadio and Hertz (dancers), Dinx and Trix Patson (comedians). Palace, Blackpool. 23.10.1939. Performance category: variety.
Summary
This poster advertised the variety bill at the Palace Theatre, Blackpool, for the week beginning Monday, 23 October 1939, and also the film at Blackpool's Picture Pavilion beginning on Sunday, 22 October. Like all variety shows at the time, there were two performances. or houses, a night, one at 6pm and one at 8pm. The film at the Picture Pavilion, shown twice daily, at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, was the 1939 biographical film about the sensational American husband and wife ballroom dancing couple, Vernon and Irene Castle. Their appearances on Broadway and in silent films had a great influence on the revival of ballroom dancing between the wars. Irene was played by Ginger Rogers and Vernon by the legendary Fred Astaire, another dancing couple whose partnership is better remembered today than that of the Vernons.

One of the highlights of the variety bill was the production of: 'real records made on the stage'. The poster notes that anyone in the audience who could sing, play an instrument, tap dance, or be funny, could make a permanent record of their talents free. The programme also featured the comedy sketch Sober as a Judge from Jimmy James and his company; the impressionist Clifford Stanton; Australian comedians Dinx and Trix Patson, the Danish juggler Leon Rabello, and the black American tap dancer Clayton 'Peg Leg' Bates (1906-1998), who was dancing on the streets before he lost his leg at the age of twelve. In the 1930s he became hugely popular on both sides of the Atlantic for his energetic and accomplished tap dancing that saw him appear in two Royal Command performances for King George and Queen Mary, and many times on the Ed Sullivan show on television.
Collection
Accession number
S.522-1989

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Record createdJuly 23, 2010
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