Poster advertising Harry Lester's Comedians, Alma Theatre, Luton, c.1951. Born in Texas in 1895, Harry Lester arrived in England in 1915 alongside his parents and brother. They made their debut at the Victoria Palace Theatre as the Four Aerial Lesters in 1916. Lester was skilled in acrobatics, wire-walking, close harmony singing and played a number of musical instruments, and often adapted his performances to whatever was the then craze.

It was the enthusiasm for country-western music in the 1930s that proved to be Lester's greatest success - falling back on his early days in Texas, Lester developed a new Wild West revue: Harry Lester and his Hayseeds. At the begnning of each show Lester would introduce his band, the Hayseeds, by saying "Yes, folks, its your Country Cousins come to town!". This cowboy-themed comedy band - consisting of Goofus "the yodelling nitwit", Pee Wee Pete, Cicero, Pappy, Jud, Wheezy, Zeke and Guppy - regularly toured throughout the 1940s both on stage and on radio, and performed together until Lester's retirement in 1957.