Poster advertising the Revue Splinters of 1921 presented by Les Rouges et Noirs, The First Army Show, at the Glasgow Alhambra, for the week beginning the 7th November 1921. Printed by John Horn Ltd., Glasgow.

Typographic poster printed in blue and brown letterpress on cream paper, advertising the revue Splinters of 1921 performed by The First Army Entertainers Les Rouges at Noirs, Glasgow Alhambra, week beginning Monday 19th November 1921. SPLINTERS OF 1921; HAL JONES and REG STONE in blue uppercase lettering, with brown lettering for the other information, including: 'LEW LAKE PRESENTS THE FIRST ARMY SHOW KNOWN IN FRANCE AS LES ROUGES ET NOIRS' and the information: 'IN WHICH ALL THE LADIES ARE GENTLEMEN. The edges have suffered a few tears and areas of paper loss, especially along the top and bottom edges.

The poster features the name of the managing directors of the theatre Alfred Butt and R.C. Gillespie, and the names of the cast in brown typeface - the men Eliot Makeham, Will B. Willby, Will Burns, Cecil Griffin, Harry Watson, C. Gordon Blackford, Victor Campbell, Jack Cottrell, Ernie Barrett, Alfred Grant, and the '? ladies' Mr. Vivian Taylor, Mr. Jack Hives, Mr. Jack Richards, Mr. Jimmie Slater, Mr. Teddie Martyn, Mr. Ernest Greene, Mr. Monte Burgess, Mr. Henri Harper, Mr. Stanley Bennett, Reg Stone as Phil, and Hal Jones as Splinter. The musical director was C. Gordon Blackford.

At the bottom of the poster the opening of the box office for the pantomime Mother Goose is announced, starring Dorothy Ward, Shaun Glenville and Wee Georgie Wood.

Given by Mrs D.K. Richards

Les Rouges et Noirs was formed by members of the British army serving in France during the First World War in response to a call from Lord Horne, Commander of the First Army, in 1917, for a touring concert party from among his troops. So-called because of the regimental colours of the First Army, the troupe entertained fellow soldiers in the trenches of France and Belgium. Not wanting an all-male revue, the troupe included a chorus of women played by soldiers, but the genuinely feminine appearance of the 'Beauty Chorus' meant that it did not come across as a drag show, but as a heterosexual concert party with an intriguing element. The revue title Splinters was chosen to describe the various sketches, songs and dances which made up their programme.

In December 1918 Les Rouges et Noirs was called by the War Office to appear in London and played a three-day engagement at the Canadian YMCA's Beaver Hut Theatre in London's Strand, followed by a Command Performance at Windsor Castle for George V and Queen Mary. The troupe returned to France in 1919, and after hostilities ended appeared in London's West End in June and August 1919 and toured new versions of the revue commercially throughout the British Isles until 1924.

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