This pano conductor's score was used during the run of the musical Mame at Drury Lane Theatre from 20th February 1969 until 16th March 1970. The musical by Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee and Jerry Herman was based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, and the 1956 Broadway play of the same name by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, and the subsequent 1958 film. Set in New York during the Depression the musical opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York in 1966 and transferred to the Broadway Theatre in New York where it ran until 3rd January 1970, starring Angela Lansbury as the eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis.

The London production starred Ginger Rogers (1911-1995) the famed Hollywood actress, dancer and singer who had become a stellar performer in the 1930s with her nine films with Fred Astaire. Margaret Courtenay (1923-1996) who owned this score, played the actress Vera Charles, Mame's best friend, who offers Mame a role in her new show. Courtenay's long career spanned 65 years, encompassing stage, television and film. Her obituary in The Guardian described her as: 'the grande dameofBritish comedy... aformidable exopnent of both classical and modern drama, opera and musicalcomedy, and noted her command of the stage as: 'a physical presence which demanded attention and a voicr of all-embracing resonance.' Courtenay enjoyed her role in the musical and asked to keep this score afterwards as a souvenir.