eMoviePoster.com

What are the objects in the corners of some images? Learn More

Phil Silvers was born Philip Silver in Brooklyn, New York in 1911, to a poor Russian/Jewish family (he was the youngest of 8 kids!). He began singing in theaters when he was 11, and two years later he quit school and went to work, first singing, and then as a vaudeville comic. He got a part in a Broadway show, and then wrote a comic show of his own, but it wasn't until 1940 that he was in his first movie, Hit Parade of 1941. In 1942 he wrote the lyrics for a song, Bessie (with the laughing face) for a friend's wife, and it went over so well he started performing it at every female birthday party he attended, with the appropriate girl's name added. When he performed it at Frank Sinatra's house for his daughter Nancy's birthday, Frank thought it had been written for her, and Frank recorded it, and it became a hit record! Phil spent the 1940s working as a comic in many movies, but always in secondary roles. He finally got a big break in 1952 in the lead in a Broadway show called Top Banana, loosely based on Milton Berle. Silvers won a Tony for the show, and starred in the movie version two years later. In 1955, he got the part of a lifetime, as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko in You'll Never Get Rich (later called The Phil Silvers Show). It was one of the huge hits of early TV, and deservedly so, for it is a wonderful ensemble comedy, and the shows hold up very well today! After the show went off the air in 1959, Silvers mostly returned to secondary roles, and continued on TV and in the movies and on the stage (two of his most memorable appearances were in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and on the Gilligan's Island show, which Silvers produced). He turned down the lead role in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and when it was turned into a movie he took a secondary role. When the show was revived on Broadway, Silvers finally got to play the lead, and he won a Tony, the first time an actor won for a revival. Silvers passed away in 1985 at the age of 74. He was a wonderful fast talking comedian who was perfectly cast as Sgt. Bilko, and if you have never seen this great show (or if it has been many years since you have, I highly recommend you find some episodes, for you will surely be very entertained!).

Important Added Info: Note that this item has been personally autographed (signed) by Phil Silvers! Our consignor sent Mr. Silvers this trimmed book page, which was lightly taped to a larger piece of white paper. He likely assumed that Mr. Silvers would sign in the bottom white area, but Mr. Silvers fooled him and signed both on the cut book page and on the border of the white paper, so his signature is partially on one and partially on the other! Of course, it could be framed as it is.

Note that this autographed item is part of a remarkable collection. In each of our last several all-signed auctions, we auctioned hundreds of items from this collection and now we are auctioning 209 signed photos and miscellaneous other signed items (plus 55 signed index cards that have a different note on those)!
     In the 1970s, our consignor was a teacher who taught a film class, and he also part-time ran the local movie theater (and he saved all the presskits from the movies the theater showed).
     Starting in the late 1970s through the late 1980s, he wrote to famous celebrities, and enclosed an 8x10 still or repro (or sometimes another item) from his collection, and he wrote a literate personalized letter, talking about his work as a film teacher, and discussing his favorite movie by that star.
     He received signed photos back from a good percentage of the people he wrote to, and if the people simply sent him a stock photo back, he did not save it, but if he felt the autograph was genuine, and if they added a personalized note, then he did save them.
     In the late 1980s, he pretty much stopped sending letters and photos, simply because he was just too busy. So this item (and the vast majority of the other photos and other items we are auctioning for this consignor) were obtained in the late 1970s or 1980s, through personal correspondence with this star. This is of course excellent, because back at that time celebrities were not selling their signatures nearly as much, and many of the stars were pretty forgotten and were happy to get letters from people like our consignor!
     He of course does not have any "Certificates of Authenticity", but he only kept ones he felt were surely authentic, and those are the ones we are auctioning. However, bidders can certainly compare the signatures to known examples on the internet to judge for themselves.

As is true of all the signed items we are currently auctioning, we give every buyer 30 days in which to review what they purchased and they can return any item as long as it is within 30 days of the end of the auction. On non-signed items, we give a "lifetime guarantee" on everything we auction, but on signed items, we give the above modified guarantee of 30 days after the auction closes.

Our address for UPS or FedEx only is:
Bruce Hershenson,
306 Washington Avenue, West Plains, MO 65775