Thursday, June 22, 2017
Sugar Babies '79: The Burlesque Musical
Another recent antique mall find was this 20 page program from the 1979 Broadway smash hit, Sugar Babies, starring Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller. It's full of fun black and white photos from the show (gorgeous chorus girl overload!), but nothing beats those colorfully cute, leggy little sugar babies on the cover, illustrated by the great Hilary Knight; an artist probably best known for his wonderful visuals behind the 50's Eloise kid's book series, as well as countless other memorable magazines, album covers, and advertising.
The cover is awesome!!
ReplyDeleteI know!!! :)
ReplyDeleteOh man. Next time you are up near Northampton, Massachusetts, you need to check out the Eric Carle Museum of children's book illustration. It's great in its own right, but during our recent Maine road trip, the museum was having an excellent Hilary Knight exhibit with scores of fully inked camera-ready framed art boards as well as scetch books, pencil roughs, etc. The man was a monster inker. It was a excellent show.
ReplyDeleteDamn!! Sounds incredible...
ReplyDeleteMy best friend, Chris Elia, was in the chorus and I'd love to give this to her. She also sang Sugar Baby Stomp. Are you interested in selling the program? - Liz
ReplyDeleteFor now I'd like to keep it, Liz. There are quite a few on eBay though, some as cheap as $5. That's super cool you know someone from the show though, can you see her in any of the photos? Give her a round of applause for Mr. Karswell :)
ReplyDeleteI think she's front right in the picture with the suitcases. She said her roommate, Catherine, who was married to Fayard Nicholas, took pictures of all the celebrities who saw the show throughout the Broadway run, which was virtually everyone still living from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The hundreds of film canisters were never developed and when Chris inquired about it she found out it was all thrown out, still undeveloped. It makes me so sad when I think about all those pictures that we'll never see, of all those stars in their later years who are now gone.
ReplyDelete