SIGNED Playbill, DAME EDNA (Barry Humphries) inscribed to actress KAYE BALLARD

Description

The estate of the late entertainer, Kaye Ballard (1925-2019) is putting up for auction several items of memorabilia and personal items that were in Ms. Ballard's possession in her home at the time of her passing. Signatures are original and not reproductions. Watermarks that appear in the photo(s) are not on the actual item.
Playbill from
Dame Edna: The Royal Tour
signed by
DAME EDNA EVERAGE (Barry Humphries)
inscribed to actress/singer/comedienne Kaye Ballard
A Playbill from
Dame Edna: The Royal Tour
at the Booth Theatre, September 1999, signed in blue ink, presented to actress/singer/comedienne, Kaye Ballard with the inscription:
To Kaye / I / idolize / you! / Love / Edna X
Playbill is in excellent to mint condition. See attached photos for detail. A Certificate of Authenticity issued by the Kaye Ballard Estate will be included
upon request.
More estate items at
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PLEASE NOTE:
Due to the complications resulting from the pandemic, please allow additional time for shipping. We will do our best to ship items as soon as we are able. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
ABOUT DAME EDNA EVERAGE (Barry Humphries)
Dame Edna Everage
, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and performed by Australian comedian
Barry Humphries
, known for her lilac-coloured or "wisteria hue" hair and cat eye glasses or "face furniture", her favourite flower, the gladiolus ("gladdies") and her boisterous greeting: "Hello, Possums!" As Dame Edna, Humphries has written several books including an autobiography,
My Gorgeous Life
, appeared in several films and hosted several television shows (on which Humphries has also appeared as himself and other alter-egos).
Humphries has regularly updated Edna, originally a drab Melbourne housewife satirising Australian suburbia. Then he caused the Edna character to adopt an increasingly outlandish wardrobe after performances in London in the 1960s through which his Edna character grew in stature and popularity.
She is known for her outlandish spectacles. Barry Humphries has claimed that they were inspired by the glasses worn by Melbourne eccentric, beautician, radio broadcaster, actor and dancer Stephanie Deste, as were many other aspects of Dame Edna's personality.
Following film appearances and an elevation to damehood in the 1970s, the character evolved to "Housewife and Superstar", then "Megastar" and finally "Gigastar". Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Dame Edna became increasingly known in North America after multiple stage and television appearances.
Edna describes her chat-shows as "an intimate conversation between two friends, one of whom is a lot more interesting than the other". The character has been used to satirise the cult of celebrity, class snobbery, and prudishness and is often used by Humphries to poke fun at the political leaders and fashions of the times. Her exuberant persona and scathing commentary on society and celebrity, as well as her habit of treating celebrities like ordinary people (on her television shows) and ordinary people like celebrities (in her stage shows) have become signatures.
Although Humphries freely states that Edna is a character he plays, Edna refers to Humphries as her "entrepreneur" or manager. Humphries and his staff of assistants and writers only refer to Edna as "she" and "her", never mixing the character with Humphries.
In March 2012, Humphries announced that the character would be retired at the end of the current stage tour, but later in 2013 he decided to bring her back.
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ABOUT BARRY HUMPHRIES
John Barry Humphries
AO CBE (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, satirist, artist, and author. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer, and an accomplished landscape painter. For his delivery of dadaist and absurdist humour to millions, biographer Anne Pender described Humphries in 2010 as not only "the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin".
Humphries' characters have brought him international renown, and he also appeared in numerous stage productions, films, and television shows. Originally conceived as a dowdy Moonee Ponds housewife who caricatured Australian suburban complacency and insularity, Dame Edna Everage has evolved over four decades to become a satire of stardom – a gaudily dressed, acid-tongued, egomaniacal, internationally fêted Housewife "Gigastar".
Humphries' other satirical characters include the "priapic and inebriated cultural attaché" Sir Les Patterson, who has "continued to bring worldwide discredit upon Australian arts and culture, while contributing as much to the Australian vernacular as he has borrowed from it"; gentle, grandfatherly "returned gentleman" Sandy Stone; iconoclastic 1960s underground film-maker Martin Agrippa; Paddington socialist academic Neil Singleton; sleazy trade union official Lance Boyle; high-pressure art salesman Morrie O'Connor; failed tycoon Owen Steele; and archetypal Australian bloke Barry McKenzie.
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ABOUT KAYE BALLARD
Kaye Ballard
was born on November 20, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio. Since then she has been on the cover of LIFE magazine, played the Tooth Fairy on CAPTAIN KANGAROO, and sipped tea in the Bronx with Mother Teresa. She knew she wanted to perform by the time she was five, and even before graduating high school, began to find work doing imitations of her favorite stars all around Ohio. Kaye performed in both Burlesque and Vaudeville, and before discovering the musical theatre, toured with the Spike Jones Orchestra for two years as featured vocalist and tuba player.
She went on to play every name nightclub that existed throughout the 1950's and '60's including The Bon Soir and The Blue Angel in New York, The Hungry i in San Francisco, and Mr. Kelly's in Chicago. She has appeared on every talk/variety show there ever was including, THE JACK PARR SHOW, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON, THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW, THE PERRY COMO SHOW, THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW, and THE MUPPET SHOW.
Film credits include THE GIRLS MOST LIKELY with Jane Powell, A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME with Shelley Winters, FREAKY FRIDAY with Jodie Foster, WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT? with Jerry Lewis, and THE RITZ with Rita Moreno and Jerry Stiller.
Where she really made a name for herself was on Broadway in such shows as THE GOLDEN APPLE, in which she introduced the standard, "Lazy Afternoon", the original company of CARNIVAL as Rosalie, MOLLY, as Molly Goldberg, and Ruth in PIRATES OF PENZANCE.
Other credits include several record albums, including the first recording of Charles Schultz' Peanuts characters with Arthur Siegel, Ado Annie in a best selling version of OKLAHOMA! with Nelson Eddy, and several Ben Bagley compilations.
Kaye has also performed Mama Rose in GYPSY with both Jack Cassidy and Gavin MacLeod, and been seen in OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS, QUARTET, FUNNY GIRL, Papermill's FOLLIES, and two all-star versions of Dan Goggin's NUNSENSE.
Kaye is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Kaye Beuhl opposite Eve Arden on the Desi Arnaz produced 1960s sitcom, THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, and as Doris Day's landlord and friend, Angie Pallucci on THE DORIS DAY SHOW.
Kaye always had a project going. Over 70 years of making a living from nothing but show business. Whether writing her memoir, recording a biography, or giving a series of benefit concerts she just kept moving ahead.
In her late 80s Kaye performed no less than five different concerts backed by a full orchestra in New Mexico, Texas, and California with friends Lee Roy Reams, Donna McKechnie, and Liliane Montevecchi, all for the protection and well-being of animals.
Kaye lived her final years happily surrounded by her puppies in the house she bought from Desi Arnaz on a street which was ultimately named for her - Kaye Ballard Lane.
She knew and worked with every legend of 20th Century entertainment from Ray Bolger to George Clooney. Throughout her career Kaye was always devoted to the encouragement of rising talent.
Just before her passing, Kaye attended the exhibition of a documentary about her life and career entitled KAYE BALLARD: THE SHOW GOES ON! at the Palm Springs Film Festival. When told of the Audience Favorite Award the film was given, she responded by saying that, "I can now die a happy woman."
The documentary, KAYE BALLARD: THE SHOW GOES ON! will have its live streaming premiere on July 14, 2020. More info on Kaye's Facebook page (OfficialKayeBallard).
NOTE:
Items will be shipped from Indiana.  Items for sale were in Kaye's home at the time of her passing. They were collected from her home and shipped to an executor of her estate who resides in Indiana. As shipments arrive in Indiana from Kaye's home in Rancho Mirage CA, it is determined which items are able to be sold and those items are listed for sale.