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Busby Berkeley was born in 1895. He was a Broadway choreographer in the 1920s, but when sound came to movies, it was natural to make musicals, and when Eddie Cantor was making Whoopee in 1930, he hired Berkeley to choreograph the dance numbers. Musicals took off in 1933, and in that year alone Berkeley choreographed 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, and Roman Scandals! That same year he also got a chance to completely direct a movie, and by the late 1930s he was directing musicals and non-musicals, while still doing lots of choreography on other movies. Berkeley is likely best remembered for the elaborate overhead shots of dancers (performing dances which only made sense when viewed from above), which became his "trademark" and which was included in almost all his musicals. In his early 1930s musicals, many of the dancers wore incredibly skimpy outfits, sometimes only covered by props of one sort or another. In the late 1930s musicals became less popular, but Berkeley helped somewhat revive them with the Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney ones in the early 1940s, and with the Esther Williams ones in the early 1950s (where he staged remarkable dance-like sequences in and under the water!). He passed away in 1976 at the age of 80.

Important Added Info: Note that this check was paid from Samuel Goldwyn to Busby Berkeley. It is signed by an unknown Vice President at Samuel Goldwyn, but it is endorsed by Busby Berkeley on the back as the payee.

About the Collection this Item Comes From
Note that this item (and 11 others we are auctioning this week, each in its own auction) was consigned to us by a man who purchased the collection of a dedicated collector, who was a major film buff from the 1950s through the 1990s. He would purchase stills on stars he liked, and then he would go to events or collectibles shows (he went to virtually every collectibles show where stars appeared!), and he would get the items autographed, and many of his photos were personalized to him with nice inscriptions, because over time many of the celebrities who regularly attended shows came to be friends with him! Over many years he was able to acquire a large number of signed stills, and his collection was purchased by our consignor. In this set of auctions we are auctioning 12 of his autographed items (and we will auction others in future "all signed" auctions). We feel certain that the autographs on these items are authentic! Note that each of the 12 items from this consignor all have this paragraph on them.

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