FLOTSAM

[‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ (musical duo B. C. Collingwood and Malcom McEachern).] Autograph Signature, with stylized self-portrait, of ‘Flotsam’ (Bentley Collingwood Hilliam), tenor, pianist and songwriter.

Author: 
‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ [Bentley Collingwood Hilliam [born Smailes] (1890-1968), English tenor, pianist and songwriter, and Malcolm McEachern (1883-1945), Australian bass]
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£50.00

‘Mr Flotsam and Mr Jetsam’ are regarded as precursors of Flanders and Swan. The present item is on a 14 x 13 cm leaf torn from an album. The high-acidity paper is discoloured, otherwise in good condition, with no chipping or wear. Entirely blank on both sides apart from the autograph ‘Flotsam’, with diagonal flourish, beneath a highly stylized and simplified portrait of flotsam seated at his piano. A nice and unusual item. See Image

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Autograph Signatures together with Autograph self-caricatures.

Author: 
Flotsam and Jetsam [Bentley Collingwood Hilliam (1890-1965), tenor, and Malcolm McEachern (1883-1945), bass], British Music Hall entertainers of the 1920s, 30s and 40s
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£45.00

On piece of paper four inches by three and a half, neatly mounted on slightly larger piece of blue paper, docketed 'FLOTSAM & JETSAM | 2 POPULAR ENTERTAINERS'. The crude caricatures (probably by Hilliam rather than McEachern) consist of a crude and highly-stylised image of the heads and shoulders of the two, looking to the left, in hat and cap and both smoking pipes. Beneath is 'Yours very sincerely | [signed] Flotsam and [signed] Jetsam'. Among the duo's recordings is a comic song entitled 'What was the matter with Rachmaninov?' (1927).

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