More from that Leslie Henson fellow...

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Geoff Collins has been kind (and obsessive) enough to send along these assorted examples of vintage Hensonalia. The two Play Pictorial covers are particularly nice and of specific interest to fans of classic American comedy. Henson played the title role in the London production of Eddie Cantor's most successful musical comedy Kid Boots (2/2/26), and some clips from the production are available on the Pathe site. Henson is also shown opposite American comedienne Zelma O'Neal in Nice Goings On (9/13/33). O'Neal, a Broadway fixture in the late 20s, appears in Peach O'Reno (1931) with Wheeler and Woolsey and she's really, really not very good, another stage performer whose special appeal apparently doesn't come across on celluloid. As Dorothy Lee once said, "She had a million dollar personality but she photographed like twenty-five cents." Also included for your edification and bemusement is a 1929 review of Follow Through from Punch, starring Henson and, providing yet another link to Wheeler and Woolsey, Ada May, who played Dorothy Lee's role in the original 1927 production of Rio Rita (you can see her as Martha Raye's maid in Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947)).