Still Dancing: My Story [VINTAGE 1987] [ASSOCIATION COPY] [SIGNED FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Fine unread condition black linen boards with gold spine contained in a fine condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes Author Dedication; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Prologue and Index. Illustrated with two section of black-and-white photographic plates. Signed, inscribed, and dated (Nov. 5, 1987) association copy inscribed to Muppet Producer/Actor David Lazer, with blue pen on the half title page. From the library of the late David Lazer. "In 1912 a young lad of six arrived in London's Brick Lane from Tokmak, Russia. His name was Louis Winogradsky, and he couldn't speak a word of English. But he did have an astute brain as well as a photographic memory, and soon found himself absorbed into the East End's predominantly Jewish community. While earning his living in the garment industry, in his spare time Louis fast became an expert charleston dancer; so much so, in fact, that in 1926 he entered - and won - the World Champion Charleston Competition. The lure of the footlights proved irresistible, and, under the more manageable name of Lew Grade, he turned professional, going on to tour England and the continent with great success. During his travels he met a wide range of international music hall and circus acts, and when he returned to England, where charleston fever was almost spent, he decided to concentrate his talents as an agent. It was not long before he and his equally talented brother had formed Lew & Leslie Grade Ltd, which became the most prestigious agency in Europe. From that point on there was no stopping the indefatigable Lew, who, together with his brothers Bernard and Leslie, created a show-business dynasty whose influence is still very much in evidence today. Performer, entrepreneur, raconteur, founder of Associated Television, film and stage producer, Lord Grade's dynamic personality, as perenially conspicuous as the king-sized cigars he smokes, pulses through every page of his fascinating and long-awaited autobiography. Spanning almost eighty years - from the inception of the nickleodeon to the advent of video and such high-tech musicals as Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Starlight Express (which Lord Grade recently co-produced on Broadway) - Still Dancing has a cast that includes such heavyweight names as Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Edith Piaf, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Mario Lanza, Maria Callas, Franco Zeffirelli, Laurence Olivier, Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Roger Moore, Tony Curtis and Sammy Davis Jr, and offers a privileged insight into the wheeler-dealing world of international show business through the eyes of a man who is himself a living legend." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lew Grade and his brother Leslie founded a talent agency in 1933 that grew into the largest in the UK. With partner Joe Collins, father of Joan and Jackie Collins, the agency eventually represented some of the biggest and most prestigious stars in British show business, including Sir Ralph Richardson and Lord Laurence Olivier. Grade's production company ITC Entertainment was responsible for the iconic 1960s British TV series The Saint (1962) and The Prisoner (1967). In 1962 he acquired AP Films, which produced the popular children's marionette adventure series Thunderbirds (1965), among others, and three feature films, The Return of the Pink Panther and Sophie's Choice plus the sci-fi series Space: 1999 (1975). As a movie producer, Grade helped finance the big-screen incarnation of The Muppet Show (1976), for which he was immortalized by Jim Henson, who made a Muppet in his image, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Henson also used Grade for the character of movie mogul Lew Lord (played by Orson Welles) in The Muppet Movie (1979). He produced director Fanco Zeffirelli's award-winning TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977). Grade was knighted in 1969 for his services towards promoting international trade and was made a life peer (a baron) in 1976. - from imdb dot com. …