T C JONES in MASK AND GOWN 1957

[Steffie2]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 3:49pm

I saw a playbill on Ebay from a 1957 show produced by "New Faces" producer Leonard Sillman called "Mask and Gown", which starred female impersonator T C Jones. Does anyone here know anything about this show? Was it on Broadway? It featured original songs by Ronny Graham, June Carroll, Arthur Siegel & Dorothea Freitag. Was this show ever recorded? I couldn't find out much about T C Jones on the web. Was this the first Broadway show to feature a female impersonator in a major role?

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 5:35pm

A friend of mine knows a good deal about the show, but I can't remember what he's told me.

It was hardly the first Broadway show to prominently feature a female impersonator. A theatre was even named for one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Eltinge

http://www.ibdb.com/venue.php?id=1142

[Steffie2]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 7:54pm

Thanks for the links. I have also found out that Jones appeared in a 1965 Alfred Hitchcock Hour called "An Unlocked Window", which is supposed to be one of the most frightening and graphic thrillers ever on television and uncredited in the Blake Edwards 1967 film "Gunn".

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 8:33pm

Yes, there is a recording and it was on CD for a while -- I'm not sure if it's still readily available, though. T.C. Jones used to be on the old Ed Sullivan show a lot and was in New Faces of 1956 which I believe also was recorded.

[bk]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 11:09pm

An Unlocked Window is indeed still one of the most frightening hours of television ever broadcast. And T.C. Jones' performance is amazing. I just watched it again on a region 2 DVD set of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour TV shows.

As stated, Mask and Gown is on CD and I don't think it's that hard to find.

[NCGuy]

Posted: 1/9/09 at 11:45pm

Steffie, that Hitchcock episode is available on Hulu, if you’re interested.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 1/10/09 at 12:44am

I'm watching it now, and I gotta say...I'm a bit creeped out.

ETA:
That was AWESOME.

Updated On: 1/10/09 at 12:44 AM

[Steffie2]

Posted: 1/10/09 at 1:57am

Thanks so much NCGuy, bk & ED. That really is a tense, scary program, far better written than most of today's TV, and TC's acting was awesome. I hear he is even more explosive in "Gunn". And I see that Amazon UK has "Mask & Gown" for sale on CD. It seems T C Jones was a very versatile actor & singer who deserves greater recognition. Now I'm tempted to bid on the Ebay playbill as it is autographed by Jones.

[jejr]

Posted: 1/10/09 at 1:34pm

Jones was the big star in New Faces. He did a hilarious take off of Tallulah Bankhead in Ziegfeld Follies. There is a recording of the show but it would be hard to find.