JUST LIKE THAT!
A gift from Tommy Cooper of two of his iconic fez hats brought back memories of an event 70 years ago for local man Tim Dixon when he re-discovered them in his home.
It happened in 1955. Cooper was just a few years into a career that would eventually make him an internationally famous comedian, and he was still taking jobs like the Annual Children’s Christmas Party in the canteen at the giant Peter Dixon’s Paper Mill in Grimsby, one of the biggest employers in the town and one of the country’s leading suppliers of newsprint.
Tim’s father was Anthony Dixon was the Managing Director of the company and at the end of the party he introduced his five year old son to the comedian.
Tim – today a retired haulage contractor in his seventies – recalls: “Like everyone else I was fascinated by the fez and I just asked him straight out if I could have it. He took it off his head and handed it to me – at which point I saw that after it was bit sweaty after the performance and I pulled a bit of a face.”
“Tommy said ‘Hang on’ and walked over to his props piled up at the side of the room . . . there was no dressing room, actually there wasn’t even a stage . . . and he took out another clean fez and gave me that too.”
Tim came across the hats again during a recent clear out at his home in Lincolnshire and decided that the time had come to let them go to a collector. They are to go under the hammer in a sale at auctioneers John Taylors on Tuesday (15th).
Auctioneer James Laverack said: ” They’re two wonderful pieces of memorabilia from a quite early stage in Tommy’s career. He went into showbiz in 1947 after leaving the army and in the early 50s was working mainly in variety theatres and the London nightspots, often at the bottom of the bill. The television shows that would make him one of the most famous comics of the 20th century were still a few years ahead.”
“The idea of Tommy Cooper travelling up to Grimsby to do a children’s Christmas party in the canteen of a paper mill is just surreal – about as surreal as some of his comedy.”
“He was, by the way, very, very funny that afternoon. Went down a storm with the children.”
James added: “The provenance of the two fezes is rock solid. Indeed given that one of them was actually taken off Tommy’s sweating head after the performance I can say – for the first time in my entire auctioneering career – that doubters need only get the fez DNA tested!”
The two fezes are to be sold as a single lot because of the sweaty fez story and so it would be a shame to split them.
Asked how much the lot is expected to make James said: “Tommy Cooper obviously had quite a few fezes during his career and they do turn up – with varying strengths of provenance – from time to time. Before the recent Norfolk sale auction results have mostly been in the £400 – £4,000 range, although a fez allegedly signed by Tommy Cooper sold at an Irish auction last year for £62!”
“These go into our auction of Tuesday with a modest pre-sale estimate of £200-£400.”