Great news for comedy fans as the Victoria & Albert Museum acquires Tommy Cooper archive of jokes and props but sadly no fez!
The collection, which will open to the public in the autumn in the V&A’s Theatre and Performance Galleries, is the largest collection of its kind tracing the life and legacy of the much-loved British comedian Tommy Cooper (1921 - 1984).
The Tommy Cooper Collection comprises over 116 boxes of archive material and 24 props and posters charting the career of the outwardly shambolic magician and comedian known for his trademark fez, flustered face, bungling stage persona and razor-sharp comedy. The collection also includes Cooper’s writings, some jotted down on backs of posters and shirt packaging cardboard, as well as documents relating to the inner workings of his career, such as contracts; stage props, Cooper’s infamous ‘Head Twister’ illusion; details of early auditions at the BBC and engagements; a folio notebook full of his gags; personal correspondence; posters; theatre programmes and merchandise charting his career spanning almost forty years.
Contributor: Alexandra Pinhorn.
Images: © The Tommy Cooper Estate. Photograph: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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