LONDON TOWN 1946 Sid Field - George Cannons STILL #151

Original British 9 5/8 inch x 7 5/8 inch Still of SID FIELD, orchestra and audience in the 1946 Wesley Ruggles Musical LONDON TOWN.

An aging music hall performer returns to London believing he's the star of a new show. When he discovers that he's only slated to be the understudy, his daughter sabotages the revue's star in order to get him back into the spotlight.

Still by George Cannons. Cannons was a Hollywood portrait photographer of the 1930s. Professionally known as Cannons of Hollywood. He was born in 1897 and after the World War I went to Hollywood where his reputation as a stills photographer was first established during the silent film era working for Mack Sennett, specialising in portraits of Sennett's bathing beauties. In the early 1930s he continued working in Hollywood producing portraits of leading stars including Dolores Del Rio and Jean Harlow. After returning to England in 1934 he set up his own studio in Dover Street in central London known as Cannons of Hollywood and exploited his Hollywood credentials specialising in glamour portraits. Due to the number of established photographers in London’s West End he found work hard to come by so he sought work as a stills photographer. He was employed by J. Arthur Rank who was based at Pinewood Studios and he was assigned to work with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger on two of their films. In 1946 he created the colour portraits of Jean Simmons during the filming of Black Narcissus. In 1948 he was promoted to the position of principal stills photographer on The Red Shoes and responsible for the iconic stills of Moira Shearer during the ballet sequence. He continued to work for the Rank Organisation and in 1949 he took a series of portraits of Valerie Hobson which are in the National Portrait Gallery collection in London. He died in 1972.

The still is in very good condition with a cast list tacked to the reverse.