After a career on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, New Jersey wardrobe & hair professional Vince Esoldi is retiring along with his unique Autograph Suit with over 300 famous signatures!
Where else would you find Paul Newman and JoAnne Woodward sitting next to Debbie Reynolds and Johnny Cash? The answer is...on the incredible Autograph Suit with over 300 famous signatures that have been collected over the last 35 years by Vincent Esoldi who is now retiring from a career on Broadway.
Esoldi, a lifelong resident of New Jersey, worked as a hairdresser and wardrobe professional on Broadway and at Radio City MusicAl Hall for most of his career.
He's officially beginning his first year of retirement and he is seeking to retire his Autograph Suit with over 300 famous signatures which was first signed by Ethel Merman 35 years ago at a party at Sardi's Restaurant.
The suit is going on sale on eBay beginning Wednesday, August 18th.
The signatures include: Frank Sinatra, Henry Fonda, Bette Midler, Cher, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Paul Newman, JoAnne Woodward, Lena Horne, ElizaBeth Taylor, Lilly Tomlin, Gloria Vanderbilt, Barbara Walters, Andy Warhol, Robin Williams, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Reeve, Mary Tyler Moore, Ginger Rogers, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart, Alec Baldwin, Bernadette Peters, Walter Cronkite and most recently President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Daniel Radcliffe "Harry Potter" and Hugh Jackman.
The Smithsonian has expressed interest in the suit which Curator Dwight Bowers has described as "...a fabric equivalent to the walls of Sardi's or the Hollywood walk of fame!"
Esoldi is seeking a buyer for the suit who he hopes will either put the suit on display in a prominent theatre museum or donate it to the Smithsonian.
Upon the sale of the suit, 20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to The Lillian Booth Actors Home of The Actors Fund, located in Englewood, New Jersey. Esoldi will be making the donation in memory of his friend and colleague Peter Howard, musical director, composer, and musician.
Howard's Broadway credits included: My Fair Lady, The Sound Of Music, Carnival, Hello, Dolly!, 1776, Chicago, Annie, Barnum, Baby, My One and Only, Crazy For You and Swingin' on a Star. His film credits included: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Zelig, 1776, Mame, Annie, and Stepping Out.
Esoldi met Howard while working as a hairdresser on the Broadway musical Barnum. They worked together on a number of events over the years, including Liberty Week in New Jersey in the summer of 1986 which was a fundraiser for The Actors Fund. Esoldi was a producer of the program.
Howard passed away in April of 2008 at the age of 81. He had been a resident at the Lillian Booth Actors Home. Just prior to his death, Howard composed several songs for a musical that Esoldi wrote and produced called Udderly Gorgeous, a Moosical Musical.
The Lillian Booth Actors Home is a beautiful, state-of-the-art assisted living and skilled nursing care facility with 124 residents. The Home's experienced professional staff is committed to providing quality health care and supportive services for everyone who has dedicated their professional lives to performing arts and entertainment, as well as their immediate family members.
The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that helps everyone - performers and those behind the scenes - who works in performing arts and entertainment, serving nearly 12,000 people annually. Programs include social services and emergency assistance, health care and insurance, housing, and employment and training services. For more information, visit www.actorsfund.org.
Complete list of signatures on the Autograph Suit:
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Cher, ElizaBeth Taylor, Bette Midler, Tony Bennett, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Rock Hudson, Faye Dunaway, Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Stewart, Alec Baldwin, and Hugh Jackman, Calvin Klein, Ed Koch, Angela Lansbury, Cloris Leachman, Norman Lear, Jack Lemmon, Bob Mackie, Shirley MacLaine , Ethel Merman, Liza Minelli, Thurman Munson, Tony Orlando, Bernadette Peters, Gilda Radner, Debbie Reynolds, Neil Sedaka, Neil Simon, Lilly Tomlin, Gloria Vanderbilt, Barbara Walters, Andy Warhol, Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Mary Tyler Moore, Mickey Rooney, Billy Baldwin, Walter Cronkite, John Forsythe, Sam Waterson, Dick Clark, Dom DeLuise, Peter Allen, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Craig T. Nelson, Billy Crudup, David Geffen, Dame Judi Dench, Rhea Perlman, Kristin Chenoweth, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr., Kenny Baker (R2D2), Warren Beatty, Michael Bennett, Candace Bergen, Tom Brokaw, Governor Jerry Brown, Carol Burnett, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Carol Channing, Stockard Channing, Cher, Oscar De La Renta, Phyliss Diller, Carrie Fisher, Henry Fonda, President Gerald Ford, Art Garfunkel, Merv Griffin, Andy Griffith, Dustin Hoffman, Rock Hudson, Diane Keaton, Families that include: Paul Newman, JoAnne Woodward, Clea Newman and Susan Kendall Newman, Sir Laurence Olivier, John Raitt, Rex Reed, Chita Rivera, Richard Rogers, Neil Simon, Maggie Smith, Elaine Stritch, Jule Styne, Danny Thomas, Tommy Tune, Diane Von Furstenberg, Steve Allen, Lauren Becall, Tony Bennett, Polly Bergen, Art Garfunkel, Joel Grey, Halston, Marvin Hamlisch, Lionel Hampton, Jerry Herman, Al Hirschfield, Jason Robards, John Forsythe, Eli Wallach, Ann Jackson, Treat Williams, Joe Layton, Amy Irving, Tony Goldwyn, Sam Tramwell, Joel Siegel, Julie Newmar, Jim Dale, Francis McDormand, Lucy DeVito, Will Swensen, Ace Young, Diana DeGarmo, Willa Kim, Vanessa Bell, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ellie Green, Mary Travers, George Stevens, Tony Geary, Tovah Felhsuhr, Rosetta Le Noire, Elizabeth Wilson, Sissy Huston, Earl Wilson, Shelley Winters, John Wood, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, Charlotte Rae, Van Johnson, Alice Faye, Henry Kissinger, William Hurt, Coleen Dewhurst, Linda Evans, Kate Jackson, Phillip Michael Thomas, Anne Jackson, Jack Scalia, Jimmy Coco, Gwen Verdon, Governor Thomas Kean, Ernest Thompson, Jill St. John, Rip Taylor, Beverly Sills, Don Amechi, Kay Ballard, Bill Hurth, Bella Abzug, Herb Alpert, Eve Arden, Adrienne Barbeau, Eubie Blake, Alberta Hunter, Barry Bostwick, Joseph Bottoms, Timothy Bottoms, Donald Brooks, Ellen Burstein, Red Buttons, Zoe Caldwell, Kitty Carlisle, Imogene Coca, Sy Coleman, Betty Comden, Jimmy Connors, John Cullum, Tim Curry, Morton DaCosta, Mack Davis, Bucky Dent, Jack Ford, Ruth Ford, Vincent Gardenia, Mitzi Gaynor, Peter Gennaro, Jack Guilford, Herione Gingold, Don Grady, Adoph Green, Tammy Grimes, Joey Heatherton, Lillian Heyman, Bruce Jenner, Stacy Keach, Gene Saks, Alexis Smith, The Shirelles, Liz Smith, Oliver Smith, Charles Strouse, Sally Struthers, Thomas Tryon, Edward Villela, Harold Rome, Diana Rigg, Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, Liberace, Pia Lindstrom, Joshua Logan, Dorothy Louden, Lorna Luft, Sheila MacRae, Gavin MacLeod, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, Ali MacGraw, Jayne Meadows, Mrs. Miller, Melba Moore, Robert Morse, Phyliss Newman, Tony Roberts, Leonard Frey, Kato Kaelin, Mary Testa, Nicholas Wyman, Ken & Daria Dolan, AJ Anton, Elizabeth Hubbard, Brooke Adams, Jeff Aquilon, Meg Mundy, Michael Davis, Rick Donovan, Ruth Warrick, Edgar Winter, Gae Exton, Earl Blackwell, Erma Bombeck, Gordon Thompson, Eugenia Sheppard, Ken Duncan, Bill McCutchen, John Curry, Florence Klotz, Raoul Pen Du Bois, Anthony Shaw, Patrick Cassidy, Ann McGovern, Nolan Miller, Paul Michael Glasser, Suzanne Farrell, Sherri Belafonte, Theoni Aldredge, Abe Beame, Larry Blyden, Bill Boggs, Mark Bramble, Len Cariou, Pat Carroll, David Dukes, Frank Dunlap, Eileen Fulton, Kelly Garett, David Groh, Eileen Heckart, Jack Hoffsiss, Celeste Holme, Artie Johnson, Judy Kaye, Katie Kelly, Fernando Sanchez, Giorgio Di Sant Angela, Carol Shelley, Michael Stewart, David Rounds, Donald Sadler, Lady Rachel Roberts, Jennifer O'Neill, Jack O'Brien, Jane Oliver, Jean Marsh, Lady Divine, Hal Linden, Robert Klein, Jim Mason, Sue Mengers, and Louise Lasser.
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