An invention launched in Lancaster made its way into one of the most famous songs about Easter, a new project has discovered.
Although Easter Parade, written by Irving Berlin, was sung by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in the 1948 film of the same name, it first featured in the Broadway musical, As Thousands Cheer, 15 years before.
Among the lyrics is a mention of the ‘rotogravure’, a printing technique which took off in Lancaster after being invented by Czech-born artist and inventor, Karel Klic who settled in the city.
The technique went on to have many uses including the printing of colour magazines as a verse of the song illustrates: “On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, The photographers will snap us and you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.”
This quirky fact came to the attention of Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity, Mirador, during research for their Copy That project which marks the centenary of Klic’s death.
And they’ve also discovered that Rotogravure was the title of a Ringo Starr album too.
“Mirador is all about making heritage accessible and fun so we were delighted when we found out that a Lancaster-based invention featured in the Easter Parade lyrics and had even inspired Ringo Starr,” said Mirador co-founder, George Harris.
Copy That – The Revolution in Photomechanical Printing has been made possible with a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and will raise awareness of a printing process invented by Klic which brought art to the masses after he joined forces with the Lancaster-based company, Storey Brothers, renowned for producing oil cloth.
Together, they established the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company which printed fine art images so that most households could afford to have art on their walls at home. The invention also revolutionised the printing of pictures in the press, in books and on postcards.
Mirador’s year-long programme of exciting activities and interesting events will feature a series of workshops this spring and to kick start Easter, the charity has provided an Easter bonnet template to colour in available on the website.
Photographs of the completed bonnets should be sent to copythat@miradorarts.co.uk All entries will be displayed on the Mirador website and the very best could be shown at the Copy That – Karel Klic – Art For All exhibition at The Storey Gallery in November.
