Description
The signed first edition of Bubbles: A Self-Portrait by Beverly Siles, with a signature by President Gerald R. Ford, who humorously botched her introduction at a White House State Dinner.
Octavo, 240pp. Olive cloth, title stamped in gilt on the spine. Stated “First printing” on the copyright page. Includes hundreds of black and white photographs. In the publisher’s fine dust jacket, $12.50 on the front flap, bright illustrations.
Signed by the author and “Jerry Ford” on the front free endpaper.
At the January 1975 White House State Dinner honoring British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, President Ford famously botched the introduction of Opera Singer Beverly Sills. With his wife’s recent cancer surgery on his mind, he began the introduction of the Opera Soprano, noting that she was “as much at home in a Verdi ballad as she is in a Strauss operation.” He then mispronounced her name as “Beverly Tilsit.” The audience laughed at the introduction, with Ms. Sills quipping: “Mr. President, from here on in, wherever I sing, I want you to come along and warm up the audience for me.”
