These signatures by Colin McCahon and Fred Argyle were acquired by a 12-year-old in Millerton, West Coast in 1938. Colin McCahon was a member of the Fred Argyle Variety Revue Company and signed two autographs, one as himself and one as the character he portrayed in the review "Doreen" Provenance for his membership of the company and the tour is available in the publication Colin McCahon: There is Only One Direction, Vol.1 1919- 1959.

McCahon left school, worked at Scoullar and Chisholm’s furniture store, then in 1937 enrolled at the Dunedin School of Art, where for two years he found in R. N. Field an ideal teacher. Early in 1938 he joined Fred Argyle’s variety company on an unsuccessful tour of small South Island towns.