ADELE JERGENS - DOCUMENT MULTI-SIGNED 03/15/1947 CO-SIGNED BY: DUNCAN G. CASSELL - HFSID 288982

ADELE JERGENS
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce her signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. She has signed three times, once to authorize the transaction, again as an autograph sample and once (by mistake) on the date line. Also signed by a studio representative. A perfectly verified example!
Document signed three times: "Cathy O'Donnell", 1 page, 8½x11. (She has crossed out her (still very legible) signature on the date line, writing the date below it.) Also signed "Duncan G. Cassell" on behalf of Columbia Pictures. Hollywood, California 1947 March 15. Jergens grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right to use her name, autograph, photographic likeness, or artist's sketch of the likeness, for reproduction on engraved, embossed or printed stamps, and in stamp albums, and in connection with the advertising and exploitation of these stamps and stamp albums for sale throughout the world. ADELE JERGENS (1917-2002) first came to the world's attention when she was voted Miss World's Fairest at the 1939 World's Fair. She had four Broadway performances under her belt, mostly as a dancer, before her first movie appearance in 1943. In all, Jergens appeared in over 60 TV shows and films, mostly as tough or loose women in B movies. She did enjoy a few roles in A-films, like the 1955 film adaptation of William Gibson's novel The Cobweb, as well as an odd pairing with Marilyn Monroe in 1949's Ladies of the Chorus... odd because Jergens was only four years older than Monroe but was still cast as her mother. DUNCAN CASSELL was secretary to Columbia Pictures mogul Harry Cohn. The Motion Picture Relief Fund was founded in 1921 to assist ill and needy film industry veterans, as expressed in its motto: "We take care of our own." The fund raised money through voluntary payroll deductions and celebrity events. As President of the Fund from 1939 until his death in 1956, film and radio star Jean Hersholt conceived Hollywood Star Stamps as a fundraising method. These stamps, 468 in all, were sold at dime stores after World War II in sheets of 6-12, at 10 cents per sheet, and were an immediate hit with collectors. Now called the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the non-profit organization funds its own hospital and retirement home. It confers the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award annually at the Academy Awards ceremony to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." Filing holes (torn) at left edge. Staple holes at top edge. Lightly toned and creased. Mailing folds. Stamp imprints on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.