ALLAN JONES - DOCUMENT MULTI-SIGNED 08/22/1946 - HFSID 289028

ALLAN JONES
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Allan Jones's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed three times by Jones, twice as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed three times: "Allan Jones", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1946 August 22. Allan Jones grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right, to use his 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. Allan Jones (1908-1992), a star of Broadway and film musicals of the 1930s and forties, made his screen debut in Show Boat (1936). From the 1937 film Firefly came his hit song, "Donkey Serenade". He is best remembered for his romantic roles in two Marx Brothers productions: A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. After his film career he toured with stage companies in such productions as Man of La Mancha. 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." Three filing holes at left. Staple holes at top left. Normal mailing folds. Lightly creased. Slightly soiled. Slightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.