BOB "BAZOOKA" BURNS - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 08/21/1946 - HFSID 288915

BOB "BAZOOKA" BURNS
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Burns' signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. He has signed twice, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document Double Signed: "Bob Burns", 1 page, 8½x11. Hollywood, California, 1946 August 21. Burns 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. Bob Burns (1890-1956) coined the word "bazooka" for the homemade instrument he invented in 1905 and became known as Bob "Bazooka" Burns as well as "The Arkansas Traveler" (for his home state). A veteran vaudeville performer, Burns also starred in early "talkies", including Up the River (1930), but was best known for his radio career, which he began in 1931. He was a regular on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall (1935-1941) before having his own program from 1941-1947, when he retired (Burns, however, made a last appearance on Ed Sullivan's show in 1955. 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. Pencil mark (unknown hand). Ink smeared throughout document (not effecting signatures). Otherwise, fine condition.