BRUCE (HERMAN BRIX) BENNETT - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 07/22/1946 - HFSID 288879

BRUCE BENNETT (HERMAN BRIX)


Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Bennett's signature (screen name only) and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. A perfectly verified example!


Document Double Signed: "Bruce Bennett" in black ink, 1 page, 8½x11. Hollywood, California, July 22, 1946. Bennett 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. Bennett signs with the understanding that he will derive no financial benefit or obligation from this enterprise. A collegiate track star at the University of Washington, Herman Brix (1906-2007) won a silver medal in the shot put at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. When Edgar Rice Burroughs decided to produce his own film version of his Tarzan, he cast Brix in the lead (The New Adventures of Tarzan, 1935). Brix studied acting, adopted the screen name of Bruce Bennett, and played second leads and supporting roles in many films, including Sahara (1943), Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and The Outsider (1961). 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 at left edge. Staple holes at top left corner. Otherwise, fine condition.