CARMEN CAVALLARO - DOCUMENT MULTI-SIGNED 03/14/1947 - HFSID 288994

CARMEN CAVALLARO
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Carmen Cavallaro's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed three times by Cavallaro, once as an autograph sample, printed once for correct spelling and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Carmen Cavallaro" she also prints her name "Carmen Cavallaro" it is crossed out in pencil by an unknown hand, 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1947 March 14. Carmen Cavallaro 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. Called "the poet of the piano", Carmen Cavallaro (1913-1989) performed as a soloist with several big bands of the 1930s, then formed his own orchestra. He appeared in four films in the mid-1940s, hosted a radio program, The Schaeffer Parade, and ghosted Tyrone Power's piano playing for The Eddy Duchin Story (1956). He had a talent for arranging popular versions of classic music, including a hit recording, "Chopin's Polonnaise" (1945). 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. Paperclip indentation at top left. Staple holes at top left. Normal mailing folds. Lightly creased. Lightly soiled. Pencil marks (unknown hand). Otherwise, fine condition.