CHESTER MORRIS - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 02/24/1947 - HFSID 288780

CHESTER MORRIS
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Chester Morris's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Morris, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Chester Morris", 1 page, 8½x11. No place, 1947 February 24. Chester Morris 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. A son of two Broadway stars, Chester Morris (1901-1970) appeared in silent movies as a child and made his Broadway debut at 15 in The Copperhead (1917) with Lionel Barrymore. He was nominated for the 1928-1929 Academy Award for Best Actor in his first talking-picture role as Chick Williams No. 1065 in the Oscar-nominated Best Picture Alibi. He is best remembered for his role as Boston Blackie in 13 action films in the 1940s. 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. Normal mailing folds. Slightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.