DORIS DAY - DOCUMENT SIGNED 10/22/1958 CO-SIGNED BY: KIRK DOUGLAS, MARTIN MELCHER - HFSID 264931

DORIS DAY, MARTIN MELCHER, KIRK DOUGLAS and OTHERS
Doris Day, Martin Melcher, Kirk Douglas and others sign a document regarding the Dunne Lease in Butler County, Kansas.
Carbon Typed Document Signed: "Doris Day", "Martin Melcher" as Agent for the Community, "Kirk Douglas", "Fred G Luke" as President of Phoenix Enterprises, Inc., "Samuel F. Morton" and "Jerome B. Rosenthal" for Phoenix Enterprises, Inc., the Vice President, Assistant Cashier and Secretary of The First National Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma City and five witnesses on page 2, 2p, 8½x11, separate sheets. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1958 October 22. On letterhead of The First National Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma City to Skelly Oil Company, Tulsa Oklahoma. Regarding the Dunne Lease in Butler County, Kansas. In full: "Under date of June 13, 1958 The First National Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma assigned its interest in the above described lease to the Phoenix Enterprises, Inc., reserving however an oil payment of $85,000.00. This oil payment is payable out of the above lease, together with others located in Chautaugua county (sic), Kansas and is effective with the June 1, 1958 runs. In order to expedite matters the undersigned request that payment for the full 15/16 of 7/8 working interest in the above described lease continue to be paid to The First National Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma City, which bank will in turn disburse the proceeds of the amount to the oil payment and the remainder to the various interest holders and thereby relive your company of this burden. The following parties represent all of the interest holders in the 15/16ths of 7/8ths and will appreciate it if you will comply with this request, and the undersigned hereby relieve you of any responsibility as to disbursement of the funds." Lightly creased. Printed "COPY" touches the "K" in Kirk and 3 other signatures. Tear at upper left blank margin, staple holes at upper left blank corner, 2 file holes at upper blank margin. Slightly soiled at lower left blank margin. Overall, fine condition. Accompanied by a carbon copy of typed letter with typed signature of Richard D. Agay relating to the above document, 2p, 8½x11, separate sheets. No place, 1958 December 6. In part: "I am enclosing the following documents which relate to the payment of the proceeds for the oil from the Dunne Lease in Butler County, Kansas and the Brown, Davis, Graham, Keith, Mattocks, McAfee and Smith Leases in Chataugua County, Kansas..." Agay then lists three items, including an original and five copies of a letter agreement between Phoenix Enterprises and the First National Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma City dated November 11, 1958, an original and five copies of a letter agreement with Wood River Oil and Refining Company dated November 11, 1958 and an original and one copy of the letter agreement dated October 22, 1958 addressed to Skelly Oil Company (a copy of which is offered here). Agay then says that a delay involved was the result of difficulty in obtaining the signature of one of the working interest owners. He concludes: "I cannot impress upon you too strongly that you should not in any case deliver these letters to Skelly and Wood River unless you obtain execution of the first mentioned letter agreement by the First National Bank and Trust Company of Oklahoma City." Lightly creased. Type smudged at some words. Overall, fine condition. Although she was one of America's most popular and highly paid actresses by the early 1950s, actress/singer DORIS DAY (1922-2019) was left nearly penniless upon the death of her husband/manager MARTIN MELCHER (1915-1968), largely due to his investments in risky ventures. Day and Melcher, who adopted the actresses' son, Terry shortly after the couple's marriage in 1951, formed their own production company in 1952. Beginning in 1956, two years before this document was signed, Melcher produced a number of his wife's films, including Julia (1956), The Tunnel of Love (1958, the year this document was signed), It Happened to Jane (1959), Pillow Talk (1959), Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960, associate producer), Lover Come Back (1961), That Touch of Mink (1962), Bill Rose's Jumbo (1962), The Thrill of It All (1963), Move Over, Darling (1963), Send Me No Flowers (1964, executive producer), Do Not Disturb (1965), The Ballad of Josie (1967), Caprice (1967), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). Following Melcher's death, Day professed to know nothing about the multi-million-deal he had negotiated with CBS for a sitcom to begin that Fall. After a brief period of mourning, she went ahead with The Doris Day Show, which ran from 1968-1973. Actor KIRK DOUGLAS (1916-2020), who made his film debut in 1946 in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, was nominated for Best Actor Academy Awards for Champion (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Lust for Life (1956) and was awarded a special Academy Award in 1995. Forty years earlier, in 1955, Douglas had started his own production company, Bryna Productions, which produced two of his most popular films, Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). In 2003, Douglas and three other members of his acting family, son Michael Douglas, Michael's son, Cameron Douglas, and Douglas' first wife (1943-1951), Diana Douglas, appeared in the feature film, It Runs in the Family. In the year this document was signed, both Douglas and Day were presenters at the 30th Annual Academy Awards. Worthy of further research. Two items.