ELIA KAZAN - FIRST DAY COVER SIGNED - HFSID 343620

ELIA KAZAN
The Academy Award-winning director signs this First Day Cover honoring D.W. Griffith
First Day Cover signed: "Elia Kazan" in black ink. 6½x3½. First Day Cover honoring D.W. Griffith, Motion Picture Pioneer, postmarked Beverly Hills, California, May 27, 1975. 10c stamp affixed, FIRST DAY OF ISSUE. In addition to making his mark on film history directing such masterpieces as Gentleman's Agreement, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and East of Eden, each of which earned him an Oscar nomination, Elia Kazan (1909-2003) also made a dubious mark with his involvement in the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HUAC)'s anti-Communist witch hunt of the 1950s; his decision to name alleged industry Communists earned him the ire of many of his peers. He won the Oscar twice and in 1999 received an honorary Academy Award "In appreciation of a long, distinguished and unparalleled career during which he has influenced the very nature of filmmaking through his creation of cinematic masterpieces." The award divided the Hollywood community between those who supported the decision, maintaining that the director's body of work made him worthy, and those who didn't, maintaining that Kazan's off-screen activities amounted to a betrayal of his peers, thus making him an unfit award recipient. Toned. Corners rounded and creased. Otherwise, fine condition.