GALE SONDERGAARD - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 08/23/1946 - HFSID 289263

GALE SONDERGAARD
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Gale Sondergaard's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Sondergaard, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Gale Sondergaard", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1946 August 23. Gale Sondergaard grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right, until December 31, 1947 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. Gale Sondergaard (1899-1985) won the first Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1936 for her portrayal of Faith Paleologue in her screen debut in Anthony Adverse. She specialized in playing evil women. Her husband, director Herbert Biberman, was one of the "Hollywood Ten" sentenced to prison terms following their appearances before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and neither could get any more work. After appearing in East Side, West Side in 1949, Sondergaard did not work in films again until the 1960s. She had starring roles in two 1976 films: Pleasantville and Return of a Man Called Horse. 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. Creased. Lightly toned at edges. Slightly soiled. Otherwise, fine condition.