GEORGE JESSEL - DOCUMENT SIGNED - HFSID 201610

GEORGE JESSEL. Partly Printed DS: "George Jessel" as Proposer, 1p, 8½x11. No place, no date. The entertainer recommends Glen Rose, a "Motion Picture publicist and writer" for membership in The Friars Club of California, Inc. Also signed "Joni Taps" as Seconder. Printed docket panel, not filled in, on verso. Multitalented entertainer GEORGE JESSEL (1898-1981), who became known as the "Toastmaster General of the United States" for his frequent role as Master of Ceremonies at entertainment and political gatherings, was one of the founding members of the California branch of the Friars Club. The Club, which already had a New York branch headed by Milton Berle at the time, came about as the result of the Friday routine of Jessel, George Burns and Jack Benny, who had dinner at the Brown Derby before going to the fights a few blocks away and decided they needed an "official" meeting place in Hollywood. The franchise for the California branch was granted in 1946. Jessel had appeared in vaudeville (he was a partner of Eddie Cantor at age 11) and on Broadway before having a radio show, That's My Kid. Jessel, who had done several silent films for Warner Bros., starred on Broadway in The Jazz Singer but when the studio refused to meet his salary demands for the film, the first "talkie", he turned down the movie role, which eventually went to Al Jolson. By 1945, Jessel, who was well known for his Broadway and nightclub work, was producing musicals for 20th Century-Fox. Jessel also traveled widely to raise funds for various causes and entertained troops overseas as part of the U.S.O. In 1969, he was awarded the Jean Hershold Humanitarian Award, a special Oscar, for his charity work. Jessel, who was married to actress Norma Talmadge from 1934-1939, wrote two volumes of memoirs, So Help Me (1943) and This Way, Miss (1955), and also wrote eulogies for many of his Hollywood contemporaries. JONI TAPS (1908-1997) was a producer and studio executive who worked at Columbia from 1945 (when he joined Columbia to work on The Jolson Story) until 1974. Upon his retirement, Taps, who had helped found the Friars Club, was the Club's entertainment director from 1974 to the end of the decade, overseeing the Club's celebrity roasts. "Resigned/Nov 25, 1947" written in unknown hand at upper right corner. Lightly creased and soiled. Staple holes at upper left blank corner, 2 file holes at upper blank margin. Overall, fine condition.