GLENDA FARRELL - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 7/15 CO-SIGNED BY: MICHAEL KANIN, TOMMY WONDER, DON DELLAIR, HONOR MC GRATH, BARONESS GRAFFENRIED-VILLARS - HFSID 19592

GLENDA FARRELL, MICHAEL KANIN, TOMMY WONDER, DON DELLAIR and others
Farrel's signed autograph note on the guest roster at an event for singer Hildegard Sell, which has also been signed by producer Michael Kanin, by the singers turned agent duo Tommy Wonder and Don Dellair, and by the Baroness Graffenried-Villars, among others.
Autograph Note signed: "Darling your house is as charming as/you - Love Glenda Farrell", 9½ x 4¼. Also signed: "Michael Kanin", and on verso: "Tommy Wonder", "Ann Hartman", "Don Dellair", "Paul Hartman (with both)", "Carl A. Riever - Buffalo, N.Y.", "Honor McGrath - Buffalo, N. Y. -", "Baroness Roland de Graffenried" and 1 unidentified signer "S Hank"[?], who has added this note: "Hildy and Anna -/Thanks for a delightful evening -". Radio and nightclub singer Hildegard Sell (1906-2005), called "the queen of the supper clubs" by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was singing with style into her nineties. The Anna referenced in one note was her business and personal partner Anna Sosenko, who wrote the hit tune "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" especially for her. The two were co-hosting the evening, identified only as "July 15," which brought these celebrities together. GLENDA FARRELL (1904-1971) was in a theater company from childhood. She portrayed brassy blondes in many films of the 1930s, including Little Caesar (1931), Havana Widows (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1937. She played girl reporter Torchy Blane in 8 films, before Jane Wyman replaced her in the role. Preferring stage roles, she left Hollywood in 1939 when her Warner Bros. contract expired, but she made many TV guest appearances in the 1950s and sixties, winning an Emmy for a performance on Ben Casey (1963). Director, producer, play- and screenwriter MICHAEL KANIN (1910-1993), the brother of actor Garson Kanin, teamed with his wife, Fay Kanin, on many movie and theatrical productions. Michael Kanin shared an Oscar with Ring Lardner, Jr. for the screenplay of Katharine Hepburn's Woman of the Year (1942). Michael and Fay shared an Oscar for Teacher's Pet (1958), and they teamed up to produce the Broadway, English-language version of Rashomon, which they and Martin Ritt turned into the 1961 film Outrage. The Kanins were blacklisted from Hollywood on the thinnest of grounds, but continued to work abroad and in New York theater. Singer and dancer TOMMY WONDER (1914-1993) appeared in a few Our Gang comedies and some musically-oriented movies thereafter (Dance, Charlie, Dance, 1937). He was the principal dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943, one of the most successful of these productions. Wonder sang in a trio with then wife Maggie Banks and with DON DELLAIR, another vocalist. After retiring from singing, Wonder and Dellair formed a highly successful artistic management firm. As of August 2009, Don Dellair was still active in New York celebrity events, showing reporters around a 101st birthday party for songwriter Bernie Bierman, who wrote songs for - among others - Hildegard. HONOR McGRATH was a fashion reporter for the Buffalo Courier Journal. No information is available on Ann or Paul Hartman, or Carl Riever. BARONESS De GRAFFENRIED merits further research. The aristocratic Graffenried family of Bern, Switzerland (and also New Bern, North Carolina, which one of their number founded) continue to play prominent roles in banking, law, auto racing and most recently the environmental movement. Baron Roland de Graffenried de Villars, however, seems to prefer a low profile. His first marriage to Dorothy Gould, daughter of American financial wizard Jay Gould, made headlines during their 1936 divorce. No information is readily available on the Baroness who has signed here, but an internet listing of noble deaths lists the Baroness de Graffenried-Villars (1906-2004), born Ludovine de Ponnat, also citing her first marriage to the Marquess of Monspey. Lower edge cut unevenly. Toned on left edge. Otherwise fine condition.