HARRY JAMES - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 06/26/1946 - HFSID 289002

HARRY JAMES
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Harry James's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by James, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Harry James", 1 page, 8½x11. No place, 1946 June 26. Harry James grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right, to use his 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. The son of circus performers, Harry James (1916-1983) was an outstanding trumpet player who left Benny Goodman's orchestra to form his own band in 1939, the year a young singer named Frank Sinatra made his first recordings with him. A popular favorite in the swing era, he continued to tour with a more jazz-oriented sound after the big bands waned in popularity. A star on radio, James had his own TV program in 1951. James also appeared in several films in the 1940s and 1950s; his dubbed trumpet is heard in Kirk Douglas' Man With a Horn (1950). 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 (double punch at center hole). Staple holes at top left. Normal mailing holes. Slightly creased. Pencil marks (unknown hand). Otherwise, fine condition.