JACK OAKIE - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 08/02/1946 - HFSID 289175

JACK OAKIE
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Jack Oakie's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Oakie, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Jack Oakie", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1946 August 2. Jack Oakie grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right, until December 31, 1947 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. Jack Oakie (1903-1978), born Lewis Delaney Offield, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1940 for The Great Dictator. Oakie, who made his professional debut in the chorus of the 1922 George M. Cohan musical Little Nellie Kelly, appeared in several Broadway productions before making his film debut in 1928. The character actor appeared in a long list of feature films, including The Call of the Wild (1935), The Toast of New York (1937), Little Men (1940), When My Baby Smiles at Me(1948), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Rat Race (1960) and Lover Come Back (1961). His trademark catchphrase was "It's all in fun!", which he had imprinted on matchbooks that he gave out to friends and fans he met while working for Paramount Studios.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 (toned and worn) with an adhesive patch at top hole. Staple holes at top left. Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.