JAMES CAGNEY - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 07/11/1946 - HFSID 289236

JAMES CAGNEY
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce James Cagney's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Cagney, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "James Cagney", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1946 July 11. James Cagney 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. James Cagney (1899-1986, born in New York City), who appeared in leading roles on Broadway from the mid-1920s, gained film stardom, legendary tough guy status and an iconic pineapple-to-the-puss scene in Public Enemy (1931). In addition to his Best Actor Oscar for Yankee Doodle Dandy, he received two additional Oscar nominations in the category for Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) and Love Me Or Leave Me (1955). After years of health problems, Cagney made a successful film comeback in Ragtime (1981).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. Normal mailing folds. Lightly creased. Toned at edges. Otherwise, fine condition.