JIMMY DORSEY - COLLECTION 08/06/1946 WITH TOMMY DORSEY - HFSID 289948

TOMMY DORSEY and JIMMY DORSEY
A pair of consent forms authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce the Dorsey signatures and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. Each brother has signed his own document twice, once to give consent and again as a sample autograph. A perfectly verified pair of examples!
Collection including: 1) Document signed twice: "Jimmy Dorsey", 1 page, 8½x11. Hollywood, California 1946 August 6. Jimmy Dorsey 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. Filing holes at left edge. Staple holes at top left corner. Otherwise, fine condition. 2) Document signed twice: "Tommy Dorsey", 1 page, 8½x11. Hollywood, California 1946 August 6. Tommy Dorsey grants the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc. an authorization identical to that signed by his brother. Filing holes at left edge. Staple holes at top left corner. Pencil notes (unknown hand) at top edge. Otherwise, fine condition. Brothers Thomas Francis "TOMMY" DORSEY, Jr. (1905-1956) and James Francis "JIMMY" DORSEY (1904-1957) formed their first band, Dorsey's Novelty Six, in 1920. In 1927, their orchestra, which featured Tommy on trombone, became The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra; its members included Glenn Miller and Bob Crosby. In 1935, Tommy quit after a disagreement with his brother and formed a band of his own from the remnants of Joe Haymes' orchestra. His theme song was "Sentimental" ("I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"), which was first recorded in 1932 by a pick-up recording group under the Dorsey Brothers. Frank Sinatra became one of Tommy's vocalists, resulting in a number of Top 10 hits for the orchestra leader. The brothers reunited in 1953, led mainly by Tommy, but with Jimmy prominently featured, and earning national publicity through the Dorseys' own TV program, Stage Show, on CBS (1955-1956). 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." Two items.