JIMMY WAKELY - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 05/29/1947 - HFSID 289005

JIMMY WAKELY
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Jimmy Wakely's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Wakely, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Jimmy Wakely", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1947 May 29. Jimmy Wakely 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. Singer, songwriter and actor Jimmy Wakely (1914-1982), Monogram's low-budget answer to Gene Autry, made a number of Westerns for the studio, but he is best remembered for his collaborations with singer Margaret Whiting and the Christmas song, "Silver Bells". Wakely, who was second only to Autry in pop hits, made his debut with his Jimmy Wakely Trio in the 1939 Roy Rogers' vehicle, Saga of Death Valley. He made his last films for Monogram in 1949, but was later seen on the big screen in The Marshal's Daughter (1953), Arrow in the Dust (1954) and Money, Women and Guns (1959). Wakely, whose songs include "Moon Over Montana", "The Weary Stranger", "My Heart Has Room for You", "I Don't Care", "It's a Beautiful Day", "Bouquet of Roses", "Cowtown, U.S.A." and "Rose of the Prairie", had his compositions featured in a number of feature films from 1942-1998.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. Normal mailing folds. Ink and pencil note and marks (unknown hand). Slightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.