JOHNNY MARKS - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 184803

JOHNNY MARKS
B/w photograph by Cosmo Photographers of songwriter Johnny Marks at a piano, signed with his "Congratulations" to someone on their 100th birthday in blue ink
Inscribed photograph signed: "To Carl Davis from Johnny/Marks/Congratulations/on your 100th/birthday" in blue ink. B/w, 8¼x10 overall, 7½x9¼ image, one surface. Photo by Cosmo Photographers, Inc. of New York City, with black ink photo credit stamp on verso. Marks (1909-1985, born in Mount Vernon, New York), who began songwriting in 1935, founded St. Nicholas Music, a music publishing company in 1949. That year, Gene Autry first introduced Marks' best-known song, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1949) at Madison Square Garden. Marks wrote the song in 1947, when his brother-in-law, Robert L. May received the copyright from Montgomery Ward (May had created the character in 1939, when the department store chain tapped him to write a Christmas story that they could hand out to customers as a promotional gimmick). Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has been recorded over 500 times, with over 150 million copies sold in every major language. Other Christmas songs by Marks include I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day (1956), Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (1958), a huge hit for Brenda Lee, who first recorded it for Decca Records), Silver and Gold (1962) and A Holly Jolly Christmas (1962). Marks was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Fine condition.