LON McCALLISTER - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 01/10/1947 - HFSID 289017

LON McCALLISTER
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Lon McCallister signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by McCallister, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: '"Lon McCallister", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1947 January 10. Lon McCallister 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. Actor Lon McCallister (1923-2005), born Herbert Alonzo Mc Callister, Jr., is best known for playing juvenile leads. He made his film debut at age 13 in Romeo & Juliet (1936) and made his last film, Combat Squad, in 1953. Mc Callister's film credits include Stella Dallas (1937), Yankee Doodle Dandy and Gentleman Jim (both 1942), Stage Door Canteen (1943) and The Story of Seabiscuit (1949), and he also guest starred on television from 1949 (Toast of the Town) to 1961 (The Rebel). After his retirement, Mc Callister became a successful real estate agent.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. Staple holes at top left. Normal mailing folds. Lightly creased. Pencil mark (unknown hand). Otherwise, fine condition.