RUTH HUSSEY - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 07/30/1946 - HFSID 288944

RUTH HUSSEY
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Ruth Hussey's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Hussey, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Ruth Hussey", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1946 July 30. Ruth Hussey grants to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, Inc., its successors and assigns, the exclusive right, to use her 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. Ruth Hussey (1911-2005) was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 1940 for The Philadelphia Story. Although she appeared in a number of films, she found her greatest success on stage opposite Ralph Bellamy in the 1945 Broadway production of State of the Union. Hussey is the mother of Oscar-winning filmmaker John William Longenecker. 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 (worn). Staple holes at top left. Slightly creased. Slightly oiled. Slightly worn. Slightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.