SMILEY (LESTER) BURNETTE - DOCUMENT SIGNED 07/27/1946 - HFSID 288914

SMILEY BURNETTE
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Smiley Burnette's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Smiley Burnette, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document signed twice: "Smiley Burnette", 1 page, 8½x11. Los Angeles, California, 1946 July 27. Smiley Burnette 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, singer and songwriter Smiley Burnette (1911-1967) appeared on vaudeville before joining his friend, Gene Autry, on the radio show, The National Barn Dance. Burnette and Autry broke into films together in 1934 (In Old Santa Fe), and they went on to appear in over 80 Westerns. Burnette, who played Autry's sidekick, Frog Milhouse, also provided comic relief for other Western stars, including Sunset Carson and Charles "Durango Kid" Starrett. A talented musician who played over 100 instruments, Burnette wrote over 300 Western songs, some of which he sang in his films. After retiring from the big screen in 1953, Burnette debuted on the small screen in 1958, appearing as a regular on the TV series, Ranch Party. His best known TV role was as Charley Pratt (1963-1967) on the TV sitcom, Petticoat Junction. 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 (lightly worn). Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned and creased. Otherwise, fine condition.