TONY MARTIN - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 11/19/1946 - HFSID 289029

TONY MARTIN
Consent form authorizing the Motion Picture Relief Fund to reproduce Tony Martin's signature and likeness for a series of stamps raising money for needy film industry veterans. The form is signed twice by Martin, once as an autograph sample and again to grant permission. A remarkable, perfectly verified example!
Document double signed: "Tony Martin", 1 page, 8½x11. No place, 1946 November 19. Tony Martin 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. Tony Martin (1913-2012), a popular crooner of the 1940s and 1950s, made his first hit record in 1938, "Now It Can Be Told". After serving in the Navy in WWII, Martin made a brief but fairly successful stint on Mercury in 1946-47 that helped get things going again, after which he moved to RCA and enjoyed many pop hits over the next decade. He has 20 years of starring film roles to his credit, the last being Let's Be Happy (1957) He also got a lot of work in radio and television, and performed with considerable success on the cabaret circuit with dancer-actress Cyd Charisse, his wife of sixty years until her death in 2008. Martin is the last of the old musical comedy stars still performing. 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. Slightly creased. Slightly soiled. Otherwise, fine condition.