Bertrandhensive collection of more than 1,600 vintage signatures collected in twenty-five individual albums, circa 1950s–1960s. The signers, some who have signed more than once, represent an impressive selection of the most legendary stars of the day, as well as fondly remembered lesser lights who once enjoyed the adulation of an entertainment-hungry public. The names include scores of Oscar winners, beloved icons, Broadway fixtures, and those whose place in the showbiz pantheon was ultimately secured by scandal, disgrace, or a tragic, untimely end. The great majority of the signatures are in ink. The pages are both single-sided and signed on both sides, with a small percentage of signatures on affixed slips. A handful of pages bear multiple signatures; many bear inscriptions or affixed small magazine photos. A book-by-book sampling: Book 1: Noel Coward, Darren McGavin, Sal Mineo, Gene Kelly, Joe E. Brown, Lloyd Bridges, Don Ameche, Sophie Tucker, Ernie Kovacs, Rhonda Fleming. Book 2: Audrey Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Margaret O’Brien, Gregory Peck, Agnes Moorehead, Roddy McDowall, Jeanette MacDonald, Leo G. Carroll, Betty Hutton, Lee J. Cobb, Loretta Young, Edmond O’Brien, Vincent Price, Josephine Hull, Jimmy Stewart, Jane Russell, Linda Darnell, Madeleine Carroll, Margaret Hamilton, Ronald Colman, John Garfield, Dick Powell, Buster Keaton, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Janet Leigh, Monty Wooley, Barbara Stanwyck, Dorothy Lamour, Helen Hayes, Brandon DeWilde, William Bendix, Susan Hayward, Peter Lorre. Book 3: George Raft, Robert Wagner, “Hoppy” [William Boyd], Jack Webb, Merle Oberon, Jack Palance, Joan Crawford, Elisha Cook, Jr., Leslie Caron, Will Geer, Claude Rains, Billie Burke, Louis B. Mayer, Nat King Cole. Book 4: Cesar Romero, Albert Dekker, Jane Wyman, Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Louis Armstrong, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Mary Pickford, Dorothy Gish, Ray Bolger, Joan Fontaine, Dennis Hoey, Burgess Meredith, Maurice Evans, Walter Huston, Charles Laughton, John Payne, Bill Holden, Rosalind Russell, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Ruby Keeler. Book 5: Gypsy Rose Lee, Fred Astaire, Bob Fosse, Audie Murphy, Clayton Moore, Bing Crosby, Rod Steiger, Frederic March, Richard Boone. Book 6: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello (back to back), Leo Carrillo, Carmen Miranda, Basil Rathbone, Jack Haley, Boris Karloff, John Garfield, Lee J. Cobb, Thomas Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Jackie Gleason, Dick Powell, Henry Fonda, John Carradine, Fay Bainter, Rex Harrison, Bobby Jordan, Peter Lorre. Book 7: Barbara O’Neil, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine, Frederic March (two), Lillian Gish, Rory Calhoun, Marlene Dietrich, Teresa Wright, Tommy Dorsey, Phil Silvers, Kirk Douglas, Thomas Mitchell, Gloria Swanson, Richard Greene, Jimmy Durante, Judy Holliday, Gypsy Rose Lee, Eddie Cantor, Pier Angeli, Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra, Ginger Rogers, Claude Rains, Milton Berle, Thelma Ritter, Bert Lahr. Book 8: Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Olin Howlin, Dean Martin, Fay Bainter, Steve Cochran, Donna Reed, Gig Young, Orson Welles, Donald O’Connor, Gloria Grahame. Book 9: Lex Barker, Edward Arnold, Percy Kilbride, Broderick Crawford, Claudette Colbert, Jack Palance, Robert Preston, Charles Coburn, Jeff Chandler, Kim Hunter, Elsa Lanchester, Ona Munson, Kate Smith, Ethel Merman, Nigel Bruce, Yma Sumac, Josephine Baker, Ann Sheridan, Rosalind Russell. Book 10: Katina Paxinou, Tallulah Bankhead, Buddy Ebsen, Miriam Hopkins, Margaret Sullavan, Alice Pearce, Bette Davis, Joseph Schildkraut, Joan Blondell, Paulette Goddard. Book 11: John Cassavetes, Shirley Jones, Bill Elliott, Pier Angeli, Bobby Driscoll, Groucho Marx, Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan, Jeffrey Hunter, Johnny Weissmuller. Book 12: Sam Jaffe, Mantan Moreland, Red Skelton, Gina Lollobrigida, Nancy Carroll, William Frawley, Anna Magnani, Fay Bainter. Book 13: Ernest Borgnine, Richard Boone, Luise Rainer, Paul Muni, Gary Cooper, Jack Lemmon, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Zero Mostel, Laurence Harvey. Book 14: Boris Karloff, Paul Lukas, Sabu, Peter Lorre, Mischa Auer, Victor Jory. Book 15: Hedy Lamarr, Natalie Wood, Nick Adams, Tab Hunter, Maurice Chevalier, Clifton Webb, Charlton Heston, Van Heflin, Lee Marvin, Jayne Mansfield, Sonja Henie, Joan Crawford. Book 16: Richard Widmark, Anthony Quinn, Eddie Albert, Lena Horne, Zachary Scott, Mae West, Dean Martin, Franklin Pangborn, Cornel Wilde, James Cagney, Jerry Lewis, Henry Hull, Ray Milland, David Niven, Ethel Waters, Ed Sullivan, Shirley Booth, Gene Tierney, William Holden, Cary Grant, Desi Arnaz, Burl Ives. Book 17: Ed Begley, Ann Rutherford, Pat O’Brien, Groucho Marx, Roy Rogers, Robert Ryan, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Barry Fitzgerald, Hoagy Carmichael, Rod Cameron. Book 18: Elizabeth Montgomery, Eartha Kitt, Lana Turner, Jeanne Crain, Vivian Vance, Kim Novak, Esther Williams, Paul Henreid, Anne Bancroft, Jack Paar. Book 19: Una O’Connor, Walter Slezak, Karl Malden, Fred MacMurray, Tyrone Power (two), Paul Newman, Jerome Cowan, William Talman, Bruce Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, Eric Fleming, Perry Como. Book 20: Errol Flynn, Jane Russell, Carolyn Jones, Bill Haley, Anthony Perkins, Liberace, Doris Day, Jay Silverheels, Miyoshi Umeki. Book 21: Warren Beatty, Roland Winters, Dick Shawn, Natalie Wood, William Roth, Susan Cabot, Maureen O’Sullivan. Book 22: Ward Bond, Norma Shearer, Larry Parks, Richard Jaeckel, Scott Beckett, Robert Young, Eleanor Powell, Gig Young, Janet Leigh, Gail Patrick. Book 23: Oscar Levant, Neil Hamilton, Victor McLaglen, Grace Kelly, Veronica Lake, Rock Hudson, Wanda Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe, Tim Holt, Greer Garson, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Thomas Mitchell, Johnny Mack Brown, Richard Rodgers, Duke Ellington, Nancy Davis, Ronald Reagan, Dorothy Dandridge. Book 24: Inger Stevens, Claude Rains, Jim Backus, DeForest Kelly, Sessue Hayakawa, Chuck Connors, Andy Devine, Nick Adams, Fred Astaire, Charles Bickford, Gabby Hayes. Book 24: Anthony Perkins, Hugh Griffith, Richard Burton, Edward Platt, Miyoshi Umeki, Sophia Loren, Carol Lynley, Gig Young, Jane Darwell, Ricardo Cortez, Charles Boyer, William Shatner, Jeanette MacDonald, Betty Grable, and Alec Guinness. A complete list is available upon request. In very good to fine condition overall, with affixed photos as noted above (a few touching signatures), expected mild toning (scattered instances of uneven toning from offset of photos, sometimes touching signatures), collector’s ink notations, and occasional brushing or soiling, the majority of the signatures remaining clear, bold, and eminently suitable for display. R&R COA. From the Jane Accongigo Collection.
