Extremely rare vintage 3.5 x 5.5-inch color linen postcard for the fabled Hollywood Canteen, boldly signed in black fountain pen in-person in the 1930s, while she was dining there, alongside autographs of character actresses Helen Broderick and Florence Bates, and the great Charles Middleton, who played Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon serials of that decade. Some surface loss to the front of the card; the signed side is in fine condition for its age, with minor toning and a tape stain to the upper edge. Dour-looking character actress Clara Blandick played frumpy wives, no-nonsense relatives and silver-tongued society types in scores of classic films, including Romance (1930), The Gorgeous Hussey (1936), A Star Is Born (1937), A Stolen Life (1946) and Life with Father (1947).  In 1939, she gained a sort of immortality, playing Judy Garland's Auntie Em in the fantasy classic The Wizard of Oz (1939) and her autograph is the most sought after and elusive of any of the key cast members'. This is an incontrovertibly authentic example, pulled from an autograph album dating to the very era of Oz.  Blandick committed suicide at the age of 81, placing a plastic bag over her head and taking sleeping tablets.

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