Tough to acquire vintage inscribed black fountain pen signature on a 4x6-inch light blue card, acquired in-person by inveterate collector John Virzi in the 1960s and decorated with a small book image. In good condition. Goofy comedian and character actor Stanley “Stash” Clements began his career in B-pictures, including a few East End Kids flicks of the 1940s, perhaps most notably Ghosts on the Loose (1943) with Bela Lugosi.  He went on to more substantive work in classic films like They Got Me Covered (1943), Going My Way (1944), Salty O’Rourke (1945) and Johnny Holiday (1949), in which he was so memorably cast against type as a psychopath. In 1956, Leo B. Gorcey left the Bowery Boys franchise and Clements stepped in, comfortably settling into the role of Huntz Hall’s sidekick in seven installments. He gradually vanished from the screen in the 1960s, save for a bit as a detective in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963 and, for autograph collectors who try to amass examples on everyone in the film, his is one of the tougher signatures to locate. The actor died of emphysema at the age of 55, just 11 days after the demise of his beloved wife, Gloria Grahame.

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