Rare vintage blue ballpoint pen signature on a 4x6-inch light blue album page, acquired in-person by inveterate autograph hounds Irene and Rose Gellar in the 1950s and decorated with an image and name caption taken from a Players Directory. In good condition. Just the third autograph of the star we have ever encountered. After a run alongside wife Ann Codee on the vaudeville circuit, the two were signed by Warner Brothers in 1928, appearing in a long string of two-reel comedies through the early 1930s. Following a memorable turn in the Dick Foran oater Prairie Thunder in 1937, the short, plump, cigar-smoking character actor was increasingly called upon to play distinctly Irish cops, bartenders, pharmacists, grocery clerks, and town folk in scores of classic films.  Among his many credits were Young Dr. Kildare (1938), Nancy Drew, Detective (1938), Nancy Drew, Reporter (1939), Calling Dr. Kildare (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939), Fast and Furious (1939), At the Circus (1939), Dr. Kildare's Strangest Case (1940), His Girl Friday (1940), Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940), Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940), The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941), Sergeant York (1941),  I Wake Up Screaming (1941), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942), Tales of Manhattan (1942), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Buffalo Bill (1944), The Dolly Sisters (1945), The Lost Weekend (1945), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), The Bride Wore Boots (1946), It Had to Be You (1947), The Big Clock (1948), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), Father of the Bride (1950), and Houdini (1953). From 1951 through 1953, he also portrayed Inspector Faraday on T.V.'s "Boston Blackie." Orth died on St. Patrick's Day in 1959-- which was probably just the way he wanted it.

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