Cat. #00199120: FRANKLIN PANGBORN

Scarce vintage black fountain pen signature on a 4.5 x 5.25-inch light yellow autograph album page, acquired in-person in the 1930s. In good condition, with a tiny bit of ink brushing in to the second letter of his first name. Fussy, frenetic character actor Franklin Pangborn actually began his career playing romantic leads and villains on the stage, but his serious side went out the window after he was signed by Mack Sennett to play assorted supporting characters in comedy shorts of the late '20s and early '30s. He was thereafter regularly cast as hilariously compromised husbands, flustered clerks and floorwalkers, nosy neighbors, and exasperated hotel managers, who always seemed to be dragged into a control freak's worst conceivable nightmare. Among his many classic film credits were Menu (1933), Imitation of Life (1934), The Mandarin Mystery (1936), Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937), She's Dangerous (1937), A Star Is Born (1937), Stage Door (1937), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), Just Around the Corner (1938), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), The Bank Dick (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), Now, Voyager (1942), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), Reckless Age (1944), and The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945).