Cat. #001994611: JACK PICKFORD

Extremely rare vintage inscribed fountain pen signature on an irregularly trimmed 4.5 x 6.5-inch tan autograph album page, acquired in-person at the tail-end of January, 1920.  In good condition for its age, with some toning in spots.  Heavyweight comic silent actor Walter Hiers signs on the verso.  Handsome silent actor, director and producer Jack Pickford was the younger brother of Mary Pickford, in whose shadow he constantly found himself.  He showed talent in films like Great Expectations (1914) and Tom Sawyer (1917), but was thereafter almost uniformly relegated to boy-next-door roles in B-movies.  In real life, he was no goody-two-shoes, spending his off-screen hours womanizing, boozing and abusing every manner of drug.  He died at the age of 36, from full-body neuritis brought on by his rampant substance use.  This is just the second example of his autograph we have ever encountered.