Check, originally signed by Tony Martin, singer, film, television, autograph

Check personally signed by Tony Martin!

Here you have the opportunity to bid on a check personally signed by Tony Martin. You'll receive a certificate of authenticity with a lifetime money-back guarantee confirming the authenticity of the signature!

Tony Martin (born Alvin Morris; December 25, 1913 in Oakland, California) is an American actor and singer who enjoyed great success between 1935 and 1960, primarily as a pop singer in film musicals. Alvin Morris was born in 1913 into a Portuguese-Jewish family in California. At the age of 10, his grandmother gave him a soprano saxophone. He played this instrument in the school orchestra and sang as a boy soprano. In high school, he formed his first band, "The Red Peppers." Soon after, he joined an orchestra led by Tom Guran (among whose members were later greats such as Woody Herman and Ginny Simms). He played regularly at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and performed at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. In 1934, Morris left the band and went to Hollywood to seek his fortune in film, adopting the stage name Tony Martin. His first work there was in radio, appearing on the radio shows of George Burns and Gracie Allen, among others. At first he only appeared in smaller roles in the cinema, for example in 1936 as a sailor in Follow the Fleet with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the leading roles. Martin worked for the film studios 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which gave him leading roles in a number of film musicals in the late 1930s. He sang and played alongside Hollywood stars such as Judy Garland and Betty Grable (Pigskin Parade), Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea (Banjo On My Knee), Rita Hayworth (Music in My Heart), Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner (Ziegfeld Girl), and the Marx Brothers (The Big Store). Between 1938 and 1942 he also recorded several records for the Decca Records label, mostly with songs from his films. His song "The Tenement Symphony" from the 1941 Marx Brothers comedy "The Big Store" was already considered a rather unintentionally comic highlight of the film. Even though it didn't initially bring him commercial success, it became a kind of "signature song" for Martin. Wherever he subsequently performed, he was required to play this piece. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Martin joined the United States Navy. Due to rumors (which were never proven) that he had accepted bribes from an officer, he transferred to the Army Air Force, the predecessor of the United States Air Force. Despite his excellent performances, the rumors also damaged his reputation. Even the major record companies refused to give him a contract. So he ended up with Mercury Records, then a small independent label. Between 1946 and 1947, he recorded five records for Mercury, including "To Each His Own" in 1946, which became a million-seller. RCA Records showed renewed interest and signed him in 1947. Martin's biggest success came in 1949 with "There's No Tomorrow," a cover of the Neapolitan folk song "O sole mio," which also served as the basis for Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never." In the 1940s and 1950s, Martin appeared in several other musical films. His duet with Joan Weldon, "Lover Come Back to Me," from the 1954 film Deep in My Heart—music by Sigmund Romberg, starring José Ferrer—is considered a highlight in Hollywood musical history. His popularity earned him an offer for his own TV show in 1954. He hosted the "Tony Martin Show" until 1956. In 1937, Martin married actress Alice Faye; the couple divorced in 1941. From 1948 until her death in 2008, he was married to actress Cyd Charisse. The couple has two sons, Tony Martin Jr.(* 1950) and Nicky. Martin and his wife appeared in the films "Easy To Love" and "Meet Me In Las Vegas." Their honeymoon in 1948 took them to London, where both have returned for work ever since. In 1986, Charisse played the role of Lady Hadwell in the stage musical "Charlie Girl" at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Martin had regular engagements at the London Palladium in the 1950s and performed repeatedly at the Café Royal in the 1990s.