My grandma’s autograph book
My grandmother passed away in November of last year and since then my grandfather has been trying to clean out the house. He recently told me that I can have anything I want. Today I stopped by to rummage around in his attic.
I found some family documents, some letters, and a lot of great photos of relatives, but the most interesting find was an autograph book of my grandmother’s.
I picked it up and the first few pages were entries by friends and relatives, a nice find for me as a genealogist, but nothing too exciting for the general person… but after a few pages I came across autographs of Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard!
Holy Crap!!! This is awesome! I grew up watching “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” on Nick at Night. I loved that show… mainly because of Ricky Nelson, but still.
The next few pages had even more celebrity autographs, some of them more well known than others…
Bing Crosby (singer/actor):
Bob Hope (comedian/actor):
Alan Ladd (actor):
Johnny Long (big band leader):
Bob Allen (a singer with Tommy Dorsey):
Harry James (big band leader):
John Loder (actor):
Van Johnson (actor):
Humphrey Bogart (actor):
There are two other autographs in this book too. I just can’t make out the names. Maybe some of you can and will let me know who they are:
Exciting stuff! I only went through, at most, five percent of everything in grandpa’s attic, so who knows what else is stowed away up there! I’m excited to find out.
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UPDATE:
The first “unidentified” autograph is by Paul Henreid. I checked it against other samples online. Thanks to Jen for letting me know.
The first unknown one looks like it starts with a ‘Paul’, with what might possibly be ‘elbeiireid’. Maybe Elbeweid. I dunno who that might be, but you seem to know a few more famous people of days gone by than me.
The second one looks like Delind..Tomims. Geluins perhaps?
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April 9th, 2008 at 8:00 pmThis is sweet! I’m pretty sure the first one you’re not sure about is Paul Henreid – he played Victor Lazlo in Casablanca. I don’t know the second one, but I’ll put my classic movie junkie skills to use and see if I can come up with the answer
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April 9th, 2008 at 8:43 pmWhat great finds!!!
Johnny Long and Bob Allen! That’s so cool that you found that stuff and now you’ll have it to pass on as well. 
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April 9th, 2008 at 9:25 pmWhat an exciting find for you, Amanda! I wish my family had left such interesting stuff. I’m lucky if I can find a name on a photo!
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pmWow! What a tremendous find! Good luck with your genealogy! I’m tracing mine as well. Will be in New Jersey in July for a family reunion. Getting excited!
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June 17th, 2008 at 9:30 amnice stuff. checking cummings family history and caught your website. iam oringinally from cincinnati, ohio. father earl cummings. i have seen some bob hope signatures and he liked to include various middle names when signing. whenever he would be visiting a town he would sign example; bob cincinnati hope. he also liked visiting a certain cincinnati steak house, cannot recall name of it but very popular restaurant.
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September 13th, 2008 at 12:52 amI’m not sure about the last one but I have a mystery autograph of my own. My mom got me so many autographs over the years and I have one that neither of us can remember… Here’s a link to the pic if anyone can help: http://i36.tinypic.com/34il6i0.jpg Ignore the Jennifer at the top, that’s my name.
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November 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 pmHi, i stumbled upon your collection here and this is exciting stuff! My wife is owner of http://www.trishautographs.com, if you want to sell any of these autographs she can move them for you and maximize your profit. She truly is an honest dealer and well respected, check out her site or call 909-484-8322 or email trish@trishautographs.com to inquire.
call or email today, we can move these for you and turn them into cash, especially that Humphrey Bogart, thanks again, Russell Decotis
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June 3rd, 2009 at 12:35 am