Humphrey Bogart’s Warner Bros work card, issued January 6, 1936 when he was living at the Garden of Allah Hotel |

Well now, here’s a wonderful find: Humphrey Bogart’s Warner Bros. work card. He signed his WB on December 10, 1935, and on January 6, 1936—the day this card was issued—Warner Bros. held a trade preview for “The Petrified Forest.” So I guess they liked what they saw and signed him to a contract. But more interestingly, he gives his address as 8152 Sunset Boulevard—that’s the Garden of Allah Hotel!

By the way, I’ve never seen or heard of work cards before so I’m not sure what they were for. Perhaps some sort of ID needed when you collected your pay? Can anybody reading this shed some light?

UPDATE:

David says:

This sort of form has long been ubiquitous in the American employment setting, especially after the advent of Social Security in the 1930s. Moreover, I’d be surprised were it not typical in most advanced countries. Employers need a written acknowledgement of the basic terms of the employment relationship (especially for employees-at-will without a parallel governing written contract), and this spare form covers them.

Compare the recommendations on these two current websites, one a corporate advisory and the other from the federal government:

https://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/research-topics/office-hr/setting-up-employee-records-and-personnel-files

https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs21.htm

Steve F says:

May 13, 2018 at 5:28 pm

It’s sadly ironic to see the date Humphrey Bogart would have turned age 65 listed in this form. He would have turned 65 on Christmas Day 1964. Of course, he never lived that long. He died of throat cancer in 1957.

Richard Dixon says:

May 13, 2018 at 7:10 pm

When I worked at Disney Studios, in Burbank, in the ’70s every employ was issued an ID card. It got you on the Lot and was shown when collecting your paycheck. It looked somewhat like Bogart’s. Same information. I love items like this, that, although, just a simple ID card, it can reveal a little nugget of information about the people who were the major players durring the golden age of Hollywood. Only you, Martin, would notice that Bogart lived at The Garden of Allah, by noticing his address. I remember drivng past that historic landmark many times before it was torn down to make room for a savings & loan bank. It is hard to believe how unaware people were, not to realize that this place, with its history of drama, romance and mystory, was an important, “Must Preserve”, Hollywood location. Will we ever learn?

Martin Turnbull says:

May 15, 2018 at 10:03 pm

To answer your question, Richard, I fear we may never learn but I hope we’ll do better.