If I were in charge of the US Post office, these 100-year-birthdays would be marked with postage stamps for 2005!
Anna May Wong
Ayn Rand
Thelma Ritter
Harold Arlen
Joseph Cotton
Henry Fonda
Lillian Hellman
Clara Bow
Thelma Todd
Dag Hammarskjöld
Myrna Loy
Dolores del Rio
Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson
Greta Garbo
Agnes de Mille
Jule Styne
and last but far from least,
Harriet MacGibbon (Mrs. Drysdale!)
Well, at least they got a couple right, but, dammit, no Clara Bow, Thelma Ritter or Mrs. Drysdale stamps? Who wouldn’t want them on their letters?!
The Post Office has already issued commemoratives for some of these.
Honored in 1999 (or maybe 1998) as part of the Literary Arts series.
Included in a 1995 (year may be off) block of 4 honoring American songwriters (along with Johnny Mercer, Dorothy Fields and Hoagy Charmichael)
Included in a ‘Stars of the Silent Screen’ booklet of 10 issued in the late 80s or early 90s (Other featured stars included Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert)
Featured on a commemorative the year after his death (1962?)
Included last year in an ‘American Choreographers’ strip of 4 (or maybe 5)
I’m not sure Ms. Rand and her acolytes would be to pleased with her face being on a Government issued stamp 
The fact is that the “Legends of Hollywood” issues are big PR opportunities as well as huge events for collectors, so the USPS is very discretionary about their issue strategy–one a year (note that the Garbo issue is in conjunction with a mirror issue from the Swedish post office and not part of the LoH series).
I’m impressed that they Edward G. Robinson come out as one of the first honorees. And they’re not about to do Anna May Wong when they haven’t even gotten to Bette Davis or Jimmy Stewart yet (though last year’s Wayne issue was a waste–he already had one!)
Styne will get one soon, primarily because everyone else already has one (Yip Harburg is this year), and if Robert Penn Warren gets one (also this year), than Hellman’s overdue. But, again, in time (though I wouldn’t hold my breath on MacGibbon, even if they issues a BH “Classic TV Series” stamp).
I nominate Tom Coakley, undoubtedly the only person ever to have been both a name band leader and a federal judge.
Of course, as normal, I was completely wrong. Those pesky objectionists are just as caught up in the glitzy Hollywood world of the USPS as us normal folks.
I know I’m gonna be dragged to the Pit for saying this, but I hate all these damn popularity-contest postage stamps! There’s a great line in Citizen Kane: “You buy a bag of peanuts in this town, they write a song about you.” Well these days, they print a stamp with your face on it.
Me, I loved the monocromatic, raised-ink stamps of old, usually bearing faces of dead white guys. You looked at those stamps and you knew the economy was as solid as the chasis of the '57 Caddy that was in your 2-car garage. Now our stamps look like they’ve been issued by a 6-month-old banana republic whose economy is based on drugs, bat guano and the vending machine in the airport waiting room. And postage stamps.
Anyway, Eve, if you really want a stamp of that Mrs. Drysdale gal, make your own. A few months ago there was a website that enabled you to create your own honest-to-goodness US postage stamps with whatever image you supplied. Of course, the process cost more than .37 per stamp. It may have been a trial program, so I don’t know if it’s still being offered. (I think there was a thread about it, so you may want to search the boards for more info.)
You’re more right than you know.
:Sniff: Here you go. For old time’s sake. Oh, and for comparison, some Banana Republic stamps. Wow, I do see a difference.
What you’re describing sounds incredibly illegal. Not that it hasn’t been tried.
I believe that trial is now over and I’m not sure when, if ever, it will be restarted.
While the program was still running, the folks at The Smoking Gun were able to print out valid U.S. postage featuring photos of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Slobodan Milosevic, and Ted Kaczynski, among others. The article is here.
Hell, some artists have been known to draw postage right on the envelopes. One of my sisters went to college with a guy like that.
LOL! That’s hilarious (in a genuinely twisted way). Here’s a follow-up article. It looks like they may have come to a decision by now…
I think we should start campaigning now for a Dowagers Commemorative Issue: Margaret Dumont, Mrs. Drysdale, Marie Dressler, Norma Varden, Louise Closser Hale . . .
