I just got off the phone with the USPS Philatelic Center and the lady there divulged that the next Legends of Hollywood stamp (issued annually) will be of Cary Grant. There is no release date set and the info isn’t on their website yet, but she told me it was this year’s selection (past selections include Marilyn, Bogie, Hitchcock, Cagney, James Dean, and last year’s unusual choice, Lucy).
Personally, I was guessing either Jimmy Stewart, Garbo or Bette Davis, but Cary’s still a great choice.
Also, this year Irving Berlin gets a stamp! Given that they’ve had a deluge of musical issues recently, from blues to jazz to rock to film composers (another great choice), I’m shocked the man who wrote “God Bless America” and “Cheek to Cheek” didn’t have a stamp until this year (slated for release this summer).
The last issue that might be considered film-related this year is Andy Warhol.
As a Film-atelic collector (and complete nerd, obviously), I’m getting all my cover materials ready now. Woo hoo!
Don’t you have to be born in the U.S. to get a stamp? Or be a U.S. citizen? Though, come to think of it, I think Mary Pickford got a stamp . . .
Anyway, good for Archie Leach. There was a big push to get Mae West a stemp on her 100th b’day, but the Post Office refused. Who wouldn’t want to lick Mae?
It’s WAY too late to campaign for them, but here are some other stamp-worthy folks born in 1903 (and dead for more than ten years, as the Post Office requires):
Vincente Minnelli (Judy beard, Liza dad, great director)
Gilbert Adrian (Best. Costume. Designer. EVER.)
Bix Beiderbecke (there already IS a big push for his stamp)
Jeanette MacDonald (sexy soprano)
Geo. Orwell, Evelyn Waugh (do you HAVE to be a Yank?)
Helen Kane (first Boop-a-Doop singer, inspiration for Betty Boop)
Claudette Colbert (OK, so she died in 1996—but this is CLAUDETTE COLBERT, folks!)
Sadly, no. There was a Stars of the Silent Screen issue which featured Chaplin, Keaton, Valentino, Chaney, Zasu Pitts, John Gilbert, Harold Lloyd, Clara Bow, Theda Bara & the Keystone Kops, but Mary hasn’t gotten one yet (at least not here in the States)
As for Colbert, I think they’ll still have to work through Gish, Garbo, Davis, and (IMO) Stanwyck first. By then, Katie Hepburn will probably be gone, too. Oh, and I’d vote for Edward Everett Horton & Claude Rains over Jack Oakie, but I suspect all great character players will be relegated to also-rans.
And I’m guessing that at some point, they’ll be so backlogged in the acting dept. that they’ll issue a Directors sheet to take care of Ford, Hawks, Lubitsch, Minnelli, Cukor, Capra and Wyler in one fell swoop–though I’d argue some other directors are more worthy. (Right now, only Griffith & Hitchcock have stamps)
I’m also all for Betty Boop–hopefully they’ll cycle out of the Warner Bros. characters soon. They’ve already done Superman & Popeye so Betty and friends (Bimbo, Koko) is the other key Fleischer character still out in the cold
NOT Betty Boop, Helen Kane! The poor woman is spinning in her grave, if her grave has Internet access. The Fleischers caricatured Helen Kane as Betty Boop, and she actually sued—lost the case, amazingly enough, even though Betty Boop looked and sounded EXACTLY like Helen Kane. Poor Helen died forgotten, but Betty goes on forever.
Very melodramatic show-biz tale, kind of like “All About Boop.”
Well, I got it backwards, really—Judy was Vincente’s beard. It was pretty well-known among his associates that he was gay. And now, Judy’s daugher has taken the family tradition of marrying gay men into the third generation (if you believe the stories about Judy’s dad!).
