The Post Office unveiled some very special stamps yesterday morning in Southern California; a set devoted to classic television.
The “Early TV Memories” set of commemorative stamps were launched at a special event at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood. The 20 shows that are honored on the stamps are The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Burns and Allen Show; The Dinah Shore Show; Dragnet; The Ed Sullivan Show; The Honeymooners; Hopalong Cassidy; Howdy Doody; I Love Lucy; Kukla, Fran and Ollie; Lassie; The Lone Ranger; Perry Mason; The Phil Silvers Show; The Red Skelton Show; Texaco Star Theater; The Tonight Show; The Twilight Zone; and You Bet Your Life.
All of the performers pictured on the stamps are no longer with us. Stars like Sid Caesar would likely also have been honored but Post Office rules stipulate that a living person can’t appear on a stamp.
TV show creator, writer, and actor Carl Reiner was on hand as the event’s master of ceremonies. Several veterans from the shows were present as were relatives of those who have passed away.
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They included Jayne Meadows (widow of The Tonight Show’s Steve Allen), Grace Bradley Boyd (widow of Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd), David Nelson (son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson), Barbara Hale (Perry Mason secretary, Della Street), June Lockhart and Lassie (the mother from Lassie and one of the canine’s descendents), and Arthur Marx (son of You Bet Your Life’s Groucho Marx).
The stamps are 44 cents each and are available at your local post office. They’re released in sheet of 20 with one TV show design per sheet. There are also a booklet of 20 postcards with the same designs that were created by Carl T. Herrman of North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Images courtesy U.S. Postal Service.
