US Postal Service stamps to honor Great Directors in 2012

[RayKelly]

The U.S. Postal Service will honor four of Hollywood's greatest movie directors next year with "forever" rate stamps. The stamps will depict the director and a scene from one of his classic films. Great idea, but the series omits Orson Welles!

The four directors being honored are: John Ford ("The Searchers"), John Huston ("Maltese Falcon"), Billy Wilder ("Some Like It Hot") and Frank Capra ("It Happened One Night").

The stamps are arranged in blocks of four. If you are a fan of this forum, you likely think Orson deserved a stamp too. So, who would you have taken out to make way for Welles??

Below is the artwork for the stamps.

[mteal]

Not terribly surprised about the snub, but hopefully there will be something on Welles for 2015. I have to say, those are beautiful stamps in the director's series, definitely worth getting. I got a couple when Citizen Kane had it's own stamp in 1999. I wish I'd gotten more:



And I'm a little pissed about losing the set I bought of the horror series in 1997:

[Christopher]

I assumed Orson Welles was left out of the 2012 Great Directors series because of the 1999 commemorative stamp which was intended to honor him as well as "Citizen Kane."

[RayKelly]

Christopher,
Perhaps, but John Ford got a nod back in 1990 with a Stagecoach stamp. Maybe that was seen as a John Wayne honor.
IMHO, Orson Welles deserved the spot more than Billy Wilder. It would be great if an Orson Welles stamp was issued in 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.

[mteal]

Hopefully there'll still be a postal service in 2015. CNN says they're starting to go broke. I didn't know about the Stagecoach stamp, apparently part of an Oscar series, another nice looking set:



But even more so then Ford and STAGECOACH, a tribute is paid to Orson Welles any time someone pays tribute to CITIZEN KANE, a film that exemplifies the auteur theory like no other.

[Christopher]

Ray, I agree. A Orson Welles centennial stamp in 2015 would be terrific!

[RayKelly]

I can look into the process involved and how we could bring this to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee.

[ToddBaesen]

The CITIZEN KANE Stamp was only one on a sheet of many other different stamps celebrating the decade of the forties, so Orson Welles certainly should be in line for another sheet of stamps all his own in 2015. Who knows, maybe the Postal Service is already planning a Welles stamp as part of their "Hollywood Legends" series. Alfred Hitchcock was one of the few directors to get one in that series, that mostly featured actors, but Welles would be a natural as he was both an actor and a director! If he should get one, I wonder where they would issue it from?

Kenosha, Wisconsin, or maybe Woodstock, Ill... I would hope not in Hollywood!

[mteal]

I'm not sure if this was a real stamp or not, and the picture quality is not too good (I scanned it from one of my scrapbooks), but maybe someone out there can give some more info on it:

[Glenn Anders]

From the late 1950's on, nations emerging from beneath the cape of Colonial Power often used commemorative and semi-postal sets of postage stamps to advertise themselves and bring in revenue. [In that time, children still collected stamps for their educational value.] Many times particular issues had little or no connection with the countries involved. Large British and French printing houses sold portfolios of informative and colorful illustrations to former colonies, sometimes the same subjects, a dozen at a time. Though I reluctantly parted with my quite vast collection of British Commonwealth stamps some years ago, in order to support my life style among Wellsians at the Ha-Ra Club, I'll hazard that this Welles issue was legitimate postage in the sunny isles of the Caribbean.

Who can say that Welles would not have enjoyed sitting on a terrace in the Antiguan sunset, enjoying a daiquiri and a cigar, perhaps remembering his memorable Mercury Theater on the Air production about a slave revolt in those islands.

Thanks, Mike.

Glenn Anders

[RayKelly]

Glenn is quite correct that these stamps were issued by countries to raise revenue and draw attention. Antigua gained its independence in 1981.
I have a pair of this stamp! It is indeed legit. it was issued not long after Orson Welles' death. My recollection is that I obtained it in late 1987 or early 1988 from a friend bought it along with other celebrity stamps.
Based on his old movie interests and the time period, I am assuming this stamp was part of a sheet of eight celebrity stamps issued by Antigua in 1987. They featured Orson Welles, Judy Garland, Rock Hudson, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, John Lennon, and Elvis Presley.

[mteal]

Thanks for the info, Glenn and Ray. I wasn't familiar with Anitigua and Barbuda, but after Googling some pictures, I wish I was there myself right now, enjoying that sunset, Daiquiri and cigar.

I am assuming this stamp was part of a sheet of eight celebrity stamps issued by Antigua in 1987. They featured Orson Welles, Judy Garland, Rock Hudson, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, John Lennon, and Elvis Presley.

Hard to imagine a U.S. stamp set putting Welles in with that company.