Help Honor Vincent Price – Let’s Put Him on a U.S. Postage Stamp!

Just how does one get on a postage stamp? And more importantly, why has Vincent Price never been honored with one? The answer to the first question is that you apparently have to petition the White House. There’s no good answer to the second question but fortunately, some Vincent Price fan out there has chosen to initiate this with the required petition. It’s a worthy cause and 100,000 signatures (or the on-line equivalent of a signature) are needed. So go to the site HERE, sign the petition, and let them know you want to see St. Louis hometown hero Vincent Price on the corner of some of those future bills that you mail.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/honor-great-american-horror-movie-star-vincent-price-stamp/f9sxZ4ZX

After all, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and both Lon Chaneys have been honored. Remember these stamps from 1997?:

Believe it or not, the U.S. Postal Service has been issuing commemorative stamps since 1893. (The first series celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage to the New World!) But the real reasons the USPS issues these stamps isn’t so much to celebrate patriotism; it’s to make money. When people collect stamps instead of using them for postage, the federal government turns a healthy profit. In 2006, the USPS estimated that 120 million Elvis stamps were never mailed, delivering more than $30 million to the Postal System’s coffers.

The Postal Service has a rule that people can’t be honored in stamp form until five years after their death. But they do make an exception for recently deceased U.S. presidents. The USPS is willing to honor a former commander-in-chief on the first anniversary of the birthday following his death. Vincent Price died in 1993, so he’s meets that criteria. Even after you’ve been dead and buried for five years, the USPS will only issue stamps on significant anniversaries. For most personalities, that means waiting until what would have been their 100th birthday before landing the honor. We should have tackled this right after Vincentennial , the Vincent Price 100th Birthday Celebration, an event I was director of in May of 2011 (read all about the event HERE http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2012/02/vincentennial-nominated-for-a-rondo-award-for-best-fan-event/). I actually thought of spearheading it at that time, but once the event ended, I moved on to other projects. Of course, what constitutes a “significant” anniversary is up for grabs. In 1993, the USPS issued an Elvis Presley stamp on what would have been the King’s 58th birthday. No one complained; more than 500 million Elvis Presley stamps were sold.

So go the site and sign the petition (HERE it is again) – Spread the word! Tell your friends! If this anyone worthy of being on a postage stamp, it’s Vincent Price!