U.S. #3000f
1995 32¢ Rube Goldberg’s Inventions
Comic Strip Classics

• Third sheet in the Classic Collection Series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Comic Strip Classics
Value:  32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue:  October 1, 1995
First Day Cities:  Boca Raton, Florida
Quantity Issued:  300,000,000
Printed by:  Stamp Venturers
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20 in sheets of 120
Perforations:  10.1 x 10.2

Why the stamps were issued:  The Comic Strip Classics sheet was the third issue in the Classic Collection Series.  There was push to create a stamp to honor American comics as early as the 1960’s, but didn’t get real consideration until 1993. With the 100^th anniversary of the comic The Yellow Kid, a comic committee, and an 83-page proposal the USPS finally agreed.

About the stamp designs:  Even though only one stamp was approved, Terrence McCaffrey, head of stamp design, thought there was no way to honor American Comics with one single stamp. Therefore, he had a list of all proposed stamps and had Carl Herrman, art director, mock up a sheet of 20 stamps. McCaffrey wanted all the stamps to be taken from original panels by their respected artist. Herrmann worked on going through thousands of panels to find comics of the 20 chosen that showed the central theme of the comic in one panel with clean lines. Then with the help of American Color, that colorizes most of the comics in American newspapers, he was able to colorize them with accurate color choices, even those that were outdated.

Rube Goldberg’s Inventions (#3000f) – This was another image that was in the proposal and worked to best illustrate a complicated device or procedure that complicates that action. There was a Goldberg panel that was titled “Professor Butts’ Simple Appliance for Putting Postage Stamps on Envelopes,” but the image wouldn’t work on a small scale.

About the printing process:  In order to include the text on the back of each stamp, it had to be printed under the gum, so that it would still be visible if a stamp was soaked off an envelope.  Because people would need to lick the stamps, the ink had to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as non-toxic. The printer also used an extra-fine 300-line screen, which resulted in some of the highest-quality gravure stamp printings in recent years.

History the stamps represent: 

Rube Goldberg’s Inventions

In 1904, Reuben Lucius Goldberg received his degree from the University of

California School at Berkley.  He pursued a career in engineering, but quit after six months to take up his first love – cartooning.  His engineering degree, combined with cartooning talent, led to a lifelong series of crazy inventions including the automatic napkin which appears in the artwork on the stamp.

          An immensely prolific cartoonist, Goldberg created many features throughout the years.  Among the best-remembered are Foolish Questions, Mike and Ike, The Foolish Inventions of Prof. Lucifer G. Butts, Lala Palooza, and Boob McNutt.  The latter ran for nearly 20 years, making Goldberg one of the highest-paid cartoonist in the country.  In addition to his numerous features, he also produced sports cartoons, political cartoons, and even won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial cartoons.  In 1946, he founded the National Cartoonist Society and in recognition of his achievements, the group’s annual top award was named the Reuben in his honor.