# 2445-48 - 1990 25c Classic Films

US #2445-48
1990 Classic Films

• Commemorates 50^th anniversary of four Oscar-nominated films
• Celebrates the Golden Age of Hollywood
  
  

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set :  Classic Films
Value:   25¢, First-Class mail rate
First Day of Issue:  March 23 1990
First Day City:  Hollywood, California
Quantity Issued:  44,202,000
Printed by:  American Bank Note Company
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 40, from printing cylinders of 160
Perforations:  11

Why the stamp was issued:  This block of four honors classic films from Hollywood’s golden era.  Each of the four films featured received Academy Award nominations in 1940.

About the stamp design:  Each stamp resembles a miniature movie poster with bright, glossy colors.  They picture the stars of each film, as well as the title and a scene from the movie in the background.  Thomas Blackshear was chosen to do the artwork for the stamps.  He used original movie posters and photographs from the films as inspiration.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue ceremony for the Classic Movie stamps took place at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California, though the postmark was Hollywood.  This was the location of the 62^nd Academy Awards celebration three days later.

Unusual fact about these stamps:  The stamps were originally planned for issue in 1989, the 50^th anniversary of release of these films.  Difficulties with obtaining permission from the film company and families of the stars pictured delayed the stamps until 1990.

About the Set:  Time magazine called 1939 the “year of genius and glitter” that was “the most memorable 12 months in the history of the American cinema.”  All the films featured in this set were produced that year, and all were nominated for Academy Awards (or Oscars).  The four movies chosen for the stamps were: The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Beau Geste, and Stagecoach.

History the stamp represents: 

The Wizard of Oz was based on a children’s book by L. Frank Baum.  The film was notable for its use of Technicolor, a fairly new invention at the time.  Its special effects were also ahead of their time.  Judy Garland, the star of the show, won a special Academy Award as a “screen juvenile.”  The film also took home the best song and best scoring awards.  In 1956, The Wizard of Oz was first broadcast on television.  It became a yearly favorite of American viewers.

The film Gone with the Wind adapted the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell.  Set in the south during the Civil War, it tells the struggles of Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner.  The film was popular from it original release and remains the highest-grossing film in history (adjusted for inflation).  Gone with the Wind was awarded ten Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel).  McDaniel was the first African American to win an Academy Award.

Beau Geste is based on a novel by P. C. Wren, a British author.  It tells the adventurous story of three brothers who join the French Foreign Legion.  The 1939 film was similar to a 1926 silent movie by the same name.  The remake was nominated for two Oscars but didn’t win in either category.

Stagecoach has been called director John Ford’s “greatest epic of frontier.”  Filmed on location in Arizona, the film was an adaptation of the short story “The Stage of Lordsburg.”  Stagecoach was the first major role for actor John Wayne.  The film received seven Academy Awards nomination and won two.