A `Cos' for Celebration

BILL COSBY'S television program "The Cosby Show" is going to get astamp next January and fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld may get onenext April. So might the movies "Titanic" and "Jurassic Park." Howabout John Glenn's return to space and cellular telephones?

Those are among the stamps being discussed for the final twosheets of stamps in the U.S. Postal Service's big Celebrate theCentury stamp series. As the agency's stamp director Azeezaly S.Jaffer promised when he unveiled the series, the stamps only get morecontroversial as the public is asked to make selections for thestamps in the 1980s and 1990s.

Judging from the recently-announced winners of the balloting onstamps for the 1980s, Jaffer seems to have been right. Consider, forexample, the Cosby stamp. It will honor one of TV's greatest stars,but Cosby himself can't be on it. That's because postal guidelinesprohibit any living person from being on a stamp, so expect the stampto illustrate the show's logo or, in Seinfeld's case, perhaps theempty restaurant set that was featured in the show.So what was the most important subject of the 1980s, the subjectmost Americans wanted on a stamp? Video games. It drew 268,746votes to top the Fall of the Berlin Wall, which pulled 265,147 votes.Washington's Vietnam Veterans Memorial was third with 258,515votes, followed by: the movie "E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial," 239,189;"Cabbage Patch" dolls, 207,505; personal computers, 205,527; compactdiscs, 199,925; figure skating, 198,841; "The Cosby Show," 194,517;cable TV, 190,533; the National Football League's San Francisco49ers, 188,845; the freed American hostages in Iran, 182,784; thespace shuttle program, 177,138; "Cats," the Broadway musical,169,357; and, finally, "hip-hop culture," 158,509.Losers: basketball's Los Angeles Lakers series against the BostonCeltics, 158,075; mountain biking, 147,779; AIDS awareness, 144,824;college basketball's March madness playoffs, 141,308; broadcast talkshows, 127,283; beach volleyball, 126,687; country music, 120,977;video camcorders, 114,950; arms reduction treaties, 94,928; aerobics,77,904; minivans, 75,915; Vladimir Horowitz concerts, 64,563; theSenior PGA Golf tour, 58,475; gene mapping, 55,411; and Tom Wolfe'snovel "The Bonfire of the Vanities," 34,669.If you don't like any of the winners, vote now on the final 15stamps in the series of 150. Nominees for stamps of the 1990sinclude:People and Events: improving education, cultural diversity, theGulf War, recovering endangered species and active older Americans.Arts and Entertainment: contemporary architecture, "JurassicPark," computer art and graphics, Broadway musicals, "Seinfeld" and"Titanic."Sports: baseball records, "extreme" sports, women's sports, in-line skating, junior golf and Special Olympics.Science and Technology: virtual reality, dinosaur fossil recovery,gene therapy, the World Wide Web, Glenn's return to space,interplanetary exploration.Lifestyle: cellular phones, museum attendance, home offices, sportutility vehicles, community service and coffee shops.Paper ballots for the 1990s stamps are available at most postoffices and on the Internet at: http://stampvote.msn.com. All paperballots must be postmarked by May 31.Meanwhile, new stamps are pouring out of the nation's post officesat a rapid rate. On Saturday, the agency will issue a booklet offour tropical flower stamps in Honolulu. It is the first booklet ofself- adhesive stamps with stamps printed on both sides of thebooklet. It also marks the first gravure stamps that have beenprinted with a 550-line screen. That should make for much sharperprinting than most gravure stamps, which are usually printed with a300-line screen.In addition, the agency is releasing a set of new internationalmail stamps to match the new international rates that becomeeffective May 30. But with one exception, a 55-cent stamp for Gen.Billy Mitchell, the founder of the Air Force, these internationalmail stamps will no longer feature airmail subjects.Members of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee think images ofthe "scenic wonders of America would be of more interest to peopleabroad," according to stamp spokesman Don Smeraldi.As a result there will be a 48-cent stamp featuring a photo ofNiagara Falls, a 40-cent Rio Grande stamp and a 60-cent Grand Canyonstamp. A 60-cent aerogramme (a thin sheet that folds into an airmailenvelope) featuring Voyageurs National Park and a 55-cent postal cardthat features Mount Ranier go on sale May 15 in Denver.The 48-cent self-adhesive Niagara Falls stamp goes on sale May 12in Niagara Falls. Dates for the Rio Grande and Grand Canyon stampshave not been announced.On May 14, the Postal Service will pay tribute to Mount Vernon,the home of George Washington where he died 200 years ago. Thepostal card reproduces a 1792 painting from the National Gallery ofArt by an unknown artist. Titled "A View From Mount Vernon," it willsell for 21 cents each, although it carries a 20-cent denomination.INDIVIDUALS seeking first-day cancellations of the tropicalflowers, should purchase the stamps at their local post office andplace them on addressed envelopes. These should be mailed in alarger envelope to: Tropical Flowers Stamps, Postmaster, 3600 AoleleSt., Honolulu, HI 96820-9991. Requests should be postmarked by May31.Next week in this space: Photography columnist Frank Van Riper.