The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 7)

The USPS is not above dickering with history -- they made James Dean a nonsmoker. Yet in this case, we see three faces of white male firemen. And we see them despite, or maybe because of, the ruckus that ensued after it was proposed that a statue with a multi-culti staff be erected in NYC.

p>This is another indication that 9/11 punctured the make-believe multicultural worldview. And it is nothing but good news. br> -- Karl Maher /p>

The new commemorative stamp is not the first one to feature clearly the faces of a living person. I believe that honor goes to Emmet Kelly, the famous clown. He was portrayed in makeup and appeared as a model for a generic clown in a commemorative circus series, but he was instantly recognizable to almost everyone as a real, living person, not as a composite of many clowns.

p>The image on the new stamp is a copy of the most famous photograph from the beginning of this war, and of the most poignant portrayal of the American spirit and its refusal to remain buried under the rubble. This spirit is what the stamp is celebrating, not the men in the picture. No other image from that time is both so recognizable and so defiant. Should the USPS have altered this image (as with the aborted "multicultural" statue of recent memory) to conform to the law requiring all *persons* honored to be dead for 10 years, or should it have waited the (hopefully) long, long time until all three men were safely buried before issuing such a stamp? br> -- Warren Way /p>

Joseph A. Rehyansky replies to Mr. Way:

I have been collecting U.S. stamps since I was 8 years old -- that's 47 years. To my knowledge only one postage stamp bearing the face of a clown was issued during Emmet Kelly's lifetime (1898 -1979): Scott #1309, issued on May 2, 1966, for the centennial of the birth of John Ringling. A scan of the stamp is attached. If that's Weary Willy I'll eat a can of greasepaint. Even if that is Mr. Kelly under all that make-up, my point still stands: it's not his face that appears on the stamp, it's a clown's. You would have a stronger case if you argued that the profiles on our old Indian head pennies and Buffalo nickels are the faces of real, living people, because several real, living people posed for each.

You also state that "our spirit is what the stamp is celebrating, not the men in the picture." I could not possibly agree more. That is why I believe that if we are to deviate from a 226-year-old practice we should first make the case for doing so rather than have our government act as if it does not know what it is doing (which is what I suspect) or doesn't care. The engravers who did the stamp based on the almost-accidental Joe Rosenthal photograph had an easy job of it. The actual photo does not show the men's faces clearly. Today, however, it would not be difficult to use computer imaging to construct an accurate view of the inspiring scene in the rubble of the World Trade Center that does not show the three faces -- as if the photographer was standing elsewhere. If "the men in the picture" are not that important, why not do so?

Your letter does give me an opportunity to correct one error in my essay. So certain was I of my recollections that I did not check my catalogs or my collection before describing the Apollo 11 stamp. It does not show an astronaut on the moon saluting our flag. It shows him descending the Eagle's ladder and stepping on the lunar surface. It was the 25th anniversary stamp issued on July 20, 1994, that depicted a lunar astronaut saluting our colors. In memory's eye I merged the two. On both stamps, as I pointed out, the astronaut's visor completely obscures his face.

p>

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