José Ferrer Stars Again: New Forever Stamp Released Today

The 14th stamp in the Distinguished Americans series honors José Ferrer (1912–1992), the multitalented actor, director, writer, musician, and producer whose career spanned the worlds of theater, film, television, and music.

José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, a district of San Juan, on January 8, 1912. At age six he moved to New York City when his father, an attorney, relocated the family from Puerto Rico. Always an excellent student, he passed the Princeton University entrance exam at age 15, but he was considered too young to attend and spent a year in a boarding school, Le Rosey, in Switzerland. He entered Princeton at age 16 and graduated with the class of 1933.

While attending the university he founded a dance band, “Jose Ferrer and His Pied Pipers,” that toured locally and in Europe. He also joined the Triangle Club, the university’s drama group. After leaving Princeton he did postgraduate work at Columbia University with the intention of becoming a teacher of languages. However, he had discovered his love of acting while in college, and in 1935 he made his first appearance on Broadway, a one-line part in the play A Slight Case of Murder.

Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (click to order)

His first starring role on Broadway came in 1940 when he was cast in the classic comedy Charley’s Aunt. In 1943 he portrayed Iago to Paul Robeson’s Othello in one of the longest-running Shakespeare productions ever on Broadway. He directed three plays on Broadway in 1952: Stalag 17, The Fourposter, and The Shrike. Also starring in The Shrike, he won two Tony Awards at the 1953 ceremony, one for his lead role and the other for his direction of the three plays. Among the many other plays in which he appeared or which he directed or produced were Twentieth Century, The Silver Whistle, Edwin Booth, The Andersonville Trial, Richard III, The Girl Who Came to Supper, and Man of La Mancha.

During his long career Ferrer starred in several stage and screen productions of the Edmond Rostand play Cyrano de Bergerac and was perhaps best known for this role. Written in the 19th century, the play concerns a brilliant poet and swordsman named Cyrano who falls deeply in love with his cousin, Roxane. His self-consciousness over his remarkably large nose prevents him from revealing his feelings to Roxane, and, instead, he helps another suitor court her. The role required Ferrer to don a prosthetic nose large enough to explain Cyrano’s shyness. He won the first Tony Award for Best Actor—in 1947, the inaugural year for the awards—for playing the lead on Broadway. He reprised his stage role on film in 1950, and his performance won him the Oscar for Best Actor, the first for a Latino. He remains one of the few actors to ever win a Tony and an Oscar for playing the same character on stage and on film.

First Day Cover (click to order)

He appeared in more than 60 feature films including Joan of Arc (in 1948, his first film), for which he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In addition to directing numerous films himself, for five decades he acted for some of the top directors in Hollywood, including George Stevens, Stanley Kramer, Billy Wilder, David Lean, David Lynch, and Woody Allen. Director John Huston chose Ferrer to portray artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the 1952 film Moulin Rouge. Ferrer was nominated for a third Academy Award for the role. To play the diminutive artist, Ferrer, who was almost six feet tall, had to walk with his legs bound up behind him using specially designed kneepads. Asked which of his film performances he would most like to be remembered by, he replied, “My four or five minutes in Lawrence of Arabia. I don’t think I can get any purer than that. I don’t think I can attempt to accomplish more—while, at the same time, doing less.”

A renaissance man who spoke five languages fluently, Ferrer’s accomplishments extended to many areas of entertainment. He acted on radio, including the title role in the mystery series Philo Vance. A talented musician, he appeared in singing roles on the opera stage, co-authored the libretto for the 1958 musical Oh, Captain!, and composed the song “Love is a Beautiful Stranger” for the 1954 film Twist of Fate. Ferrer wrote for theater and television, and he directed and produced numerous plays, both on and off Broadway. For nearly a decade in the 1980s he served as president of The Players, the prestigious New York actors’ club founded in the 1880s, and in 1983 he also became the artistic director of the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. He appeared regularly on television, including an Emmy-nominated performance in his iconic role as Cyrano de Bergerac. Ferrer was nominated for a Grammy for narrating the 1958 children’s recording “Tubby the Tuba.” To complete an already impressive catalog of genres, he made an appearance in the ballet Coppelia, miming the role of Dr. Coppelius. These are but a very few examples of this gifted artist’s range.

Ceremony Program (click to order)

Critics and peers alike admired Ferrer’s versatility, intelligence, and inventiveness. Brooks Atkinson, the drama critic of the New York Times, wrote in 1948 that he was “the most able, the most stimulating and the most versatile actor of his generation in America.” Actress Helen Hayes said that he “could act superlatively in anything from classics to farce.” Citing the range of his Broadway roles, Gloria Swanson, who appeared with him in the play Twentieth Century, claimed in her autobiography that by the age of 38 he “had risen to be one of America’s few esteemed classical actors.” His ability to show emotion without intellectualizing was, according to producer Joshua Logan, his greatest strength on stage.

Many people in praising him mentioned his voice, described as sonorous, rich, and powerful. Morgan Freeman, to whom he was an idol, said “nobody had a voice like his voice.” In 1949, Ferrer received a medal from the Academy of American Arts and Letters, awarded to individuals who set a standard of excellence in the use of spoken language.

Digital Color Postmark (click to order)

Throughout his life Ferrer was honored by various universities and colleges, receiving, among other awards, an honorary M.F.A. from his alma mater, Princeton University and an honorary doctorate from the University of Puerto Rico. Ferrer was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1981, and in 1985 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan, the first year the awards were given.

He died in Coral Gables, Florida, on January 26, 1992, at the age of 80.

The José Ferrer stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

Artwork based on a photograph © Turner Entertainment Co. A Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Grandest Things in Our National Parks

In 2010, the Postal Service, in conjunction with the National Park Service, released The Grandest Things, a 166-page book that combines history and nature in a brand new way. With breathtaking images of sites throughout the national park system coupled with corresponding stamps, the book enlivens the senses and illuminates an indispensable service in our country.

Though seemingly unrelated, parks and stamps tell intertwined stories and frequently share a common goal: to preserve what Walt Whitman called “the grandest things” for future generations. From the inception of the National Park Service to the now more than 84 million acres of federally protected land,The Grandest Things takes you through time with fascinating images, stamps, and stories.

Perhaps the most striking element of the book is its visual tour across America—with more than 75 national parks, monuments, and memorials, and amazing photographs of just some of the sites that make these places so incredible. From the volcanoes of Hawai’i to the deciduous forests of New England, The Grandest Things covers the nation, coast to coast.

In addition to the rich, image-based history detailed in the book, The Grandest Things also includes nine mint-condition stamps and a special collecting section for mounting, as well as background information on each of the stamps. Eight of the stamps come from the Scenic American Landscapes series, which began in 2001. The ninth stamp is the Old Faithful, Yellowstone stamp, issued in 1972 to commemorate the nation’s first national park.

To celebrate National Park Week, we’re holding a daily contest here on the blog centered around our love of national parks. Each day’s single winner will receive a set of the Scenic American Landscapes stamped cards, which showcase photographs from parks across the country.

To enter the contest for today, simply answer the following question:

The name for this magnificent book comes from the following Walt Whitman quote:

We see that while many were supposing things established and completed, really the grandest things always remain; and discover that the work of the New World is not ended, but only fairly begun.

In what Whitman piece does this quote appear?

Submit your answer to uspsstamps [at] gmail [dot] com and remember, spelling counts! The winner will be selected at random and notified by email. Deadline for entries is 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 26. Good luck!

Voyageur National Park’s Ancient, Traveling History

Established on April 8, 1975, Voyageurs National Park on the northern edge of Minnesota includes four lakes connected by waterways, more than 500 islands, a strip of mainland shore, and 26 smaller inland lakes, most of them located on Kabetogama Peninsula, the park’s largest landmass. More than one-third of the 218,054-acre park is water.

The park was named for the voyageurs, French Canadians legendary for their canoe trips for fur trading companies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Fifty-five miles of the park’s northern boundary was a portion of the voyageurs’ historic route.

The park’s rock formations, many more than 2.5 billion years old, are some of the oldest exposed rock in the world. A combination of habitats supports a wealthy diversity of life, including approximately 700 species of flora, more than 240 species of birds, and 53 species of fish. Fifty-three miles of trails for hiking, 32 miles of trails for cross-country skiing, and 110 miles of groomed trails for snowmobiling complement this spectacular array of wildlife.

While most of the waterways are frozen from mid-November until late-April, almost 250,000 people visit the park annually.

To celebrate National Park Week, we’re holding a daily contest here on the blog centered around our love of national parks. Each day’s single winner will receive a set of the Scenic American Landscapes stamped cards, which showcase photographs from parks across the country.

To enter the contest for today, simply answer the following two-part question:

How many national park stamps were issued in 1934 and to which parks do they pay tribute?

Submit your answer to uspsstamps [at] gmail [dot] com and remember, spelling counts! The winner will be selected at random and notified by email. Deadline for entries is 12 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 25. Good luck!

Civil War: 1862 Souvenir Sheets Now Available!

Today the U.S. Postal Service continues its series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, joining others across the country in paying tribute to the American experience during the tumultuous years from 1861 to 1865. A souvenir sheet of two stamp designs is being issued each year through 2015.

For 2012, one stamp depicts the Battle of New Orleans, the first significant achievement of the U.S. Navy in the war, while the other depicts the Battle of Antietam, which marked the bloodiest day of the war and a major turning point. The self-adhesive stamps are being issued in sheets of 12.

The Battle of New Orleans stamp is a reproduction of an 1862 colored lithograph by Currier & Ives titled “The Splendid Naval Triumph on the Mississippi, April 24th, 1862.” It depicts Admiral David G. Farragut’s fleet passing Forts Jackson and St. Phillip on the way toward New Orleans.

Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (click to order)

In the opening months of 1862, Union forces won a series of battles in the West, taking control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, including the state capital of Nashville. This string of victories culminated in the surprising and hugely important capture of the bustling port of New Orleans, the South’s largest and wealthiest city and the gateway to the Mississippi River.

To take New Orleans, the U.S. Navy had to find a way of getting past two forts, Jackson and St. Philip, located on opposite banks of the Mississippi River some seventy miles below the city. For this task, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles selected David G. Farragut, a sixty-year-old career officer who had served in the Navy since he was nine and had fought in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.

Assisting Farragut was his foster brother, David D. Porter, a Navy lieutenant who commanded a mortar flotilla that was to prepare the way for Farragut’s fleet by bombarding the forts. Bombarding began on April 18 and continued for six days. But when it failed to subdue the forts, Farragut decided, against the advice of Porter and others, to run the gauntlet and hazard a hail of cannon fire from the forts. At 2 a.m. on April 24, he gave the signal for his fleet to make the daring attempt.

First Day Covers (click to order)

When his vessels were spotted shortly thereafter, the forts opened fire and each ship returned fire as it came within range. The flagship Hartford received numerous hits and was set aflame by a fire raft after running aground above Fort St. Philip. But the crew managed to gain control, and by daylight Farragut and his squadron were well past the forts and on their way to New Orleans. All but three of the seventeen vessels made it upriver, while Union fatalities from the fierce shelling were limited to 37 sailors.

On April 25, Farragut’s fleet reached the city, which was lightly defended since Confederate leaders had diverted troops to the eastern theater, confident that an attack from downriver would never succeed. On May 1, Union General Benjamin Butler’s troops occupied the city.

The capture of New Orleans was a major victory for the Union. It placed the Confederacy’s most vital port in Union hands—affecting southern trade, finance, and shipbuilding. It also gave the Union access to the Mississippi River and important Southern towns such as Vicksburg and Mobile. Perhaps of even greater importance, the South’s failure to defend one of its key economic assets dealt a severe blow to its efforts to win diplomatic recognition and material aid from Britain and France.

Farragut’s triumph made him a hero to the North and resulted in his promotion to rear admiral. He was ultimately promoted to full admiral, the first in the history of the U.S. Navy.

Civil War Series Continues with Release of New Stamps Tomorrow

Tomorrow the U.S. Postal Service continues its commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861–1865), the most wrenching chapter in American history, with the issuance of a new souvenir sheet of two stamp designs. One stamp depicts the Battle of New Orleans, the first significant achievement of the U.S. Navy in the war, while the other depicts the Battle of Antietam, which marked the bloodiest day of the war.

Art director Phil Jordan created the stamps using images of Civil War battles. The Battle of New Orleans stamp is a reproduction of an 1862 colored lithograph by Currier & Ives titled “The Splendid Naval Triumph on the Mississippi, April 24th, 1862.” It depicts Admiral David G. Farragut’s fleet passing Forts Jackson and St. Phillip on the way toward New Orleans.

The Battle of Antietam stamp is a reproduction of an 1887 painting by Thure de Thulstrup. The painting was one of a series of popular prints commissioned in the 1880s by Boston publisher Louis Prang & Co. to commemorate the Civil War.

For the stamp pane’s background image, Jordan used a photograph of Union soldiers in the vicinity of Fair Oaks, Virginia, circa June 1862.

The stamp pane includes comments on the war by David G. Farragut, James C. Steele, Walt Whitman, and the New York Times. It also includes some of Charles Carroll Sawyer’s lyrics from the popular 1862 song “Weeping, Sad and Lonely,” or “When This Cruel War Is Over” (music composed by Henry Tucker).