Lillian Gish Forever Stamp saga

July 6, 2013

In a March 8, 2013, letter from the US Postal Service, Markes S. Lucas, Manager Stamp Development, wrote:

 "Thank you for your letter to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee expressing your support for the issuance of a commemorative stamp honoring Lillian Gish."

"I am pleased to inform you Lillian Gish is still under consideration by the Committee for possible future stamp issuance."

The letter gets rather bureaucratic after this with no promise of a Gish Forever stamp. Folks, keep writing to Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW Room 3300, Washington, DC 20260-3501.

Many thanks to Bob King at Classic Images for printing the below in the July issue.

Dear Fellow Classic Images Readers,

Linn’s Stamp News is reporting on the U.S. Postal Service’s 2014 commemorative stamps and for the 11^th year Lillian Gish, who began her movie career with her sister Dorothy in film pioneer D. W. Griffith’s 1912 “An Unseen Enemy,” is not on the list.  

Miss Gish, who died in 1993 at age 99, was the last important star of the silent era and her films included historic works like “Intolerance,”  “Broken Blossoms,” “Way Down East,” “Orphans of the Storm,” and “La Boheme.” Her screen career spanned 75 years and her stage career began when she was an infant in the late 1890s.

For years Miss Gish worked for the Postal Service to issue a stamp for director Griffith. She succeeded in 1975 on the 60^th anniversary of his still controversial 1915 Civil War epic “The Birth of a Nation.” Miss Gish put in many long hours to make the Griffith stamp a reality.

The Postal Service has delayed Miss Gish’s tribute despite my countless letters. Miss Gish and I need your help.

Ask the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee to issue a Forever stamp for Lillian Gish. Because the Committee is a panel of private citizens they have no single email. Write them at Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, c/o Stamp Development, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 3300, Washington, DC 20260-3501.

Please also ask Postmaster General Patrick Donahue to issue a Forever stamp for Lillian Gish. His email is pmgceo@usps.gov and your salutation should be Dear Mr. Postmaster General. Ask him to forward your email request to the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee. See  www.bgsu.edu/gish/ for information on the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Theater. Miss Gish and I thank you.

James Patterson

Member, National Advisory Committee
Dorothy and Lillian Gish Theater
766 Harrison Street Suite 211
San Francisco, CA 94107
415 516 3493
JamesPatterson705@gmail.com