JUSTIN CAMPBELL/startraksphoto.com; PacificCoastNews.comNow that the Post Office will be honoring living people on postage stamps, which celebs will most likely be honored?
—David Kexel, via Facebook
Apparently the neck-snapping celebrity publicists of Hollywood have yet to get wind of this news, for the United States Postal Service tells me that threats, er, suggestions, from those mouthpieces have yet to start pouring in.
But the fans sure have been lobbying, and we can tell you one group of monsters that is likely to be quite disappointed:
And I speak of course of Lady Gaga fans. Since this news was announced last week, quite a few folks have voted in informal polls, or leaped onto the Facebook page for the Postal Service, begging the outfit to create a self-adhesive homage to Gaga.
I asked the postal service about her chances.
"I personally have a hard time making that leap," says Stephen Kearney, manager of stamp services for the USPS.
Not that it's totally out of the question.
After all, as Kearney puts it, the goal is "a big poster up in our post office and people lined up to buy the stamp." But young stars have a lot of life ahead of them, and a lot of time to ruin their reputations. After all, back in 2003, it may have sounded like a cute idea to award a stamp to, say, rising teen star Lindsay Lohan.
Another star getting a lot of online support: Justin Bieber, of course. On the USPS Facebook and elsewhere online, a large number of suggestions also have come in for Bruce Springsteen and Dolly Parton, who, at least when it comes to musical achievement, make a lot more sense.
Who else is being bandied about for a stamp? Sports legend Muhammad Ali, Kearney tells me.
However, I can tell you this definitively: Nobody has been picked for certain, not yet. The stamp people have a specific way of doing things. They have a stamp selection committee that meets quarterly and that plays a key role in these decisions, and they haven't even floated their suggestions yet, I am told.
However, once the luminaries are selected, Kearney says, the Postal Service will not move forward without a celebrity's approval. You may wonder whether the postal service will have to pay the star a licensing fee. I wondered the same thing.
"We typically don't pay for that," Kearney tells me. "So if they insist on royalties or any other type of payment, we just don't do the stamp."
(The USPS does pay artists a nominal fee for their work.)
So whom (among the living) would you like to see on a stamp? Sound off in the comments below, or on my Facebook page.