First Among Legends : Hollywood Stamp Series Debuts With Marilyn Monroe to Cheers of Collectors

Steven David went to the post office Thursday morning to buy stamps--10,000 of them.

David, like thousands of people across the country, got in line for the $6.40 sets of Marilyn Monroe collectibles--20 identical images of the glamorous movie star in a spangled sleeveless gown. In honor of what would have been her 69th birthday, the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday released 400 million copies of its first in a series of “Legends of Hollywood” stamps.

Careful not to make the stamps too fun-loving, the Postal Service went with an alluring but refined portrait of Monroe. No bathing beauty pose. No overtly puckered lips. Not even a copy of the famed skirt-billowing-above-the-knees photo.

“We try to keep it in good taste,” Postal Service spokesman Robin Wright explained.

So New Orleans artist Michael Deas selected an old-fashioned glamour girl pose, calculated to appeal to a broad audience with its blend of nostalgia and seduction. Monroe is shown with a sexy smile and sultry stare, clad in a gold sequined gown against a blue background, with her autograph scribbled above her head.

David, an advertising and promotions representative for real estate agents, plans to give the stamps to agents to give to clients. He did the same thing with the Elvis Presley stamp, David said, and “it was a big hit.”

“I have a client who keeps his Elvis stamp in a safe deposit box and is being offered $50 for it,” he said.

About the same time the national official unveiling of the stamp took place at Universal Studios, Planet Hollywood in Costa Mesa threw its own party in Monroe’s honor.

David joined other Monroe fans and stamp collectors at the South Coast Village restaurant to buy memorabilia and have their purchases hand-canceled. According to Planet Hollywood spokeswoman Susan Valen, more than 1,000 people showed up throughout the day to celebrate the stamp’s debut.

About noon, representatives from the Santa Ana postal service unveiled a large pictorial of the stamp at the restaurant. Postal employees then broke out in song to honor the legend, and to the delight of the restaurant’s customers, postal employee Vera Parks sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President”--which Monroe once sang to President John F. Kennedy--followed by her rendition of the presidential birthday song “with a little bit of soul.”

At a nearby front-row table, Kimberly Quintero celebrated both Monroe’s birthday and her own 27th. Her aunt, Pat Palmer, too exuberant even to notice she had a menu as she asked for one, said they were “excited to be here. . . . We’re here today to honor Marilyn.”

The two later made their way up to the restaurant’s terrace, where lines formed for Monroe stamps and memorabilia.

Items included 100 sheets of the stamp, signed by the artist, which sold for $29.95, magnets, pins and T-shirts and hand-canceled stamps.

Santa Ana Postmaster Rosemarie Fernandez said hand-canceling stamps is significant, if the customer wants proof that the stamp was purchased on the first day it was issued.

Thus, the line of Marilyn stamp owners on the terrace.

Alexis Ford of Huntington Beach endured a 40-minute wait and a light drizzle to buy T-shirts and have her stamps hand-canceled.

“I don’t collect stamps, but I’ve always liked Marilyn,” Ford said. “She’s led an interesting life. She lived life hard and fast.”

Nationwide, sales of the stamp were expected to approximate the mad rush for the Elvis Presley stamp two years ago.

The Elvis stamp earned a hefty $33-million profit because many of the 500 million stamps printed landed in collections, rather than on mail. Since the price of each stamp reflects the cost of delivering a letter, the Postal Service takes in that much more for each stamp purchased but not used.

“Pure profit,” the Postal Service’s Wright said of the Elvis release. “We’d love to do it again.”

Times staff writers Stephanie Simon and Tim May contributed to this story.