Marilyn Sizzles at Post Office : Motion pictures: Film legend Monroe is honored with her portrait on a postage stamp.

With her lips just parted and her eyes at sultry half-mast, Marilyn Monroe re-entered the world of commerce Thursday, her likeness captured on a new postage stamp that will probably net the U.S. Postal Service millions of dollars of revenue.

Across the country, fans of Marilyn and of stamp collecting flocked to post offices to purchase the commemorative stamps in numbers that nearly matched the demand for the Elvis Presley stamp three years ago.

At Universal Studios, a group of Monroe’s former co-stars and friends joined media, philatelists and fans for the official dedication of the stamp on the day that would have marked Monroe’s 69th birthday.

“The world loved Marilyn Monroe,” said U.S. Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon just before unveiling a large reproduction of the stamp. “On the silver screen, she floated in our imagination. In real life, she was a special talent with a deep yearning to do more and to be more.”

Among those on hand for the dedication were Zsa Zsa Gabor, who starred with Monroe in the 1952 film “We’re Not Married;” Hope Lange, who appeared with the actress in “Bus Stop” in 1956; Lew Wasserman, chairman and chief executive officer of MCA, and Anna Strasberg, representing the estate of the late actress. Strasberg is the widow of Lee Strasberg, Monroe’s acting coach and mentor.

“It’s wonderful for an actress to get back some of the things she gave,” Strasberg said. “On that stamp, we’ll always see her smile.”

The U.S. Postal Service will issue 400 million copies of the Monroe stamp, about 100 million fewer than the 1992 stamp honoring Elvis Presley. A standard issue for a commemorative stamp is about 80 million copies, the amount, for example, of Richard Nixon stamps issued in April.

When collectors and others buy stamps in large numbers to save rather than stick on their mail, the Postal Service can gain sizable revenue. It costs just a penny to print two sheets of 50 stamps, officials said, so if the stamp isn’t used, the rest is profit. Elvis stamps brought in about $36 million, said James C. Tolbert Jr., the Postal Service’s stamp manager.

About $2 million worth of the 32-cent Monroe stamps went on sale Thursday morning under white tents set up at Universal Studios. At noon, business was brisk despite forbidding weather.

Robert Tsai, 20, of San Marino, was in line to buy limited-edition sheets of the stamps signed by the artist, Michael Deas of New Orleans. Tsai bought three sheets at $125 apiece, which he considered a bargain. In a few years, he predicted, the stamps would be worth five times what he paid.

“This is it,” Tsai said, holding up his prize. “These are the most valuable stamps I own. She’s a legend.”

In Long Beach, the Marilyn stamp got off to a hot start when two Asian investors bought 10,000 stamps each during a morning ceremony. Happily accepting $6,400 for the stack of stamps, Long Beach Postmaster Ed Jenkins said he knew Monroe would be a smash.

A citizens advisory committee reviews about 40,000 proposals for new stamps each year, recommending between 35 to 40 of these to the postmaster general.

Tolbert said there is always debate over the merits of printing a new stamp, and the debate over Monroe, who died of a drug overdose and was rumored to have had affairs with high-ranking government officials, was no different.

“When you have different lifestyles and different views of a person’s life, there’s always going to be discussion,” Tolbert said.

A member of the advisory committee said there was more discussion among members over the merits of honoring Elvis Presley with a stamp than there was about Monroe.

“With Monroe, there clearly were some issues related to the drug question, but we just try to decide whether she was a real big part of American culture, and she is,” said committee member Stephen T. McLin, president of America First Financial Corp. in San Francisco.

“We experience more problems when we talk about ‘The Three Js’--putting Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix on stamps,” McLin said.

But old friends of Monroe who were on hand for the stamp dedication said rumors of the supposedly dark side to Monroe’s life, and her reputation as a bubble-headed blonde, were bunk.

“People said she was a dumb blonde, but she was always aware of what was going on,” said Evelyn Moriarty, Monroe’s friend and movie stand-in. “She was fantastic.”

Moriarty said this birthday celebration was more festive than some Monroe had, even at the height of her fame.

“On her last birthday, she had to work until 6 p.m.,” Moriarty said. “Only then would the assistant on the movie let us take a break to have some cake. This is beautiful. She would have loved it.”

Times staff writer Stephanie Simon contributed to this story.