Stamp Series to Honor Arts Legends, Heroes

Legends from entertainment and the arts, heroes of the battlefield, explorers who traveled the uncharted West and an author who delighted generations of children will appear on postage stamps next year.

The U.S. Postal Service also is coming out with two stamps with a wedding theme as part of its 2004 commemorative stamp series to be made public today.

Stamps being issued in the first few months of the year include a special tribute to Pulitzer Prize-winning children’s author Theodor Seuss Geisel. The stamp will mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Also being released early in 2004 will be the 27th stamp in the Black Heritage series, which will honor actor, singer, civil rights activist and athlete Paul Robeson.

Stamps will honor choreographers Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Martha Graham and Agnes de Mille. There also will be a stamp paying tribute to composer Henry Mancini.

Other stamps will mark the bicentennial of the official launch of the Lewis and Clark expedition in May 1804; the spring dedication of the National World War II Memorial; and the Summer Olympic Games.