2006 39¢ HATTIE MCDANIEL, GONE WITH THE WIND - FDC - US SCOTT #3996Another nice collectible for your consideration. You are looking on one (1) 2006 39¢ Hattie McDaniel Stamp, Gone With the Wind Poster First Day Cover. Cachet was cancelled with a neat cancel that notes "First Day of Issue - January 25, 2005 - Beverly Hills, Ca." on the top, and "First African to win an Academy Award" on the bottom, with a facsimile signature in the middle. A card on this cachet shows the movie poster to the 1967 re-release of this film, with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. There were two different cancellations given to this issue, a normal one and this one, a "fancy" cancel. The envelope is a #6-size cover and measures ~6 1/2" by 3 5/8" (inches) or 164 mm by 92 mm. Cover is unaddressed and is shown in the photograph below. I have more then one of these so I have placed them in a Dutch product. Feel free to purchase one or more covers. It is addressed with an Avery 6461 removable label, so you can remove it if you wish. I have decided not to open them, since it is USPS sealed. Back of USPS packaging shows that "IF UNDELIVERABLE", to return to the Kansas City Stamp Fulfillment Services. The 2006 39¢ Hattie McDaniel "Black Heritage" Stamp was first issued on Wednesday, January 25th, 2006 in Beverly Hills, California (90210-9998), at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where the Hattie McDaniel collection, including radio program recordings, scripts and other documents, is collected. This United States commemorative postage stamp was released by the USPS as the 29th issue in its long running USPS Black Heritage series. The self-adhesive was designed by Ethal Kessler (Bethesda, Maryland) from a 1941 photograph of McDaniel, wearing the dress she wore when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Across the top of the stamp is "BLACK HERITAGE" while Hattie's name is printed vertically next to the right border and over her shoulder on the left side of the stamp is 'USA 39". The later refers to the stamps thirty-nine cent face value. It was printed at Banknote Corporation of America, Inc./SSP in Browns Summit, North Carolina. The vertical stamp measures 0.980 by 1.560 inches (or 24.89 by 39.62 mm) and a complete pane measures 5.92 by 7.24 inches (or 150.4 x 183.9 mm.). This stamp is known to philatelic collectors as US Scott Catalog #3996. At the time of release, the 39-cent denomination paid for domestic 1 oz. first-class letter rate. Hattie McDaniel was born June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, and raised in Denver, Colorado. Showing signs of her talent at an early age, she dropped out of school as a teenager to tour with vaudeville companies and traveled with musical ensembles and minstrel shows. She sang on Denver radio as early as 1925, and she wrote and recorded several of her own songs. McDaniel arrived in Hollywood in 1931 and made her first appearance in motion pictures in 1932. She spent much of her twenty-year career playing maids, mainly owing to the paucity of roles available to African American actresses. She has been quoted as saying, "Why should I complain about making $7,000 a week playing a maid? If I didn't, I'd be making $7 a week being one." It was one such role, that of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), opposite Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, that she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on February 29, 1940, making her the first African American performer to win an Oscar. Hattie's first major roles came in 1935 with her classic performance in Alice Adams and China Seas, the latter her first film with Gable. She also had major roles in Saratoga and The Mad Miss Manton prior to the release of Gone With the Wind. Her performance in 1942's In This Our Life is well remembered for her movingly dramatic turn as a black housewife whose son is framed in a hit-and-run accident. Hattie became the first major African-American radio star with her comedy series Beulah in the late 1940's. As the first radio show to feature a black star, The Beulah Show was praised by the NAACP and the National Urban League. Although McDaniel again played a maid, she insisted that her character not speak in dialect, and she successfully negotiated the right to alter scripts that did not meet her approval. The show moved to TV in 1951, but McDaniel made only three episodes before discovering she had cancer. Hattie McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood: one for her contributions to radio at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for motion pictures at 1719 Vine Street. McDaniel died of breast cancer at the age of 57 on October 26, 1952. Be sure to add me to your favorites list! FREE US shipping. Elsewhere $1.00. I only accept Pay Pal as payment. To view more philatelic products click the store link, which will show you my store categories. There you will find "Philatelic Items, General" and a category "First Day Covers." Thank you for your interest.
