Toast Post Office brings classic TV back!

Lookalike contest, vintage cars mark Early TV stamp event

TOAST, NC—The U.S. Postal Service and Toast Post Office welcome vintage cars from the 50s and 60s and TV character lookalikes in a special ceremony celebrating the issuance of the Early TV Memories commemorative stamps. The event will be held at Toast Post Office, 1110 W. Pine Street beginning at 9 am on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, the first day the stamps are available nationwide.

With these stamps, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates 20 great shows from TV’s golden age of the 1950s. For more than half a century, Americans have turned to television for entertainment and information. To those watching in its early days, TV offered the additional excitement of the new. Whether laughing at the first situation comedies, tingling at crime dramas, or identifying with ordinary people who had their day in the spotlight on game shows, audiences were charmed by the novelty of the young medium. Today, memories from television’s “childhood”—often especially vivid—are a pure pleasure.

The stamps recognize The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Dinah Shore Show; Dragnet; Ed Sullivan Show; George Burns & Gracie Allen Show; Hopalong Cassidy; The Honeymooners; Howdy Doody; I Love Lucy; Kukla, Fran and Ollie; Lassie; The Lone Ranger; Perry Mason; Phil Silvers Show; The Red Skelton Show; Texaco Star Theater; The Tonight Show; Twilight Zone; and You Bet Your Life.

Toast Post Office’s event will feature vintage cars from the 1950s and 1960s parked outside the Post Office, and a TV character lookalike contest, where customers can dress up like a star from one of the 20 shows. In addition, commemorative cachets will be made available for collectors highlighting the event. Light refreshments will be served, and the event is free and open to the public.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.