New stamp honors first lady of television Betty White

By Scott Tiffney

On March 27 at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles, Calif., the United Postal Service will honor multitalented television entertainer Betty White (1922-2021) with a nondenominated (73¢) forever stamp sold in panes of 20. This forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current first-class 1-ounce letter rate.

USPS art director Greg Breeding designed the new Betty White stamp using a digitally created portrait by artist Dale Stephanos based on a 2010 reference photograph by Kwaku Alston.

The design features a backdrop of a progressively lighter shade of violet from the top down and bubbles in lighter tones around the television star. White is shown wearing a polka-dotted blue top, and her name appears at the bottom in white text.

The first-day ceremony for the new Betty White will take place at 11 a.m. Pacific Time at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Allen Ludden Plaza, 5333 Zoo Drive. Participating in the ceremony will be Amber McReynolds, chairwoman of the U.S. Postal Service board of governors.

Those wishing to attend the ceremony, which includes admission to the zoo, must preregister with the Postal Service.

White was a pioneer of early television, which mostly included a vast number of appearances in sitcoms, sketch comedy and game shows.

“Often called the first lady of television, her pioneering broadcasting career spanned more than eight decades,” the Postal Service said. “White achieved great fame with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls — a couple of TV history’s most beloved and groundbreaking situation comedies — and remained phenomenally popular as an entertainer well into her nineties.” ...

Ashton Potter Ltd., one of two contract printers for the USPS, printed 35 million of the new forever stamps in a quantity of 1.75 million panes of 20. A plate number consisting of a “P” followed by four single digits is printed in the bottom two corners of the pane. Each digit represents one of the colors used to print the stamp: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

Two pictorial first-day cancels for the Betty White stamp are being offered by the Postal Service, one in black and the other in color.

The black postmark is applied free, up to a quantity of 50, to most collector-submitted covers. There is a 5¢ charge for each additional postmark over 50. The black postmark features first-day details above and to the left of the text “BETTY WHITE,” which is surrounded by bubbles.

The color postmark features the same design and fonts as the black version but with blue first-day details above “BETTY WHITE” in light violet text surrounded by bubbles in various shades of violet. The color postmark can be obtained by collectors on envelopes made from laser-safe paper. There is an order minimum of 10 envelopes with a fee of 50¢ per postmark.

The Postal Bulletin provides additional ordering information. Both postmarks are also applied to first-day covers manufactured and sold by the Postal Service. All requests for the Betty White first-day cancels must be postmarked by July 27. Further Betty White issue products are available from the online USPS postal store.

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