Sylvester, Tweety To Get A Stamp

Sylvester and Tweety will join George Washington, Elvis Presley and Bugs Bunny next spring in the company of Americans on postage stamps.

The 32-cent stamp, unveiled Monday by the U.S. Postal Service, will portray the Warner Bros. characters around a mailbox. It’s the second U.S. stamp featuring cartoon personalities; the first came last May with the release of the Bugs Bunny stamp.

The Bugs stamp became one of the top 10 commemoratives issued by the Postal Service with 378 million printed, in addition to an extensive merchandising campaign licensed by Los Angeles-based Warner Bros. with 84 items such as coffee mugs, T-shirts and ties. Traditionalists complained the stamp violated rules against honoring commercial enterprises while defenders said Bugs was an indelible part of American culture.

Postal Service spokesman Barry Ziehl said the Sylvester-Tweety stamp will be accompanied by an array of merchandise similar to the Bugs campaign. “The Bugs items are still selling well,” he said.