U.S. #3000f
32¢ Rube Goldberg’s Inventions
Comic Strip Classics
Issue Date: October 1, 1995
City: Boca Rotan, FL
Quantity: 300,000,000
Printed By: Stamp Venturers
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: 10.1
Color: Multicolored
In 1904, Reuben Lucius Goldberg received his degree from the University of California School at Berkley. He pursued a career in engineering, but quit after six months to take up his first love – cartooning. His engineering degree, combined with cartooning talent, led to a lifelong series of crazy inventions including the automatic napkin that appears in the artwork on this stamp.
An immensely prolific cartoonist, Goldberg created many features throughout the years. Among the best-remembered are Foolish Questions, Mike and Ike, The Foolish Inventions of Prof. Lucifer G. Butts, Lala Palooza, and Boob McNutt. The latter ran for nearly 20 years, making Goldberg one of the highest-paid cartoonists in the country. In addition to his numerous features, he also produced sports cartoons, political cartoons, and even won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial cartoons. In 1946, he founded the National Cartoonists Society and in recognition of his achievements, the group’s annual top award was named the Reuben in his honor.
But despite these accomplishments, he is still best remembered for his wacky inventions – complicated affairs that performed mundane functions.