1995 32c Comic Strip Classics: Nancy

# 3000o - 1995 32c Comic Strip Classics: Nancy

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U.S. #3000o
1995 32¢ Nancy
Comic Strip Classics

  • Third sheet in the Classic Collection Series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Comic Strip Classics
Value:  32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue:  October 1, 1995
First Day Cities:  Boca Raton, Florida
Quantity Issued:  300,000,000
Printed by:  Stamp Venturers
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20 in sheets of 120
Perforations:  10.1 x 10.2

Why the stamps were issued:  The Comic Strip Classics sheet was the third issue in the Classic Collection Series.  There was push to create a stamp to honor American comics as early as the 1960’s, but didn’t get real consideration until 1993. With the 100th anniversary of the comic The Yellow Kid, a comic committee, and an 83-page proposal the USPS finally agreed.

About the stamp designs:  Even though only one stamp was approved, Terrence McCaffrey, head of stamp design, thought there was no way to honor American Comics with one single stamp. Therefore, he had a list of all proposed stamps and had Carl Herrman, art director, mock up a sheet of 20 stamps. McCaffrey wanted all the stamps to be taken from original panels by their respected artist. Herrmann worked on going through thousands of panels to find comics of the 20 chosen that showed the central theme of the comic in one panel with clean lines. Then with the help of American Color, that colorizes most of the comics in American newspapers, he was able to colorize them with accurate color choices, even those that were outdated.

Nancy (#3000o) – Even though everyone loved the first concept of Nancy and her sick-kick, Sluggo, wearing one pair of dark sunglasses, it didn’t fully take up the frame. To utilize the stamp space better another image was chosen. Colors were changed to reflect the current color pallet of the comic. This is the only stamp that has the name going vertical up the side of the stamp.

About the printing process:  In order to include the text on the back of each stamp, it had to be printed under the gum, so that it would still be visible if a stamp was soaked off an envelope.  Because people would need to lick the stamps, the ink had to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as non-toxic. The printer also used an extra-fine 300-line screen, which resulted in some of the highest-quality gravure stamp printings in recent years.

History the stamps represent: 

Nancy

          Following the success of The Yellow Kid, and later Outcault’s popular Buster Brown, comic strips with child stars became a regular feature in the funny pages.  In 1925 Ernie Bushmiller, a young artist for the New York World, took over the comic created several years earlier by Larry Whitington. The strip, Fritzi Ritz, was about a girl who gets a job as a movie actress.  In 1933, Bushmiller introduced a new character – Fritzi’s kid niece, Nancy.

          Although the little wire-haired girl began her career making occasional appearances in her aunt’s strip, by the end of the decade she had supplanted Fritzi as the main attraction.  And in 1938, she and her boyfriend Sluggo became stars of their own feature, which was renamed for its main character.

          Admired by many of his fellow cartoonists, Bushmiller was seldom sophisticated in his humor.  (Interestingly, Bushmiller also wrote slapstick gags for Harold Lloyd and other film comedians.) In fact, his strip Nancy was a masterpiece of simplicity in both artwork and gags, appealing to millions of readers.  His ability to streamline his artwork and reduce humor to its simplest levels, was an exercise which he affectionately termed “Dumb It Down.”

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U.S. #3000o
1995 32¢ Nancy
Comic Strip Classics

  • Third sheet in the Classic Collection Series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Comic Strip Classics
Value:  32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue:  October 1, 1995
First Day Cities:  Boca Raton, Florida
Quantity Issued:  300,000,000
Printed by:  Stamp Venturers
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 20 in sheets of 120
Perforations:  10.1 x 10.2

Why the stamps were issued:  The Comic Strip Classics sheet was the third issue in the Classic Collection Series.  There was push to create a stamp to honor American comics as early as the 1960’s, but didn’t get real consideration until 1993. With the 100th anniversary of the comic The Yellow Kid, a comic committee, and an 83-page proposal the USPS finally agreed.

About the stamp designs:  Even though only one stamp was approved, Terrence McCaffrey, head of stamp design, thought there was no way to honor American Comics with one single stamp. Therefore, he had a list of all proposed stamps and had Carl Herrman, art director, mock up a sheet of 20 stamps. McCaffrey wanted all the stamps to be taken from original panels by their respected artist. Herrmann worked on going through thousands of panels to find comics of the 20 chosen that showed the central theme of the comic in one panel with clean lines. Then with the help of American Color, that colorizes most of the comics in American newspapers, he was able to colorize them with accurate color choices, even those that were outdated.

Nancy (#3000o) – Even though everyone loved the first concept of Nancy and her sick-kick, Sluggo, wearing one pair of dark sunglasses, it didn’t fully take up the frame. To utilize the stamp space better another image was chosen. Colors were changed to reflect the current color pallet of the comic. This is the only stamp that has the name going vertical up the side of the stamp.

About the printing process:  In order to include the text on the back of each stamp, it had to be printed under the gum, so that it would still be visible if a stamp was soaked off an envelope.  Because people would need to lick the stamps, the ink had to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as non-toxic. The printer also used an extra-fine 300-line screen, which resulted in some of the highest-quality gravure stamp printings in recent years.

History the stamps represent: 

Nancy

          Following the success of The Yellow Kid, and later Outcault’s popular Buster Brown, comic strips with child stars became a regular feature in the funny pages.  In 1925 Ernie Bushmiller, a young artist for the New York World, took over the comic created several years earlier by Larry Whitington. The strip, Fritzi Ritz, was about a girl who gets a job as a movie actress.  In 1933, Bushmiller introduced a new character – Fritzi’s kid niece, Nancy.

          Although the little wire-haired girl began her career making occasional appearances in her aunt’s strip, by the end of the decade she had supplanted Fritzi as the main attraction.  And in 1938, she and her boyfriend Sluggo became stars of their own feature, which was renamed for its main character.

          Admired by many of his fellow cartoonists, Bushmiller was seldom sophisticated in his humor.  (Interestingly, Bushmiller also wrote slapstick gags for Harold Lloyd and other film comedians.) In fact, his strip Nancy was a masterpiece of simplicity in both artwork and gags, appealing to millions of readers.  His ability to streamline his artwork and reduce humor to its simplest levels, was an exercise which he affectionately termed “Dumb It Down.”