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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations July 6-7, 2002:

 
We'll be loving him, always...


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.


One of the more anticipated stamps this year was the one for Irving Berlin.
The famed composer's career and life lasted so long it seemed almost a shame
to wait at least 10 years after his death in 1989. Now the Berlin stamp
keeps getting pushed back later and later in the year.


First, it was scheduled for his birthday, May 11th. Then the planned postal
rate hike was set for June 30th, which would have given the stamp a
usefulness of about a month-and-a-half, and the Irving Berlin Foundation
asked that it be a 37-cent stamp.


Then the Postal Service was hoping to issue the stamp for the composer of
"God Bless America" at one of the big Fourth of July celebrations. That
didn't happen either, and now the stamp is scheduled -- tentatively -- for
some time in September, and in New York, where Berlin spent most of his 101
years.


Berlin was an owner of the Music Box Theater, which is still in operation,
and there's a good chance the stamp's launch ceremony will be held there. 


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 


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