POSTAL SERVICE WON'T BE CRUEL TO THE KING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992                   TAG: 9201100130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
POSTAL SERVICE WON'T BE CRUEL TO THE KING
It may not be the vote that decides the presidency, but it is sure to be one that raises nearly as much public interest: Should Elvis Presley live on a U.S. postage stamp as the svelte young thing with quiet bedroom eyes or as his older, plumper self clad in the trademark white, studded jumpsuit?
Postmaster General Anthony Frank announced Thursday that Presley's image - sighted often in supermarkets and on overseas beaches - will grace more than 60 million stamps sometime in 1993. But for the first time, the U.S. Postal Service will ask the public to decide how the subject should look.
Scattered throughout Frank's office were samples from which the advisory board will choose. There are "Elvis the Pelvis" seducing the microphone with full lips and smiling eyes in front of a shocking pink backdrop; the older "King" grunting sassy lyrics in his high, open white collar; an art deco Elvis slightly dark and sinister; and Elvis with a messy pompadour.
The Postal Service plans to issue the stamp in a series of four stamps featuring musicians who, stamp experts believe, will include Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.
An additional 50 million to 60 million Presley stamps are to be sold in sheets. The number will depend on whether the public chooses the older, larger Elvis, which would require a larger stamp, or the smaller Elvis, in which case more stamps will fit on one sheet.
In announcing an Elvis stamp, the Postal Service officially declared the king of rock 'n' roll dead. Only dead people can appear on U.S. stamps.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB