Postage stamp puts Sinatra back in the spotlight

[May 15, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Doobie-postage-due. What were the chances ... we'd be seeing Frank Sinatra on a U.S. postage stamp?

Well, he competed against 50,000 others - and won. That's how many annual proposals are made for new stamps.

On Tuesday, the late crooner's face appeared on one of them, and Frank Sinatra Jr. was on hand to honor his father's memory.

"When we have the U.S. Postal Service making the announcement that there are 50,000 suggestions per year, out of which 20 are selected - if that isn't the very embodiment of the American Dream, well, I don't know what is," Sinatra Jr. said at a ceremony in Manhattan.

"He was a fellow off the streets of Hoboken, N.J.," he said.

The 42-cent Sinatra stamp went on sale Tuesday in New York, Las Vegas and Hoboken, where Sinatra was born. New York and Las Vegas were among his favorite haunts.

His daughter Tina Sinatra joined in a dedication ceremony Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of the entertainer's death.

[Associated Press]

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