No, it didn't come in first, but Cats racked up 169,357 votes in the U.S. Postal Service's "Celebrate The Century" poll to choose stamps that represented Arts & Entertainment in the 1980s. The vote count was enough to allow Cats to be one of 15 subjects designated for the commemorative stamp series.
"E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial" led the Arts & Entertainment field with 239,189 votes, followed by "The Cosby Show" with 194,517. Both Cats and "Hip-Hop Culture" (158,509) made the cut; Country Music and "The Bonfire of the Vanities" did not.
Winners in other categories included "Fall of the Berlin Wall" (People & Events), Video Games (lifestyles) and Figure Skating (Sports).
Voters previously had the chance to select one theatre stamp -- A Chorus Line -- for the 1970s, but TV's "Sesame Street" and "All in the Family" were declared the champ stamps.
Postal service spokesperson Linda Vanderveer told Playbill On-Line (April 12) consumers can vote for the 1990s series starting in May. For information check out the USPS website, http://www.stampvote.msn.com. Vanderveer also said the stamps are due out January 2000. The Cats stamp has not yet been designed.
Theatre lovers were already given a postal present back in March, when the USPS released a stamp dedicated to the acting husband-and-wife team of Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne.