The Royal Mail continues to rifle popular culture for suitable anniversary subjects, this week following its series of James Bond postage stamps with stamp sets celebrating the 50th anniversaries of Hammer’s first run of horror films and the Carry On series. I don’t think I’d use the word “celebration” in the case of the latter, I seem to be in the minority in always having regarded the Carry On films with considerable loathing, despite the best efforts of Kenneth Williams (who hated them) and company; give me some wit, please, not the laboured double entrendres of Talbot Rothwell.
Grievances aside, it’s gratifying to see the original posters used for these stamp designs, the Dracula one is especially good, suitably so seeing as it’s the best film of the lot. “Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough,” says Noah Cross in Chinatown; based on this evidence the same could also be said of cheap cinema.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Horror comics
• Endangered insects postage stamps
• James Bond postage stamps
• Please Mr. Postman
• Hail, horrors! hail, infernal world!
Not a fan of Carry Ons, John? Suit yerself, missus!
The Hammer stamps are excellent, but as an employee of Royal Mail I’m disappointed that they don’t hand out free sets, especially these ones. Aside from the mighty Dracula, I would have gone for the likes of The Vampire Lovers and (my own favourite Hammer) Demons of the Mind as the other choices…
Incidentally, a while back, whilst in a shop queue, I noticed National Lottery tickets using the Chris Lee Dracula image from the poster of Taste the Blood of Dracula! What next? Reusable Frightmare shopping bags? Killer’s Moon gift cards? Hmmm…
Yes, I loathe and abominate the Carry Ons but I won’t bore you with a rant. Not sure I’ve seen Demons of the Mind although it must have been on TV enough times. Anything with Patrick Magee is usually worth a look.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a stamp collection featuring some of the lesser-known Hammers such as Stranglers of Bombay and Terror of the Tongs. If they faked a poster for Carry on Strangling I might be happy with that as well.
What about designing a set of stamps for Savoy? Lord Horror = first class, etc.
I did actually make a Lord Horror stamp for the first version of the Savoy website ten years ago. A fairly simple thing which replaced the Queen’s silhouette with that of his Lordship.