One of my lovely coworkers got married this month. And like any good stamp collector, I gifted her something that every newly married couple should have, but few ever receive: thank you stamps.
So many wedding gifts were received! So many thank you notes to write in return! Wouldn’t any happy couple appreciate a small subsidy toward the postage of their post-celebration correspondence? In fact, wouldn’t stamps be a great present for any occasion, including as a goodbye gift?
In the 20th century, sending and receiving mail were ubiquitous parts of life. So, it’s no wonder that letters, stamps, postal employees, and a variety of jokes at the post office’s expense appeared on television over the years. In this post of my ongoing series, Stamps on Screen™, let’s look at one specific set of stamps connected to one of TV’s greatest postal enthusiasts, Cliff Clavin of “Cheers”.
What was “Cheers”?
In short, “Cheers” was one of the greatest American sitcoms of all time. But for those who don’t spend their days immersed in sitcoms of the 1980s (like I tend to do…), here’s a quick synopsis:
“Cheers” follows the lives and shenanigans of a group of bar staff and patrons of the show’s namesake watering hole in Boston, “where everybody knows your name”. Sam Malone (Ted Danson) is a former relief player for the Red Sox, whose alcoholism and licentiousness make him a humorous choice for bar owner. But despite his womanizing ways, Sam has endeared himself to his long-time cocktail waitress, Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perman), his bartenders Ernie “Coach” Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto) and Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), and his regulars, including Norm Peterson (George Wendt), who treats the stool at the end of the bar as his home away from home. The show’s early seasons pit Sam against the hyper-intellectual Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), who becomes a love interest in one of the greatest will-they-won’t-they story lines on television. In later seasons, bar manager Rebecca Howe (Kirstey Alley) becomes an object of interest before developing into an unconventional friend.
The show ran 11 seasons, totalling 270 episodes, from 1982–1993. During that run, it was nominated for 181 awards and won 78, including 28 Primetime Emmys. The series generated several spinoffs and crossovers, including the critically acclaimed “Frasier”, which saw a new season this year. The legacy of “Cheers” continues well into the 21st century.
What happened in “Cheers: The Motion Picture”?
Contrary to its name, “Cheers: The Motion Picture” isn’t a feature film, but the 24th episode of season five (aired on April 2, 1987). Young bartender Woody worries he’ll be ordered back home to Indiana by his family because Big City Boston is unsafe. The gang at the bar decide the best way to reassure his parents is by creating a home movie showing Woody with each of his friends in their natural element: Sam in his office at the bar; Carla at a backyard barbecue with her rambunctious kids; Norm at his favorite restaurant, the Hungry Heifer; etc. There’s even a scene where Woody follows bar regular Cliff Clavin, a proud postal worker, on his daily route. Against the group’s better judgment, Diane edits the film into what she believes to be a Modernist masterpiece and screens it for the patrons.
The episode then humorously cuts forward in time to Woody saying a tearful goodbye to all his friends—Diane’s video apparently did not alleviate any of his family’s concerns, and he’s been called back to the Midwest. Each of his friends (well, almost all of them) presents him with a gift. Among them, Cliff presents Woody with a sheet of stamps, saying, “Woods, I got a sheet of commemorative stamps here depicting all the U.S. presidents. Well, except nine.”
After he’s said all his goodbyes, the phone on the bar rings for Woody. His parents have decided to let him stay in Boston. Diane believes their change of mind was due to her film, but Woody tells her his father threw her film in the thresher. Diane’s dreams of artistic filmmaking may be dashed, but everyone is relieved to hear that Woody will be staying in town.
Which stamps did Cliff give to Woody?
Cliff Clavin is one of the most iconic postal worker characters on American television. Throughout the series, Cliff upholds the postal service as one of the most sanctioned institutions in America—even as his friends chide him for the tardiness of the daily mail. It’s no wonder that the Smithsonian National Postal Museum has one of Cliff’s uniforms in their collection. And the USPS currently offers a Cheers Postal Delivery toy truck in its online store.
However, for all his enthusiasm about the mail, Cliff is not without his faults. Among them, he’s often portrayed as dense, even inconsiderate. So, when he hands Woody an incomplete sheet of stamps, the laughs roll in from the live studio audience.
But let’s take a closer look at the “sheet” of stamps Cliff gave to Woody, shall we. Once we peer a little closer, it’s easy to see that some liberties were taken for television.
The “sheet” of stamps Cliff presents to Woody are actually four miniature sheets of nine stamps each, issued at the AMERIPEX ’86 Stamp Show in Chicago. Though a common philatelic item in other countries, these were the first minisheets issued in the U.S. The stamps commemorate the 35 American presidents deceased at that time, along with one stamp representing the White House. It was the first time since the “Prexies” series of 1938 when all deceased U.S. presidents were featured in a single stamp set. Each stamp includes an illustrated portrait designed to look like a woodblock, a red signature, the president’s name, and years in office. The bottom of each minisheet features some info about the stamp show in a thick lower selvage, which is easily seen in the episode still.
Clearly, the show’s props department pasted together a set of minisheets in order to make the joke work. The nine missing stamps correspond to all those on the top left minisheet, but a close inspection indicates that those aren’t the first nine presidents. Instead, I believe the minisheets were arranged right to left, as in the illustration below.
AMERIPEX ’86 Presidents minisheets (positions inverted)
🇺🇸 United States, 22¢ | Issued May 22, 1986
If I’m right, that means the missing stamps are presidents 10–18, or John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant.
AMERIPEX ’86 Presidents, strip of three (Hayes, Garfield, Arthur)
🇺🇸 United States, 22¢ | Issued May 22, 1986
What was AMERIPEX ‘86?
Every ten years, the U.S. hosts a major international stamp show. The 1986 international philatelic exhibition took place May 22–June 1, 1986, in the Chicago area. It was expected to be the largest philatelic exhibition ever held in the United States. (Plans for the 2026 exposition, dubbed Boston 2026, are currently well underway!) In addition to the official commemorative stamp issued for the show, the USPS issued the above set of four minisheets.
The Chicago Tribune called the event “the World’s Fair of stamps” and listed adult admission as $2.50 (children under 18 got in free). More than 100,000 people were expected at the 11-day event, and 125 countries were represented in various displays. Each day saw a different special postal cancellation. And several monarchs sent portions of their collections for display, including Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and the Prince of Thurn and Taxis. The famed one-cent magenta was also on display during the event. Four historical reenactors portraying Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were in attendance to entertain the crowd.
It stands to reason that Cliff Clavin, the character, would have been present at AMERIPEX ‘86—or if not, that he would have actively sought out these collectible minisheets. After all, the event drew postal enthusiasts like Cliff from all over the globe. But why the “Cheers” prop department chose to paste together a set of minisheets instead of buying a full sheet of available stamps is anyone’s guess.
What do you think? Do you enjoy the postal references in “Cheers”? Were you lucky enough to attend AMERIPEX ‘86? Let me know your thoughts!
Armchair Philately 
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