50th Anniversary of Talking Pictures 1927 6.10.1977

50th Anniversary of Talking Pictures 1927-1977 - Cancellation Date is October 6, 1977 , with Picture of Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer Stamped Envelope with 13 Cent Anninversary Talking Pictures Stamp.

Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was an American singer, film actor, and comedian. At the peak of his career, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer". His performing style was brash and extroverted, and he popularized a large number of songs that benefited from his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach". Numerous well-known singers were influenced by his music, including Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart and others. Dylan once referred to him as "somebody whose life I can feel". Broadway critic Gilbert Seldes compared him to the Greek god Pan, claiming that Jolson represented "the concentration of our national health and gaiety".

The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized sound, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, the film, featuring six songs performed by Al Jolson, is based on a play of the same name by Samson Raphaelson, adapted from one of his short stories "The Day of Atonement".

Thank you Merja.

William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers 4.11.1979

William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator and motion picture actor. He was one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s.
Known as ”Oklahoma’s Favorite Son," Rogers was born to a prominent Cherokee Nation family in Indian territory  (now part of Oklahoma). He traveled around the world three times, made 71 movies (50 silent films and 21 "talkies"), wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated  newspaper columns, and became a world-famous figure. By the mid-1930s, Rogers was adored by the American people. He was the leading political wit of the Progressive era  , and was the top-paid Holloywood movie star at the time. Rogers died in 1935 with aviator Willey Post  , when their small airplane crashed in Alaska.
His vaudeville rope act led to success in the Ziegfeld Follies  , which in turn led to the first of his many movie contracts. His 1920s syndicated newspaper column and his radio appearances increased his visibility and popularity. Rogers crusaded for aviation expansion, and provided Americans with first-hand accounts of his world travels. His earthy anecdotes and folksy style allowed him to poke fun at gangsters, prohibition, politicians, government programs, and a host of other controversial topics in a way that was readily appreciated by a national audience, with no one offended. His aphorisms, couched in humorous terms, were widely quoted: "I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat."
Rogers even provided an epigram on his most famous epigram:

When I die, my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, is going to read: "I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I dident [sic] like." I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved.

Six Finnish actors to get their own stamps 4.3.2013

To celebrate the centennial of the Finnish Actor’s Federation (Suomen Näyttelijäliitto, or SNL),  Itella Posti Oy is released a stamp booklet that features six renowned Finnish actors on 4^th March 2013.  The actors to be immortalized in the stamps are Ritva Valkama, Esko Salminen, Outi Mäenpää, Martti Suosalo, Krista Kosonen, and Aku Hirviniemi.

Klaus Welp, who designed the stamp booklet, decided to approach the subject from a modern perspective that pays tribute to the long tradition of the acting profession. The challenge lay in arranging six artists, all still very much in the limelight, on the same stamp sheet, says Welp. The booklet’s cover also displays SNL’s centennial logo, designed by Arja Karhumaa.

The actors featured on the stamps were selected by Itella’s stamp committee, which is composed of seven members. After lengthy deliberations, they decided that the jubilee stamps should feature popular actors from various generations – actors who represent the entire spectrum of their profession in theaters, films, and television, says Petri Aaltonen, who chairs the stamp committee.

Each actor was involved in the illustration of their own stamp by choosing a performance or role that was particularly meaningful for them. The roles featured on the stamps have also been memorable for audiences.

• Ritva Valkama’s choice fell on a picture from the play Ihmisen osa, which has been running at Helsinki City Theatre since 2011.
• Esko Salminen’s stamp features a photo from a performance of King Lear, which ran at the Finnish National Theatre in 2005.
• Outi Mäenpää settled on a picture of her role in the movie Black Ice, which had its premiere in 2007.
• Martti Suosalo’s stamp features a photo of him performing the one-man show Diary of a Madman, which has been staged in several different theaters since 2009.
• The picture in Krista Kosonen’s stamp shows her in her role as Anna Karenina; the play ran in Turku City Theatre in 2010.
• Aku Hirviniemi’s picture depicts him in his role as construction superintendent Timo Harjakainen – Hirviniemi’s creation for the sketch character competition in MTV3’s Putous show in 2011.

Thank you Ella for the lovely FDC. 

Centenary of films in Finland 1.4.1996

This lovely First Day Cover and the nice stamps on it given to me by my dear friend Pia were issued on 01 April 1996. It was to commemorate the Centenary of Films in Finland. The eight stamps portray eight well known Finnish movies. They are :-

1/8 – Juha

2/8 – Laveata tietä
3/8 – Tuntematon sotilas
4/8 – Old projector

5/8 – Jäniksen vuosi
6/8 – Valkoinen peura
7/8 – Kaikki rakastavat

8/8 – Varjoja paratiisissa

Finland is a country of exciting extremes — bright summers complimented by long, dark winters. Just about any landscape your film requires, from lush, untouched wilderness to urban environments, Finland is a nest of possibilities. And thanks to first-rate infrastructure, all locations are easily accessible via road. As a world leader in cutting-edge technology, cell phone coverage and Internet access in Finland is never a problem, even in the backwoods. What about working with local crews? Accessibility and punctuality are a trademark of the Finnish people: regardless of weather and unforeseen circumstances, Finns not only get things done, but they get them done on time. And, this is just the sort of infrastructure and environment required for the movies industry to flourish.
The first Finnish fiction film, Salaviinanpolttajat ("Bootleggers") by Louis Sparre and Teuvo Puro premiered on May 29th, 1907.in Helsinki.
"Not even still pictures were preserved. Even the plot is only known on the basis of newspaper advertisements", says Sakari Toiviainen, 60, a researcher at the Finnish Film Archive. He started work at the archive in 1968, and is the longest-serving employee there.
To mark the centenary of Finnish film, he released a magnificent book Sata vuotta - sata elokuvaa ("One Hundred Years - One Hundred Films").
The moving image itself first came to Finland already in the summer of 1896, when films by the Lumière brothers were shown. The first actual cinemas were built at the beginning of the century. The first Finnish short documentaries are believed to have been produced in Finland in 1904.