The number 39 has been in the news lately because the US Postal Service plans to raise the price of a first-class stamp to 39 cents.
And Laura Leff of Oakland, California, thinks a good way to mark that change would be to issue a 39-cent stamp in honor of America's most famous 39-year-old. If you're over 39 yourself, chances are that you remember him -- he drove a Maxwell, played the violin (poorly) and grew up in Waukegan. He also probably wouldn't have consented to paying 39 cents for a stamp.
Leff, of course, is president of the International Jack Benny Fan Club, and she's enlisting Waukegan residents in her campaign for the new stamp honoring the late comedian.
The Chicago-born Benny had a special claim on 39. By most estimates, he had been 39 years old for 41 years at the time of his death in 1974.
