TV memories due on stamps

Lucy and Ethel lose their struggle with a chocolate assembly line. Joe Friday demands “just the facts” with a penetrating gaze. A secret word brings Groucho a visit from a duck.

Folks who grew up as television came of age will delight in a 20-stamp set included in the Postal Service’s plans for 2009 recalling early memories of the medium.

Besides commemorating black-and-white TV, the service’s 2009 postage stamp program includes commemorating President Abraham Lincoln, the Thanksgiving Day parade, civil rights pioneers, actor Gary Cooper, poet Edgar Allan Poe, Supreme Court justices and Alaska and Hawaii statehood.

The Early TV Memories stamp set is scheduled for release Aug. 11 in L.A. Among the shows remembered are “I Love Lucy,” “Dragnet,” “You Bet Your Life,” “Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Hopalong Cassidy,” “The Honeymooners,” “Howdy Doody,” “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” “Lassie,” “The Lone Ranger,” “Perry Mason,” “Phil Silvers Show,” “Red Skelton,” “Texaco Star Theater,” “The Tonight Show” and “The Twilight Zone.”