Kerouac stamp push is persistent

There are postage stamps for Elvis, John Wayne, the snowy egret, and Ogden Nash -- American originals all. But the question bouncing around Lowell these days is this: Why not Jack?

Kerouac, that is.

The King of the Beats, born in Lowell, was an American original if there ever was one. Kerouac lived large, left a huge literary footprint, and 37 years after his death is perhaps more popular than ever.

But the 13-year crusade to honor Kerouac with a US stamp has gone nowhere -- though now, with Kerouac's 88th birthday celebrated today, his supporters are regrouping for yet another run.

Chief among his champions is Dean Contover, who proudly recounts playing a game of pool with Kerouac at the Highland Tap in 1968.

He's been reading and rereading Kerouac's work ever since.

''He was a great writer, a giant," Contover said. ''He should be honored."

The time for a second push is now, Contover believes. The 120-foot-long scroll on which ''On the Road" -- Kerouac's defining work -- was written is on a national tour, drawing tens of thousands of visitors.

And Kerouac's ''first thought, best thought" style of spontaneous prose is enjoying a resurgence in popularity among a generation raised on instant messaging and e-mail.

That said, Contover's campaign has failed to ignite the sort of grass-roots populism Contover believes is necessary to get the Postal Service to act.

Contover has written scores of letters and has accumulated a thick, three-ring binder of supportive responses from the likes of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Congressman Martin Meehan, and the late comedian Steve Allen -- who interviewed Kerouac on his TV show.

But the people who really matter, the ones on the Postal Service Stamp Advisory Committee, have so far given Kerouac short shrift.

''I would just say this: When it comes to stamps, patience is virtue," said Ron Robinson, chairman of the committee.

The Postal Service receives about 50,000 letters a year from people around the country championing local heroes, artists, and professions. Of those, only 100 to 125 are chosen, usually in about 20 subject areas.

Suggestions about who and what should be honored vary wildly, from the obvious to the niche, to the just plain weird. As of late there's been a big letter-writing campaign to honor school bus drivers and public safety professionals, said Dave Failor, executive director of stamp services for the Postal Service.

And then there are hopeful letters like the one asking that the pretzel be honored.

Another patriot suggested a stamp for earthworm art, the illustration to be a design created by earthworms dipped in ink and set free on a canvas.

''We haven't quite gotten over the ick factor on that one," Failor said.

For a person to be eligible he or she must be dead at least 10 years -- except US presidents, who are eligible on their first posthumous birthday.

Then candidates are vetted by the 14-member committee. The basic criteria: How much has the candidate added to the American culture.

Most of the candidates are elected within specific categories. This summer, through the baseball greats division, Hank Greenberg will be honored along with Mickey Mantle, Mel Ott, and Roy Campanella.

Under the category ''Legends of Hollywood," Judy Garland and Hattie McDaniel stamps are soon to issued.

In the general category, stamps of Benjamin Franklin and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson are forthcoming.

Kerouac's name has been bandied about by the committee for years. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who joined the committee last year, even sent Contover a letter saying he ''shall add my voice to the vast support for the Kerouac stamp when the proposal comes up for review."

But Robinson warned that debates among committee members get heated, and ''competition is stiff. . . . There are some real heavyweights in his division."

Recent inductees in the literary arts category include Robert Penn Warren, James Baldwin, Zora Neal Hurston, Thomas Wolfe, and Ayn Rand. Candidates currently under consideration: Isaac Asimov, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry W. Longfellow, E.E. Cummings, Louis L'Amour, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Carlos Castaneda, Gertrude Stein, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

And making a strong run in recent months is Truman Capote. The stamp advisory committee takes popularity into account, and the success of the movie, ''Capote," based on ''In Cold Blood," has thrust Capote's star back into the limelight and the book back on the best-seller list.

''The interest people have shown influences the committee," Robinson said. ''Anniversaries of births and deaths help, but so do movies and letter-writing campaigns."

When veterans demanded that the B-29 be added to a series on planes, the stamp committee listened. And a recent stamp honoring Marines was fast-tracked because of a letter-writing campaign, Robinson said.

Kerouac, who died in 1969, may get a boost if a movie of ''On the Road" is ever made. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights to the book in 1982 for $90,000, but the project has continually stalled.

In the meantime, Contover continues to solicit letters of support and forward the responses to the committee.

''I'm just getting started," he said. ''Eventually, they'll have to listen."

Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com.