Previous                 Philately Goes Bananas                 Next Many other stamps highlight the importance of bananas Many other stamps highlight the importance of bananas and the stars who have used them as props in popular culture. Like Carmen Miranda, jazz entertainer Josephine Baker "garnished" her exotic costumes with bananas. She is honoured on a French stamp issued in 1994 in which she is pictured wearing her famously provocative banana skirt (fig.32). The internationally popular Australian children's television series Bananas in Pyjamas that ran from 1992 to 2001 has been featured on Australian stamps in 1999 and a Swedish stamp in 2006 (fig. 33). Similar banana characters were featured on Sweden's "Bananer Bananer" stamps in 2009 (fig. 34). Bananas often appear in supporting roles on stamps such as Bhutan's 1982 Jungle Book set, St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1996 Disney's The Zoologist stamp, Togo's 1971 "UNICEF Toys" issue and Tajikistan's 2004 "Year of the Monkey" souvenir sheet. Not surprisingly, apes have a starring role on all of these stamps. The bananas' career in film dates back to long before Disney animations; two early appearances were in Buster Keaton's The High Sign (1921) and Harold Lloyd's The Flirt (1917). Many of the comedians for whom the banana has served as a prop have been featured on postage stamps (fig.35). (fig.32) (fig.33) (fig.34) (fig.35) Previous                                                Next Return to the Philately Goes Bananas Home Page.