This Week: Robin Williams Is Protected & Maya Angelou Gets Stamped
This week, a late comedian's likeness can't be used for quite some time and a late poet gets honored.
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The late Robin Williams was a funny man, but he was also a very smart one. According to his trust, the comedian protected his likeness from being used in such reincarnations as holograms and CGI for the next 25 years.
So while the wound is still fresh from his passing, don't expect to see Williams on stage anytime soon.
One of America's favorite writers is getting a stamp in her honor. This week, the U.S. Postal Service announced that a new limited edition forever stamp will be available that honors poet, author and actress Maya Angelou.
The icon, who passed away almost a year ago, is featured on the stamp along with a quote that reads "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
But, of course, it wouldn't be a stamp dedication without some drama. A quick search of the Internet showed that the above quote actually wasn't said by Maya Angelou at all, causing your everyday, typical uproar. Is there a stamp editor? Anyone?
Name a celebrity and they probably have a cause they stand for, but Edward Norton's is one that many still haven't heard about or understand: fracking. The "Fight Club" star's voice is being used in an ad that calls for the residents of Maryland, his home state, to fight the process of fracking.
In the Don't Frack Maryland ad, Norton states "A dangerous form of gas drilling called fracking threatens our state's environmental health."
With Earth Day coming up, Norton picked the right time to back a major environmental concern.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but apparently a song manuscript is worth millions of dollars. That's what everyone is learning after singer-songwriter Don Mclean announced that he is selling his original manuscript to the classic song "American Pie."
Estimates show that the song manuscript could fetch between $1 million and $1.5million.
That's a pretty good numbers for a song that no one actually knows the meaning to.
Another honor was served this week when the late singer Billie Holiday was inducted in the Apollo Theater Hall in New York City and was nominated for a Walk of Fame plaque on Broad Street.
Holiday was born 100 years ago, but her words and songs are still as relevant as ever in America.
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Shawn Thomas writes Entertainment and Lifestyle content for CBS Local. Follow him on Twitter.
