An independent archive of typography.
Topics
Formats
Typefaces

“Fantastic!” ad for Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Contributed by Nick Sherman on Jun 2nd, 2016. Artwork published in .
“Fantastic!” ad for Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Source: billboardingparty.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Ad from the August 16, 1975, issue of Billboard magazine. The large text is either lettering based on Gill Kayo or an extreme photo-type interpretation. The smaller text appears to be a similar interpretation of Futura that is also found on the cover of Led Zeppelin I. Found at Billboarding Party.

Typefaces

  • Gill Kayo
  • Tempo

Formats

Topics

Artwork location

In Sets

4 Comments on ““Fantastic!” ad for Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John & Bernie Taupin”

  1. 1970s Deliciousness… so nice!

  2. It’s not Gill Sans Kayo.

    I guess it is Charcoal Expanded.

    mobile.twitter.com/daylight…

  3. Nick already acknowledged that it’s not standard Gill Sans Kayo, but rather lettering or an extreme phototype interpretation. I tend to the former, not least because I guess it would have been almost quicker and easier to do.

    I’ve never seen Charcoal Expanded, but if Charcoal (C-2) was VGC’s alias for Filmotype Flyer, I would assume that the Expanded cut is equivalent to Ford or Flare, the widest and heaviest styles from their Futura-like series. They are all distinguished by the short, vertically cut arches in G and e. Here’s a compilation of some of the relevant styles from a Filmotype specimen (scan courtesy James Puckett).

    Scan: James Puckett (CC-BY, edited).

    Judging from the J (but also E H P), the smaller type in the ad appears to be Tempo Heavy, not Futura Extra Bold. Issued by Ludlow in 1931, this heavyweight preceded Intertype’s addition to the Futura series by two decades. I’ve adjusted this credit.

  4. Correction: It’s Tempo Black (not Heavy), which was issued in 1942.

Post a comment