French edition of the single from The Stooges’ second album, Fun House, from 1970. Tom Copi’s cover photo captures the crucial moment Iggy Pop left the stage and walked on a sea of hands, while smearing himself with peanut butter. The combination of Contest (Mecanorma’s copy of Davison Psyche) and Charleston for the song titles is quintessential for the era, while the band name is a logo created by Elektra records art director William S. Harvey, as he had done for labelmates The Doors, Love, MC5 and others. It appears to be derived from Kabel Black.

[More info on Discogs]

Happy Eater was a regional chain of roadside restaurants in England and Wales aimed at families. It was prominent during the 1970s and 1980s as a competitor to Little Chef and became defunct in 1997.

It is now rather hard to find examples of the wordmark in use. These examples are the best ones I’ve found on Motorway Services Online; there a few more if you like looking at bad scans and vintage 1980 car parks.

The words “Happy Eater” are drawn red on yellow in Charleston which accompanies a (happy looking?) stylised mouth agape. Although the restaurant chain predates the 1980 release of the videogame Pac-Man, surely the logo was inspired by Pac-Man and must come after it (logopedia disagrees, but places this version of the logo between 1985 and 1993) [see comments].

Promo sticker with “I’m a” added in a different font

Promo badges. Left-hand badge has dodgy apostrophe placement; right-hand badge has “I’m a” in a different font, possibly Albertus.

Apex Corner, London, 1980s

Napkin

Sign near Birmingham

Taken in June 1981 in Purley: “Three things all in the past: AN 259, the Happy Eater chain, and the occasional extension of the 405 route to Handcross numbered 455.”

Taken in 1981 at the then new Friary Bus Station in Guildford

Source: www.abebooks.com Minotavros Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

Charleston for the sad story of Gargantua (1929–1949). This is the first edition of Gene Plowden’s biography, published by Bonanza Books, New York, in 1972. From the inside flap:

The name Gargantua was a household word throughout this country, and his picture was spread around the world. Millions stood in line through rain, wind, cold, and heat to pay admission to see this ugliest (if not largest or fiercest) member of the ape family ever seen outside the jungles of Africa. And after twelve years of stardom, major wire services flashed the news of his death around the world. Veteran newsman Gene Plowden, who covered the Gargantua story personally and who is a circus authority of renown, relates not only the surface success story but goes behind the scenes to reveal the stories of the many persons involved in the gorilla’s life – owners, keepers and many others. Gene Plowden tells how the young, terribly mutilated gorilla was nursed to health and domesticated by a remarkable woman; how the maturing animal helped the Ringling North brothers revive their troubled enterprise; how the carefully contrived stories of the beast's strength and ferocity created a living legend, making news copy wherever the show went.

The typeface was probably chosen for its coarse, “primal” shapes, alluding to Gargantua’s perceived untamableness. While the name in all caps makes for a strong wordmark, the subtitle suffers from the (too) tight letterspacing of the 1970s – Charleston looks better when set with a tad more tracking.

Source: archive.org Internet Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.

Title page

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A relatively early use of Charleston (1967) on the original movie poster for Les chemins de Katmandou (1969).

Also known as The Road to Katmandu and released in English as The Pleasure Pit, the French-Italian drama was written in tandem with René Barjavel’s novel of the same name. Directed by André Cayatte, it stars Renaud Verley, Elsa Martinelli, Jane Birkin, and Serge Gainsbourg. The music is by Gainsbourg, too.

Apart from the title, all text is set with vertical stretching, suggesting that a phototype adaptation was already available at the time.

[More info on IMDb]

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Psychomania is a British zombie biker horror film from 1973, directed by Don Sharp and starring Nicky Henson, Beryl Reid, George Sanders and Robert Hardy. In the United States, it was originally released as The Death Wheelers. From IMDb:

An amiable, psychopathic leader of a violent teen motorbike gang is spurred by his mother, a Satan-worshiping spiritual medium, into committing suicide and returning to life as an “undead”.

In a 2016 article for Film Inquiry, Cai Ross wondered if it’s “the greatest terrible movie ever made”.

Both the opening titles and the end crawl are exclusively set in Charleston. This reworking of the bold weight of Radium (Ludwig & Mayer, 1904) was conceived by Hace Frey and first cast by Ludwig & Mayer as Charleston in 1967. In or before 1971, Letraset competitor Mecanorma adopted the design for dry transfer lettering, which spurred its international dissemination. Charleston also was adopted for phototype, by Berthold and, relevant for this application, by Photoscript in London. For some reason (is it the bone-like strokes?), the Jugendstil revival developed into a popular choice for eerie topics, see e.g. Der Frauenhexer (1974) or Dario Argento’s Inferno (1980).

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Sign for Café Rommel, a pastry shop and confectionery in Erfurt, documented in October 2021.

The organic and at the same time squarish Jugendstil forms of Charleston are used to convey an extraterrestrial mood, echoing the creature in the cover art by Frank Kelly Freas. Originally published in German in 1961 as Das Gedankennetz, this is the first English paperback edition, issued by DAW Books in the translation by Christine Priest under the title The Mind Net (UQ1136). Austrian scientist and science fiction writer Herbert W. Franke passed away earlier this year at the age of 95.

From the back cover:

In The Mind Net we encounter a vast space fleet exploring the cosmos. They find some organic remnants in the lifeless soil of an ancient world. But when the space explorers test these mysterious objects they suddenly find their ship trapped in an alien mental web and face a menace never allowed for on their computers.

[More info on ISFDB]

Italian poster, 39×55 inches, credited to Compagnie Pubblicitarie Associate, and printed by Rotopress Roma. Artist/designer unknown. The secondary typeface is ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento. A thematic sequel to Suspiria (1977), the film is the second part of Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy. The primary typeface used on posters, the trailer, and in the film itself is Vivaldi.

Italian Photobusta poster #2, 18×26 in.

Italian Photobusta poster #5, 18×26 in.

French poster, 47×63 in. The small type in this version is set in Forma.

The titles in the trailer use Charleston.

Still from the trailer.

Movie logo as presented in the trailer. The skull is shown mirrored in comparison to the posters.

The trailer presents the cast with a perspective animation.

The opening titles in the movie are set in Optima. Head titles are credited to Studio Verzini.

The title is here presented in Vivaldi, too, but without the skull.

The end credits likewise use Optima.

Identity for Self Discovery for Social Survival, a stunning collaborative surf and music documentary between Mexican Summer and Pilgrim Surf + Supply, directed by Chris Gentile.

Bailey Elder took care of the bulk of the artwork, with art direction, title lettering and animations by Robert Beatty.

Florentine and Charleston are used as the type for the film and on all promotional materials including the soundtrack artwork.

Vampir Horror-Roman #64 by Earl Warren (one of Walter Appel’s pseudonyms), published by Erich Pabel Verlag, Rastatt, Germany, 1974. Cover art by Karel Thole (1914–2000).

“The Women Sorcerer. They have brought him back to life and are cruelly punished for it.”

In 1978, Pathé / EMI released a series with all the operettas sung by Spanish popular tenor Luis Mariano (1914–1970).

All four covers use the same typographic mix which is quite characteristic of the 1970s: Mecanorma Poster for the name and number, Charleston for the title (Toutes Ses Opérettes), and Karlgeorg’s Hoefer’s Permanent Massiv for the stacked lines — everything in all caps.

The back cover of Nº 1 combines Letraset University Roman (or Mecanorma Celtic?) with DeVinne Ornamental and Univers Extended.

The artist name on the back cover of Nº 4 appears to be lettering, based on Mecanorma Poster. The track list and credits are in Univers.

[More info on ISFDB]

Photography by Pim Westerweel

From Discogs:

The Dutch keyboard-player Hans van Eijck […] was the spiritual father of this one-time formation. With some additional anonymous players, disguised as Arabs and with belly dancer Yonina they scored one succesful hit with the single “Arabian Affair” in 1978.

Shown by Richard Kahwagi in his talk at TypeCon Boston (h/t @betruthfulness), presumably as an example for stereotypes of the Arabic world in Western pop culture. The main typefaces are Spring, a hippyish all-lowercase face designed by Bernard Jacquet and released as a Mecanorma original before 1971, and Charleston, a reworking of Radium (1904), made in 1967 by Hace Frey for Ludwig & Mayer and also available from Mecanorma.

Source: www.ebay.com Photo: rollyvintage. License: All Rights Reserved.

“Sur tes pas” / “Ivanovitch” / “La Tarentelle”. 7″ single, Odeon, Oct. 1968. Photography by Philippe Galand.

During the first years of his career, French singer-songwriter Julien Clerc (b. 1947) used a wordmark composed from ornamented caps. It appeared on all original French releases until 1970.

Originally shown by Jean Midolle in his lettering sampler Spécimen des écritures modernes (1834–1835) as Romaine (genre arabesque), the letterforms were redrawn by Armin Haab and reproduced in Lettera 2 (1961). This showing was likely the source for the artist’s logo. Only in the mid 1970s, the alphabet was adopted by Mecanorma, the French manufacturer of rubdown type, as Lettres Ornées C. [Edit: Mecanorma’s adaptation was launched already in 1967, and is a more likely source for this application than Lettera.]

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L’amour En Chantier, 7″ EP, Odeon, 1968. Photography by Philippe Galand. Song titles in caps from Folio.

Source: www.discogs.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Self-titled debut album, Odeon, 1969.

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A variation with stacked letters, to go with the portrait photograph by Philippe Galand, for “Si Tu Reviens” / “La Californie”, 7″ single, Odeon, 1969. The titles are in lowercase Playbill.

Source: www.ebay.com Photo: big-dog-music. License: All Rights Reserved.

“Le Delta” / “Les Vendredis” / “Yann Et Les Dauphins” / “La Petite Sorcière Malade”, 7″ single, Odeon, 1969. Titles in right-aligned caps from a grotesque, possibly Folio (which is used on the back) or Univers. Photography by Philippe Galand.

Source: www.ebay.com Photo: valwilde-singles-club. License: All Rights Reserved.

“Carthage” / “Des Larmes Sucrées” 7″ single, Odeon, Oct. 1969. Photography by Tony Frank. Titles in what appears to be all-lowercase Akzidenz-Grotesk.

Source: www.discogs.com License: All Rights Reserved.

“4 Heures Du Matin” / “La Veuve De Joe Stan Murray”, 7″ single, Odeon, 1970. Titles in Monotype Grotesque and Futura. Photography by Bernard Leloup.

Source: www.ebay.com Photo: cv47 (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

“Les Fleurs Des Gares” / “Le Caravanier”, 7″ single, Pathé, 1970. Titles in Akzidenz-Grotesk. Photography by Bernard Leloup.

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Des Jours Entiers À T’Aimer, second LP, Pathé, 1970. Photography by Jean-Marie Périer.

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“Des Jours Entiers À T’Aimer…” / “Zucayan”, 7″ single, Odeon, 1970. Titles in Monotype Grotesque.

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Poster by Pathé Marconi, using the photo by Tony Frank.