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Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript

Contributed by Stephen Coles on Nov 19th, 2019. Artwork published in
circa 1976
.
Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript 1
Source: www.imdb.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript 2
Source: www.imdb.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road is Wim Wenders’ seventh feature-length film. The lead character is a traveling projection-equipment mechanic who visits worn-out theatres. The jaunty typeface used for the film poster may refer to the script lettering on an old marquee.

Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript 3
License: All Rights Reserved.
Photoscript of the movie.
Source: affiliates.abebooks.com Image: Badger Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

Photoscript of the movie.

Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript 5
Source: www.flickr.com Lettergraphics, 1976. License: All Rights Reserved.

It’s interesting that a font was used when lettering may have been simpler. Ruby Shadow is a script that is both shadowed and connected — a feat that is difficult to achieve in phototype unless you have a complex system of alternate shapes. Each lowercase character has three glyphs for placement at the beginning, middle, or end of words. The letter a has a fourth glyph for the word “a”.

Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript 6
Source: www.flickr.com Castcraft, 1978. License: All Rights Reserved.

It’s not known who designed Ruby Shadow. It probably originated at Lettergraphics in the early 1970s and it later appeared in catalogs for Castcraft, and Fürst & Sohn. No other styles were ever produced as far as we know. We welcome any information about its origins!

1 Comment on “Im Lauf der Zeit / Kings of the Road posters and photoscript”

  1. Ruby Shadow was also used for the French release of the film, under the title Au Fil de Temps, here in a two-color setting.

    Image via Badger Books.

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