An independent archive of typography.
Topics
Formats
Typefaces

Judy Garland at Lincoln Center, Feb 25, 1968

Contributed by Stephen Coles on Jan 15th, 2015. Artwork published in .
Judy Garland at Lincoln Center, Feb 25, 1968 1
Source: www.1stdibs.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Phillip Meggs’ History of Graphic Design claims this poster was published around 1960, but also says Chwast Blimp was published in 1970. Ten years is a long time. Something is off — probably the poster date — as Garland performed at Lincoln Center on this date in 1968. MoMA confirms the 1968 date.

The other type is also a puzzle: mostly Helvetica, but with an upside-down ‘S’ and a random straight-legged (Standard?) ‘R’ stuck in there.

Judy Garland at Lincoln Center, Feb 25, 1968 2
Source: www.liveauctioneers.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Judy Garland at Lincoln Center, Feb 25, 1968 3
Source: www.liveauctioneers.com License: All Rights Reserved.

2 Comments on “Judy Garland at Lincoln Center, Feb 25, 1968”

  1. Paul Shaw corrected me on the small type in his November 2021 talk for Poster House. He believes it’s Folio, which did had an alternate straight-leg R.

  2. That checks out – thanks, Paul!

    Folio is easy to spot when you have a lowercase a (with tear-shaped counter), a capital G (with short bar), a Q (with centered hook), or a numeral 1 (with diagonal nose). When these are absent – as in this case – one needs to take a closer look.

    When comparing the foundry versions of Folio mager (1957) to Helvetica leicht (1966), these details catch my eye: In Folio, the bar in A is lower, the top bowl of B is considerably smaller than the lower one, M and W (and also D, U, V, etc.) are wider, top left part of 5 is vertical.

    I’ve re-added Helvetica to the list of typefaces: while the two lines below Blimp are set in Folio, it seems that the small print is in Helvetica.

Post a comment