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Comics: Superman Day

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Next week, July 3, 2013, is the 73rd anniversary of “Superman Day” at the New York World’s Fair. The Evening Leader (Corning, New York), June 21, 1940 reported the upcoming event.


Note Superman Day At Fair On July 3

Children’s Day, observed every Wednesday at the New York World’s Fair, will be distinguished on July 3 by a novel program built around the popular adventure strip hero, Superman, It was announced by the Fair’s Special Events Department.

The feature attraction of the day will be a parade headed by Superman himself. A contest to select a Super-Boy and Super-Girl is expected to attract thousands of children between the ages of eight and 14. Prominent personalities will decide upon the winners who will receive handsome gold trophies.

Another of the attractions designed especially for Superman Day is to be a series of athletic events, including a 50-yard dash and a 50-yard obstacle race for boys from eight to 11; the same races for boys aged 12 to 14; a 25-yard dash and rope skipping contest for girls of eight to 11 years, and 50-yard dash and a rope skipping contest for girls from 12 to 14. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded to the winners of the boys’ events, while the lucky girls will receive charms fashioned from the same metals.

Written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Joe Shuster, Superman, published daily in The Evening Leader, is the only comic strip to be honored by its own celebration at the Fair.



Superman debuted in the first issue of Action Comics, cover dated June 1938. The “S” shield on the costume was originally triangular, not the pentagonal design that’s so familiar today.



The shield changed in Action Comics, number 46, April 1942.


Illustration for the 1978 movie by Bob Peak



There was a parade on “Superman Day” with Superman leading it. The New York Times, July 4, 1940, said: “The mystery of the day was ‘Superman’ himself. No amount of inquiry could reveal his identity. But he was a resplendent figure, attired in his tight-fitting blue pants, red boots, red cape and helmet to match. He led the parade, standing on something that resembled a marble pedestal.”

Of course, Superman does not wear a helmet. The photos, below, of the mystery man costumed as Superman are from the site, His Name is Studd.



For “Superman Day” it was decided by someone or a committee to add Superman above the “S” in the costume’s shield, perhaps to be sure the character would be identified correctly in photographs.


There has been much speculation about who wore the costume that day. Actor Ray Middleton has been named by many sources. He was a participant at the Fair’s “American Jubilee” as reported and pictured in the New York Sun, May 13, 1940.


He also participated as a judge in the “Superman Day” contest to select a Superboy and Supergirl. According to the Times, the other judges were Lucy Monroe (click link and woman with hat), Frank Buck, Morris Gest and Charles Atlas. They picked William Aronis and Maureen Reynolds as the super boy and girl. At the website Superman Through the Ages, Aronis supplied photos of himself, holding the trophy, with Atlas and Middleton.




The photo, above, of the winners and Middleton (far right) was in front of the Jubilee entrance. In both images of Middleton, he was a pointed chin and hair parted on the left. (More images of him are at Book Steve’s Library.) In the photos of the mystery man, he was a square chin and hair parted on the right.

Middleton performed in the 1949 production of South Pacific at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. Two images from the souvenir program are here. Below are the cover of a 1950 Playbill and another photo of the mystery man.



Below are close-ups of their profiles, with Middleton on the left and the mystery man on the right. Clearly to me, Middleton and the mystery man are not the same person.


Some sources refer to the first day of issue envelope for the New York World’s Fair “Superman Day” as proof that Middleton appeared in costume as Superman. The text on the envelope said: “Ray Middleton appeared as Superman at the fair for a live radio broadcast….”


The live radio broadcast required his voice but not a costume. While the envelope text is factually true, it did not say or mean Middleton actually donned the costume for the parade. Even the image of the costumed mystery man on the envelope is not proof it was Middleton. A video of “Superman Day” is here.

(Next post on Monday)

Street Scene: Price Building

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NEWYORKCITY
50 West 18th Street near 6th Avenue, Manhattan



(Next post on Thursday: Fourth of July)

Fourth of July (1901)

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The American Printer
July 1901

(Next post on Monday: Psychedelitypes)

Alphabets: Psychedelitypes

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Psychedelitypes Photo-Lettering
1968 booklet design by Ed Benguiat

detail of covers and interior pages


(Next post on Monday: Joe Gosh)

Under Cover: Joe Gosh

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Illustrations by Ralph Reese
David Harris, Series Editor
A Byron Preiss Book
Walker & Company, 1988
The seventh book in the Millennium series.









(Next post on Monday: Manhole Covers)

School Days: ASU Graphic Design Workshop

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The Graphic Design Workshop, at Arizona State University, was organized by Tom Hall and Ray VarnBuhler. The photo (below) is of some of the students in the first two workshops. Front row, left to right: Dave Redding, Alex Jay, Jo Litton. Back row, left to right: David Morgan, Chip Kettering, Francisco Zuniga, Mary Bushard, Maryann Leake, Greg Pentowski, Gary Hill, and Tom Hall.


The program was featured in the design magazines Communication Arts, May-June 1977, and Print, November/December 1978.


 Clockwise, top left: Gary Hill; Mary Bushard;
Dave Morgan and Dave Redding; Mary Bushard

 Clockwise, top left: Maryann Leake; Chip
Kettering; Dave Redding; Leon Dunn

Top, left to right: Dona Nelson, Jean Wong, Juliana Packer (behind),
Christy Fankhuser, instructors Tom Hall and Ray VarnBuhler, Brian
Lovell, Dale Campbell, Sheryl Lieb and Tom Chung; bottom: Gary Hill

Top and bottom right: Peter Fasolinobottom left: Kathy Dickinson

Top: Marta Zensen; bottom: Sue Redding

Top: Maryann Leake; bottom: Chip Kettering

Scotteee Lesh

Top: Dave Morgan and Dave Redding; bottom: Mary Bushard and Gary Hill

Top: Scotteee Lesh; bottom: Peter Fasolino

Top: Chip Kettering; bottom: Dave Morgan


Liz Powell

Below are some the workshop projects I produced.

Cleo Laine / John Dankworth


Northlight Gallery Calendar


Mailing Panel

Photo exhibition


Homage to the Bag

(Tomorrow: Homage to the Bag)

Calligraphy: Homage to the Bag

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Homage to the Bag” was an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York City from October 10, 1975 through January 4, 1976. (Below: detail of catalog cover.) The exhibition traveled and a stop was scheduled in Arizona at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts.


The Center contacted the Graphic Design Workshop for a poster design. Tom Hall assigned the project to me. After a number of sketches and discussions, Hall suggested Spencerian script on a paper bag. Below is a detail of the comp lettering on a paper bag which was shown to the Center for approval.



With the Center’s approval of the poster concept, I proceeded to refine the lettering. Below is a photostat enlargement of a tight sketch, my first attempt at Spencerian script.


A sheet of vellum was placed over the photostat. A variety of French curves and ellipse templates were used to do the inking. Corrections were made with white gouache. The artwork measures 9.875 by 9.375 inches / 25 by 23.8 centimeters. The image below was scanned twice and stitched together; the alignment is slightly off on the right side of “The”.


The metal plate used to foil stamp the paper bag.


ITC Souvenir was used for the two lines of copy. Below is a detail of the bag with the debossed image in gold foil. The bag measures 12 by 16.75 inches / 30.5 by 42.5 centimeters.


Hall entered several workshop posters in AIGA’s 1978 poster show. His postcard, below, said “Homage to the Bag” poster was the only one accepted.


I designed an invitation with the font ITC Kabel. A comp was made for the printer to follow. Tracing paper was adhered to the bag. The letterpress-printed bag measured 4.625 by 8.5 inches / 11.75 by 21.6 centimeters. 



The Poster Show 1978 (cover detail), American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). Jurors: Lidia Ferrara, B. Martin Pedersen, James Miho. Catalog design: B. MartinPedersencatalog is 10 inches / 25.4 centimeters square.


 (Next post on Monday: Herb Lubalin, Part 8)

Creator: Herb Lubalin, Part 8

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Art Direction
June 1957

Art Direction
May 1961

The Sound of Music
1965 souvenir program

Print
1971

The Great American January Through December 
Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Eight Rat Race.
advertisement in Graphics magazine

The Great American January Through December 
Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Nine Rat Race.
Communication Arts Annual

American Showcase of Photography
Illustration and Graphic Design
1979
detail of selected pages

Print
May/June 1979

Ten.
(Raspberries by Richard Hess, Dick Danne, Tom Baily,
Milton Glaser, Don Ivan Punchatz, Herb Lubalin, Jack Unruh,
Sam Antupit, Seymour Chwast, and Ivan Chermayeff)
Neenah Paper, 1980
designed by Glen Smith
10 by 10 inches / 25.4 by 25.4 centimeters
detail of cover and selected pages

1980 AIGA Medal
advertisement in The New York Times

Letterhead

Panorama
June 1981
logo design

SH&L
detail from an issue of Graphis

Herb Lubalin Inc.
LSC
LSC&P
U&lc.
Volume 2, Number 4, 1975

Lubalin, Burns & Co., Inc.
poster detail

Lubalin, Delpire & Cie
advertisement in Graphis

Lubalin, Smith Carnase, Inc.
Lubalin, Burns & Partners, Inc.
Lubalin, Delpire & Cie
Lubalin Maxwell Ltd.
Lubalin, Burns & Co., Inc.
International Type Corporation
Print
1971

ITC Center
U&lc.
September 1980


Pushpin Lubalin Peckolick
Art Direction
March 1982

(Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7; next post on Monday: Project Pendulum)

Under Cover: Project Pendulum

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Illustrations by Moebius
David Harris, Series Editor
A Byron Preiss Book
Walker & Company, 1987
The fourth book in the Millennium series.


Dust jacket detail

Front matter art

Front matter art

Chapter 3

Chapter 11

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 24

Chapter 26

A small portion of the art was used for the signed bookplate.

(Next post on Monday: Tony Di Spigna)

Creator: Tony Di Spigna

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TA&G

Self-promotion

Hopper Papers

ITC Serif Gothic & Bold
1972 Photo-Lettering brochure
selected panels

Graphis 207
1979
 Herb Lubalin Associates
 

U&lc.
Volume 2, Number 1, 1975

U&lc.
March 1979

Tony Di Spigna
Legacy of Letters 2013 profile—Tony Di Spigna
Baseline Interview

(Tomorrow: Martin DeMuth)

Creator: Martin DeMuth

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MARTIN SMITH DEMUTH
April 16, 1895 – March 2, 1961

In the comic book industry he is best known as a letterer and writer.

A Chronology

1900 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin Demuth
Age: 5
Birth Date: Jan [sic] 1895
Birthplace: Ohio
Home in 1900: Cardington, Morrow, Ohio [Rail Road Street]
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father’s Name: Smith Demuth
Father’s Birthplace: Ohio
Mother’s Name: Harriett Demuth
Mother’s Birthplace: Ohio
Occupation: 
Household Members: 
Name / Age
Smith Demuth 52
Harriett Demuth 48
Merre Demuth 8
Martin Demuth 5

1910 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin S Demuth
Age in 1910: 15
Birth Year: abt 1895
Birthplace: Ohio
Home in 1910: Salem Ward 3, Marion, Oregon [152 Church Street]
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father’s Name: Smith Demuth
Father’s Birthplace: Ohio
Mother’s Name: Harriet Demuth
Mother’s Birthplace: Ohio
Household Members: 
Name / Age
Smith Demuth 61
Harriet Demuth 51
Georgia M Demuth 17
Martin S Demuth 15
Oregonian
(Portland, Oregon)
October 29, 1910
Hazing Episode to Be Explained
Salem Students Summoned to Tell Directors of Hair-Cutting Scrape.

Wrong Victim Is Sheared
Sophomores Clip Freshman’s Hair in Park and Get One Not Intended—
Sister Sees Affair and Becomes Hysterical

...Martin DeMuth is the freshman who was made the subject of attack by the students, according to the allegations. He was accompanying his sister home from school when he was seized...
(excerpt)

April 12, 1914
‘Sylvia’ Being Rehearsed
Two-Act Operetta Will Be Presented
by Lincoln High School

August 18, 1916
Portland Artist Wins
Martin DeMuth’s Drawings Accepted by College Publication.
Berkeley, Cal., Aug. 27.—(Special.)—Martin DeMuth, formerly of Lincoln High, quite well known as an artist in Portland, has made good here. After registering as a freshman, he started drawing, and beat out the old-line artists by annexing the first cover and several other drawings in the first issue of the Pelican, the college comic monthly.


World War I Draft Card
Name: Martin S Demuth
City: San Francisco [1485 Vallejo Street]
County: San Francisco
State: California
Birthplace: Ohio, United States of America
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1894
Race: Caucasian
Draft Board: 12
Age: 22
Occupation: Commercial Artist
Employer: Harry N. Stone, 520 South Broadway, Los Angeles, California
Nearest Relative: Mother
Height / Build: Tall / Medium
Color of Eyes / Hair: Brown / Brown
Signature: May 23, 1917


Oregonian
December 16, 1917
The following names were added last week to the list of Lincoln boys now in the Army or Navy, making the total number of stars on the service flag 199: ...First Lieutenant Martin DeMuth, infantry, Camp Lewis, American Lake.


Official List of Officers of the Officers’ Reserve Corps of the Army of the United States
Supplemental to Volume III
Officers Residing in—New York
September 1, 1919 to December 31, 1919
page 21: DeMuth, Martin Smith…..320 West Eighty-ninth Street, New York…Apr. 16, 1895

1920 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin S De Muth
Age: 24
Birth Year: abt 1896
Birthplace: Ohio
Home in 1920: Manhattan Assembly District 9, New York, New York [320 West 89 Street]
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Parent’s Name: Harriet De Muth
Father’s Birthplace: Ohio
Mother’s Birthplace: Ohio
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members: 
Name / Age
Harriet De Muth 60 [widow]
Martin S De Muth 24 [unemployed]
Leo Ratner 24

New York Evening Telegram
September 21, 1920
Award Prizes to Winners of Victory Hall Poster Contest

Competition Was Arranged as Preliminary to Public Appeal for
Funds with Which to Build Memorial to War Dead of New York

Well known artists and illustrators of this city have for several weeks been engaged in a poster competition, arranged by the Victory Hall Association as a preliminary to the public appeal for funds with which to build in Pershing Square the great utilitarian memorial to the war deed of New York city.

The winners, as selected by a jury of eminent artists and critics, are announced today by General George W. Wingate, president of the Association and the director in charge of the contest. Colonel Wade H. Hayes, until recently State Commander of the American Legion. They are:—First prize, $1,200, charles B. Falls, of No. 2 East Twenty-third street; second prize, $800, Edward Penfield, of Pelham Manor; third prize, $500, Martin S. DeMuth, of No. 61 Vermilyea avenue [Manhattan].

...Martin S. DeMuth, winner of the third prize, is a student at Columbia College and a member of the Art Students’ League. He is a graduate of the California School of Fine Arts and saw overseas service as a lieutenant in the Eighth U.S. Infantry.....


The American Printer
DeMuth was not mentioned in the article.

Popular Mechanics
DeMuth and his Victory Hall third prize were used in the Federal Schools ad

Photoplay

U.S. Army Recruiting News
To Portray Service in Pictures
Sgt. Martin S. DeMuth, of Fort McDowell, California, recently arrived in Tientsin, according to the 15th Infantry Sentinel of May 15, to acquire local color for cartoons and publicity sketches for Army periodicals and recruiting posters to be issued upon his return to the United States. Sgt. DeMuth is a poster designer and advertising man by profession. In August, 1923, while in search of experience which might furnish ideas for a newspaper car toon series, he enlisted as a private in the Army, and while 

Demuth Returns from the Orient
Sergeant Martin S. Demuth, Recruiting Service, recently arrived in San Francisco on the Army Transport Thomas, after a year’s travel in the Far East, where he made cartoon and poster sketches of the Army’s activities in the Orient.

Sergeant Demuth was a lieutenant during the World War, and after attending the California School of Fine Arts and the University of California, enlisted as a private, U.S. Army, in search of colorful experience which would furnish ideas for a newspaper cartoon series. He was stationed temporarily on several vessels of the Asiatic Squadron and was with the U.S. Army in the Philippines and China and for a while with the Marines at Pekin.

A Hop Around Oahu

comics

“Alpha Test” Employed at Tank School

Sketchettes

1926
marriage of Martin and Flora Nash; see New York Post, December 2, 1931, article

New York Passenger List
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 12 Apr 1927
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 31 Years 7 Months
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York, New York [December 2, 1926]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Address in U.S.: 415 Lexington Avenue, Room 902, New York City
Ship Name: Empress of Scotland

New York Post
May 6, 1927
“Memograms” a New Medium
An innovation in ocean travel entertainment—and good will advertising— was introduced by two New York commercial artists, Martin and Flora Nash Demuth, on the world tour of the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Scotland, recently completed. Passengers received copies of about 200 sketches, drawn on shipboard from day to day over the period of four months world travel, and mimeographed by a special process devised by Mr. Demuth. The memograms, inspired by cruise activities on ship and shore, appeared as diary pages, post cards, maps, cartoon and educational sketches, to be preserved as a  record or mailed to friends from foreign ports. Some of the memograms were conceived, drawn and reproduced within an hour. the stunt earned the couple’s honeymoon tour.


Canada Passenger List
Name: Martin De Muth
Arrival Date: 19 May 1928
Port of Arrival: Quebec, Canada
Ship Name: Empress Australia
Port of Departure: Southampton, England
Age: 32
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Place: Ohio
Birth Country: USA
Address in U.S.: 50 West 67 Street, New York City
Gender: Male

New York Passenger Lists
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 21 Jan 1928
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 32 Years 9 Months
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Southampton, England [January 7, 1928]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Empress of France

Address in U.S.: 50 West 67 Street, New York City

Canada Passenger List
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 4 May 1929
Port of Arrival: Quebec, Canada
Ship Name: Empress Scotland
Port of Departure: Southampton, England
Age: 34
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Place: Ohio
Birth Country: USA
Gender: Male
Address in U.S.: 50 West 67 Street, New York City

New York Passenger Lists
Name: Martin S Demuth
Arrival Date: 27 Nov 1929
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Quebec, Quebec [November 23, 1929]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Empress of Australia
Address in U.S.: c/o Canadian Pacific Cruises, New York

California Passenger List
Name: Martin S Demuth
Arrival Date: 30 Mar 1930
Age: 34
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birthplace: Cardington, Ohio, United States
Gender: Male
Ship Name: Empress Of Australia
Port of Arrival: San Francisco
Port of Departure: New York, New York [December 2, 1929]
Address in U.S.: c/o Canadian Pacific, New York

1930 photograph
photograph of Martin and Flora at Ancestry.com, a subscription site.

Canada Passenger List
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 25 Apr 1931
Port of Arrival: Quebec, Canada
Ship Name: Empress France
Port of Departure: Southampton, England
Age: 35
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Place: Ohio
Birth Country: USA
Gender: Male
Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut or C.P.R. [Canadian Pacific Railroad], New York, New York


The Fredonia Censor
(New York)
June 12, 1931
Memograms, Exclusive Canadian Pacific Feature,
Made Daily by Cruise Artist, Give Choice Information


New York Post
December 2, 1931
Unique Honeymoon Lands Couple Steady Job
Seagoing Artists, Seeking Honeymoon, Found Unique Career

Martin and Flora DeMuth Sketch Their Way Around the World
Lead a Double Life as Sailors, Farmers
Empress of Britain of Takes Them on Third World Cruise Tomorrow

By Ruth Seinfel

When the Empress of Britain sails tomorrow to Madeira and points east, not to return until she has made a circuits of the world, she will have on board a pair of clever young persons who have made an unusual job for themselves in these times when jobs are hard to find.

They are Martin and Flora DeMuth, “Mr. and Mrs.” to the passengers, who will find their days at sea and their visits to glamourous ports recorded for them in pictures by these two young artists. For the DeMuths are a seagoing art gallery whose sketches, bound in book form, are lugged out by many a traveler who has made a world cruise on the Canadian Pacific Line and wants to tell about it, to the great relief of friends who expected to have to admire the snapshots of an amateur photographer.

Mr. and Mrs. DeMuth were cudgelling their brains for ways to spend an inexpensive honeymoon, five years ago, when they hit upon the idea which has determined their unique careers for them. They had learned their craft at the Art Students’ League at the same time, but it was not until some time later, after Martin had sailed around the world with the Navy and Flora had established herself as an illustrator in New York, they met and promptly married.

The Honeymoon Problem

The problem then arose, what to do about a honeymoon? Artists are notoriously helpless in money matters, but these two were an exception. If they hadn’t money enough for a honeymoon, they had wits, and they set about using them.

On his trip with the Navy, in the service of the War Department, Mr. DeMuth had not only made the required pictorial records of naval stations in the Orient, but had hit upon the idea of amusing the crews with informal sketches of things they saw and things that happened to them. Now he and his wife developed this idea, and when they were ready to present it they took it to the Canadian Pacific office, and then went hone and waited.

Nobody has ever counted up, but if all the schemes presented to steamship companies by people who want a free trip were collected, they would probably make a set of volumes about the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and a good deal more fun to read. Nevertheless, an official of the line came all the way down from Montreal to talk with the DeMuths, and when he went away again their honeymoon was assured. What is more, it was to be nothing less than a world cruise.

Nor were they getting anything for nothing (the line is run almost entirely by Scotchmen). Their idea has been so successful that they are now supplying all the cruises on the line with the product of their talented pencils, and the Empress of Australia leaves New York Harbor for the West Indies today with two tons of printed matter in her hold—or wherever such supplies are kept—enough to last her for three West Indies cruises and one Mediterranean voyage.

Inventing Printing Process

The DeMuths go on board well prepared now, for they have made all the cruises on the line, and several times. They turn out post cards as they go along, and as the ship pulls into each port they distribute to each passenger a brightly decorated letter, telling about the points of interest to be seen there, and all a passenger has to do is write the address of the home folks on the envelope, put a stamp on it, and his correspondence is much more entertainingly taken care of than he could probably manage it himself.

Incidentally, they had to invent a simple, quick process for printing their drawings right on board. How they do it is their secret, but one afternoon at 4 o’clock their ship sighted a waterspout in the Strait of Messina, and at each passenger’s place at dinner that evening there was a sketch of a waterspout with full scientific explanation attached.

Ashore the DeMuths make all kinds of excursions, sketchblock [sic] in hand. They visit out-of-the-way corners, picturesque and historic spots, native shindigs. They once made a 1,000-mile trip into Africa to Victoria Falls, and on another African cruise they went into the game preserve and got stranded among the lions and elephants by a tropical storm which washed the roads out. They were rescued promptly and efficiently—it was all part of the fun.

Lead a Double Life

They know Singapore and Shanghai and all the other glamourous ports almost as well as they New York, and each passenger goes ashore with a hand-drawn map, made by the DeMuths, which is both entertaining and instructive. And at the end of the voyage they present a whole collection of sketches to each traveler, as a memento of the trip.

For five years now the DeMuths have been leading a double life. Seagoing folk for six months of the year, they spent the other six months on their farm in South Kent, Conn., being thorough landlubbers. Mrs. DeMuth couldn’t say which part of the year she liked better.


New York Passenger Lists
Name: Martin De Muth
Arrival Date: 8 Apr 1932
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York, New York [December 3, 1931]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Empress of Britain
Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut

Name: Martin De Muth
Arrival Date: 11 Apr 1933
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York, New York [December 3, 1932]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Empress of Britain
Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut


The Gazette
(Montreal)
Cruise Evening Occupations
...Before each port is reached, illustrated talks, with the aid of lantern slides, will be shown by the official lecturer, Martin DeMuth, of New York, in the course of which he will give interesting information concerning the country to be visited.

New York Passenger List
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 14 May 1934
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York [January 4, 1934]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Empress of Britain
Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut



The Gazette
(Montreal)
Around the World in Ninety Minutes
Illustrated Lecture Given by Martin DeMuth for I.O.D.E. Members

Members of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, in an audience numbering nearly 400, attended an illustrated talk given under the auspice of the Municipal Chapter yesterday in Tudor Hall, the speaker being Martin DeMuth, noted traveller and lecturer. The colored lantern slides and motion pictures were of especial interest to the I.O.D.E. in relation to the Empire study project which is one of its newest activities.

The programme was many-sided and, under the chairmanship of Mrs. J.M.C. Muir, regent of the Municipal Chapter, included songs by W.J. Stephenson and an organ recital and piano accompaniments by Harold Eustace Key.

Mr. DeMuth prefaces his lecture on the world cruise of the Empress of Britain with a graceful tribute to the I.O.D.E. Montreal chapters that contributed comforts to the islanders of Tristan Da Cunha, which he had visited in 1928 and 1929. “Only those who have been ashore on that lonely spot can realize how greatly needed were the gifts that Montreal women of the I.O.D.E. sent by the Empress of France and Duchess of Atholl,” he said.

Punctuated by ripples of laughter, Mr. DeMuth’s talk was a witty running commentary upon the scenes thrown upon the screen. He admitted he was stumped when it came to trying to explain the way in which the Neapolitans put the holes in macaroni. Speaking of Bali, Mr. DeMuth said that the natives believed in three incarnations, after the third of which, if they had been good, they were sure of heaven. “Heaven, they think, is Bali, and I am inclined to believe it, too,” he observed.

One of the most entertaining scenes shown was that of a flock of ducks in Java that had been trained to obey a flag-decked stick. “They will stay close to this all day,” the speaker said, “while their owner goes about his business.”

According to Mr. DeMuth, who has cruised some 300,000 miles in the last eight years, the women of Bali, despite their unconventional attire, are among the most modest to be found anywhere. “A funeral in Bali,” he said, “is quite a matter for rejoicing, people put on their gayest costumes and have a really good time.”

In closing his ninety-minute talk, Mr. DeMuth advised his audience, since time would not permit him to go into as much detail as he would like, to read a book written by a Montrealer. “—and Ships—and Scaling Wax” is the title,” he said, “and the book is by Mr. Alan Irwin, who made the cruise with me last year.”

Mrs. Wellington Dixon, former vice-regent of the Municipal Chapter, I.O.D.E., in moving a vote of appreciation to Mr. DeMuth, made a happy reference to the opening songs, “Mandalay” and “For To Admire And For To See,” which she said, “attuned us to what was to follow.” She coupled the names of Messers. Stephenson and Harold Eustace Key in the vote.

California, Passenger List
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 5 May 1935
Age: 39
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birthplace: Cardington, Ohio, United States
Gender: Male
Ship Name: Empress of Britain
Port of Arrival: San Pedro and Los Angeles
Port of Departure: New York [January 10, 1935]
Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut


Brooklyn Daily Eagle
December 26, 1937
Canadian Pacific Lists Guides for Its World Cruise
Names of the men and women who will be guides, philosophers and friends to this Winter’s globe-trotting tourists aboard the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Britain have just been announced here. The Empress sails on her world cruise from New York on Jan. 8 and this season will include Australia and New Zealand in her itinerary.

…The following members will complete the staff of assistant cruise directors, who among them have accumulated many years of cruise experience:

…Martin and Flora DeMuth of New York...

New York Passenger Lists
Name: Martin De Muth
Arrival Date: 18 May 1936
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York, New York [January 7, 1936]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
Ship Name: Empress of Britain

Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut

Name: Martin Demuth

Arrival Date: 14 May 1937
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York, New York [January 9, 1937]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
Ship Name: Empress of Britain

Address in U.S.: South Kent, Connecticut

The Kingston Daily Freeman
(New York)
October 28, 1937
Martin DeMuth, world traveler and sketch artist, presented an interesting travelogue in assembly on Tuesday. Mr. and Mrs. DeMuth have just returned from their seventh round the world trip. Mrs. DeMuth, who is also an artist, helps her husband write the travelogue given daily to passengers on the Empress of Britain....The artists expect to make another trip this January. If war conditions in Europe and Asia should prevent this, they will visit Australia and the islands surrounding that continent.


New York Passenger Lists
Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 16 May 1938
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1896
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: New York, New York [January 8, 1938]
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
Ship Name: Empress of Britain

Address in U.S.: “On the Rocks” South Kent, Connecticut

Name: Martin Demuth
Arrival Date: 3 Sep 1939
Birth Date: abt 1895
Birth Location: Ohio
Birth Location Other: Cardington
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Montreal, Quebec
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Duchess of Richmond
Address in U.S.: P.O. Box 53, South Kent, Connecticut

1940 United States Federal Census
Name: Martin Demuth
Respondent: Yes
Age: 45
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1895
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Ohio
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Head
Home in 1940: Kent, Litchfield, Connecticut
Street: South Kent School Road
Farm: No
Inferred Residence in 1935: Kent, Litchfield, Connecticut
Residence in 1935: Same House
Sheet Number: 9A
Number of Household in Order of Visitation: 166
Occupation: Artist/Railroad Company
House Owned or Rented: Owned
Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented: 2500
Attended School or College: No
Highest Grade Completed: College, 2nd year
Duration of Unemployment: 26
Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker in Government work
Weeks Worked in 1939: 40
Income: 600
Income Other Sources: No
Household Members: 
Name / Age
Martin Demuth 45
Flora N Demuth 44
Johannah E Jones 18

New York Sun
February 22, 1941
Media.
Martin and Flora DeMuth, illustrated-letter specialists, on leave from Canadian-Pacific Cruises, are now working with Radio City Letter Service. Mr. and Mrs. DeMuth in 1926 originated Memograms, a combination of travel entertainment and advertising used on C.P. cruises for thirteen seasons. The artist took eight world cruises on the Empress of Britain, recently lost in action. Their drawings, sketched on ship and shore, were reproduced at sea in the form of illustrated letters, decorated mailing envelopes, souvenir menus, maps, [illegible], before arriving at ports of call, for use by passengers.


World War II Draft Card
Name: Martin Smith Demuth
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1895
Birth Place: Cardington, Ohio
Residence: Litchfield, Connecticut [PO Box 53, South Kent]
Race: White
Age: 47
Occupation: Funnies, Inc.
Nearest Relative: 
Height/Build: 5' 10" / 198 lbs
Color of Eyes/Hair: Hazel/Gray
Signature: April 27, 1942



The Kingston Daily Freeman
October 3, 1942
Martin DeMtuh, artist and lecturer, will speak on the topic, “Our Allies,” in assembly Tuesday morning, October 6, at the New Paltz State Teachers’ College.

Ten trips around the world, visiting all of the countries which are included in the United Nations and studying the characteristics of their people, have provided De Muth with an insight into the people who are fighting for democracy’s cause around the globe.

Mr. De Muth is a graduate of the Art Students League of New York, the California School of Fine Arts and studied at the University of California and Columbia University. He left college to enter the World War where he saw overseas action with the 8th U.S. Infantry. He left the service with the rank of captain.

An assignment by the War Department in 1924–25 consisted of making some sketches in the Orient started De Muth on world wide travels. His talent for sketching combined with his interest in foreign  places won for him an assignment with the Canadian Pacific cruises.

De Muth was official lecturer on 12 such cruises, gave publicity lectures ashore, edited newspaper at sea and conducted special cruise director training courses and made official films for Canadian Pacific.

His splendid lectures illustrated by motion pictures and his gay drawings bring a new interest in our Allies and the lands from which those who are fighting side-by-side with the American doughboys.


October 13, 1942
Lecturer Is Heard
Martin DeMuth, artist, lecturer, and world traveler, talked to the students and faculty in the assembly program on Tuesday, October 4. Mr. DeMuth has traveled in some 60 countries and has talked to over 3,000 natives. In keeping with this changing world, Mr. DeMuth displayed a new map projection which is being introduced in schools this fall, the solar map projection. The rest of the program was devoted to the showing of motion pictures of the island of Bali, India, Ceylon, Singapore, Hongkong, Philippines, Java and Australia.


Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life in Comics
Michael Schumacher
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010
page 96: (excerpt)
The Spirit weekly section, as written by Bill Woolfolk and penciled and inked by Lou Fine in Eisner’s absence, was still being produced in Connecticut at the Quality Comics offices, and it continued that way while Eisner settled into his new office and hired a skeleton staff capable of assisting him with the feature. Martin DeMuth, who had been lettering The Spirit since December 1942, was retained in the same capacity; but Lou Fine, who wanted to go into commercial art, was out. He was replaced by John Spranger, who penciled over Eisner’s layouts and rough pencils while Eisner himself did most of the inking and coloring. Compared with the staff Eisner had been working with at his old Tudor City studio, this was a small group, but Eisner was comfortable with it—enough so that he’d never again employ so large a staff to work on The Spirit section.

Alter Ego

Volume 3, Number 12
“Quality Control”
A Conversation with Gill Fox – Artist, Writer, and Editor (1940-43) of Quality Comics Group
(scroll down to “X. Still More Men of Quality”, just below the drawing of the Black Condor)

Jim Amash: Martin DeMuth.

Gill Fox: He was an older man. He lettered without ruling. It astounded me! The only guy who topped him was Ben Oda...

Manhattan, New York City Telephone Directory
May 1948
Demuth Flora Nash  42PkAv [42 Park Avenue]  MUryhil  6-0792


The New York Times
March 6, 1961
Death Notice
DeMuth—Martin, of South Kent, Conn., March [2], after a short illness; survived by his wife, Mrs. Flora Nash DeMuth. Services Monday, March 6, 2:30 P.M., Bull Funeral Home, Kent, Conn. Cremation at the Ferncliff Crematory, Hartsdale, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Heart Fund for research.

The Harlem Valley Times
(Amenia, New York)
March 9, 1961
Martin DeMuth, South Kent, 65, died at New Milford Hospital on Thursday after a short illness. He was a well-known artist, lecturer and world traveler.

He was born in Cardington, Ohio, April 16, 1895, son of the late Smith DeMuth and Harriet (White) DeMuth.

Mr. DeMuth is survived by his wife, Flora Nash DeMuth, South Kent, who is also an artist. He also leaves several nieces and nephews.

He made South Kent his home since 1930. He was a member of the Kent Art Association, the Town Plan commission and a former member of the New York Society of Illustrators.

Funeral services were held at the Ralph Bull Funeral Home, Kent, Monday, at 2:30 p.m. with Rev. David Pyle officiating. Cremation will take place at the Fern Cliff crematory, Hartsdale, N.Y.



Martin’s comic book credits

The Canadian Pacific “Memogram” postcards
Memogram artwork and profiles of Martin and Flora

overview of Martin’s comic book career


Volcanito: A Fairy Tale of Today
Flora Nash DeMuth
Vantage Press, 1969
(from the dust jacket)

About the Author

Flora Nash DeMuth is a free-lane artist who was born in Pennsylvania and went to high school in Binghamton, N.Y., where she graduated as class poetess and salutatorian. She attended Syracuse University and later studied at the Art Students’ League in New York, being quickly elected to the N.Y. Society of Illustrators. “But life really began,” she writes, “when I met Martin DeMuth, a roving artist just returned from the Orient. While visiting U.S. military stations on special assignment for the War Department, he had originated a plan for illustrating, aboard ship, the commercial world cruises of the fabulous era just starting.”

After their marriage, the DeMuths sold their plan to Canadian Pacific Steamships and enjoyed what the author calls “a most unusual honeymoon, aboard the SS Empress of Scotland. It was, surely, the first seagoing artist’s studio to circle the globe.”

Thus began fourteen winters of sailing the “seven seas,” illustrating the world and its people, while Martin DeMuth also gained an international reputation as a World Cruise Lecturer. Then World War II literally took the ships right out from under their feet. “Landlubbers” again, they turned their talents in other directions in the New York art field and continued developing a small estate in Connecticut.

After DeMuth succumbed to a sudden heart attack in 1961, Mrs. DeMuth moved to Hawaii, those favorite islands often visited on their travels, where she now lives near Honolulu.

Social Security Death Index
Name: Flora Demuth
SSN: 707-01-5296
Last Residence: 96822 Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America
Born: 7 Sep 1888
Died: Aug 1976
State (Year) SSN issued: Railroad Board


(Tomorrow: Benjamin Franklin House)

Street Scene: Benjamin Franklin House

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LONDON
36 Craven Street, east of Trafalgar Square (link)



Benjamin Franklin
January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790

(Next post on Monday: John Alcorn’s Writing)

Typography: John Alcorn’s Writing!

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Dust jacket and selected pages from
Writing!
Murray McCain
Illustrated by John Alcorn
Simon and Schuster, 1964


(John Alcorn’s Books!; next post on Monday)


Typography: Letterpress Printers

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South Street Seaport Museum
New York, New York

The Picture Alphabet.
selected pages

The South Street Counting Book.
selected pages

Exotic and Unusual Printing Terms
8 Postal Cards
Folder and three of the eight postal cards



(Next post on Monday)

Anatomy of a Logo and Under Cover: Time Machine

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Time Machine was a 25-book series produced by the late Byron Preiss. With the success of the Choose Your Own Adventure booka, published by Bantam Books, Byron developed a time travel adventure series.

For his presentation to Bantam Books he explained to me that he wanted a retail display box. Below is a photocopy of the box cover; inside was the box stand with two shelves and room for 24 books. The title font is Electus, from Photo-Lettering. In school I recalled seeing this font which was used by the design firm Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar for their client, Electric Circus, a New York City nightclub.


When Bantam Books bought the series, work began right away on the design. Below are the sketches of a symbol for the series. Arrows, sun dial, and figures going through some form of transformation.

Byron and I decided on the figure going through a portal. Having grown up reading Dr. Strange, the image of him entering an inter-dimensional portal was a major influence on the design of the Time Machine symbol. Below is the splash page from Strange Tales #138 with art by Steve Ditko.

The figure between the E and 1 was an early attempt at incorporating the symbol in the title.

Trying to determine how many lines to use to define the figure.

The next three images show the last stage of creating the symbol art: outline version was photocopied and filled in before completing the finished art.

Sketch of the title logo followed by a tight pencil rendering.

The finished lettering with the symbol between the words. Below the title are the numbers which were created as needed. The 6 was turned upside down for the 9.

The original design of the 4 which was modified in the finished art, shown above.

When the series numbering reached double digits, I made a film positive of the 1 and 2. Then the film was placed over to a photocopied number. A photostat was made of the combined numbers.

Press release letterhead design by Bantam Books

Decal design by Bantam Books

The cover text and title font is ITC Berkeley Oldstyle, except for the two lines of text above the logo which is ITC Benguiat Condensed, from the Benguiat font family used on the Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Secret of the Knights
Jim Gasperini
Illustrated by Richard Hescox
Cover by Richard Hescox

Search for Dinosaurs
David Bischoff
Illustrated by Doug Henderson and Alex Nino
Cover by William Stout

Sword of the Samurai
Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Illustrated by Steve Leialoha
Cover by William Stout

Sail with Pirates
Jim Gasperini
Illustrated by John Pierard and Alex Nino
Cover by Dave Stevens

Civil War Secret Agent
Steve Perry
Illustrated by Alex Nino
Cover by Steve Fastner

Box set with the first five books

The Rings of Saturn
Arthur Byron Cover
Illustrated by Brian Humphrey and Marc Hempel
Cover by William Stout

Ice Age Explorer
Dougal Dixon
Illustrated by Doug Henderson and Alex Nino
Cover by William Stout

The Mystery of Atlantis
Jim Gasperini
Illustrated by Kenneth Smith
Cover by Kenneth Smith

Wild West Rider
Stephen Overholser
Illustrated by Steve Leialoha
Cover by Steve Leialoha

American Revolutionary
Arthur Byron Cover
Illustrated by Walter P. Martishius and Alex Nino
Cover by Alex Nino

Mission to World War II
Susan Nanus and Marc Kornblatt
Illustrated by John Pierard
Cover by Darrel Anderson

Search for the Nile
Robert W. Walker
Illustrated by José Gonzalez Navaroo
Cover by William Stout

Secret of the Royal Treasure
Carol Gaskin
Illustrated by Ernie Colón
Cover by Ernie Colón

Blade of the Guillotine
Arthur Byron Cover
Illustrated by Scott Hampton
Cover by Steranko

Flame of the Inquisition
Marc Kornblatt
Illustrated by John Pierard
Cover by Paul Rivoche

Quest for the Cities of Gold
Richard Glatzer
Illustrated by José Gonzalez Navaroo
Cover by William Stout

Scotland Yard Detective
Seymour V. Reit
Illustrated by Charles Vess
Cover by Charles Vess

Sword of Caesar
Robin Stevenson and Bruce Stevenson
Illustrated by Richard Hescox
Cover by Richard Hescox

Death Mask of Pancho Villa
Carol Gaskin and George Guthridge
Illustrated by Kenneth Huey
Cover by Steranko

Bound for Australia
Nancy Bailey
Illustrated by Julek Heller
Cover by Steve Fastner

Caravan to China
Carol Gaskin
Illustrated by José Gonzalez Navaroo
Cover by William Stout

Last of the Dinosaurs
Peter Lerangis
Illustrated by Doug Henderson
Cover by Mark Hallett

Quest for King Arthur
Ruth Ashby
Illustrated by Scott Caple
Cover by Charles Vess

World War I Flying Ace
Richard Mueller
Illustrated by George Pratt
Cover by Steve Fastner

World War II Code Breaker
Peter Lerangis
Illustrated by Alex Nino
Cover by Steve Fastner

Foreign Editions


There’s more information about each Time Machine book at Demian's Gamebook Web Page.

Promotional material for retailers
Front
Back

Poster


(Next post on Monday: The Forever City)

Under Cover: The Forever City

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Richard A. Lupoff
Illustrations by Bob Eggleton
David Harris, Series Editor
A Byron Preiss Book
Walker & Company, 1987
The fifth book in the Millennium series.









(Next post on Monday: F.J. Trezise, lettering artist)

Creator: F.J. Trezise

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Frederick James Trezise
February 13, 1875, Joliet, Illinois – April 3, 1950, Ravenswood, Illinois

Lettering Artist

Inland Printer, December 1907

Inland Printer, January 1908

Inland Printer, February 1908

Inland Printer, October 1908

Inland Printer, November 1908

Inland Printer, December 1908

Inland Printer, January 1909

Inland Printer, February 1909

Inland Printer, November 1909

Inland Printer, December 1909

Inland Printer, January 1910

Inland Printer, March 1910

Inland Printer, April 1910

Inland Printer, May 1910

Inland Printer, July 1910

Inland Printer, August 1910

Inland Printer, April 1912

Inland Printer, May 1912

Inland Printer, June 1912

Inland Printer, July 1912

Inland Printer, July 1912

Inland Printer, August 1912

Inland Printer, August 1912

Inland Printer, September 1912

Inland Printer, April 1913

…Mr. Trezise’s work is illuminative and inspiring...Mr. Trezise is the most successful and most practical instructor of printers in the whole history of the craft. He numbers his enrolled paying pupils by the thousands, while others, like this writer, are firing in the air more or less, or teaching a few dozens here and there. His instruction has added greatly to the earning capacity of his pupils. Those who are benefited indirectly by Mr. Trezise’s articles and books are also very numerous. By all means read everything Mr. Trezise writes, because he has the inborn faculty of teaching. With his whole heart in the work, a graduate himself from the type-case, modest and diligent, this young man who acquired his advanced knowledge in the night art and technical classes of Chicago—one of those who, “while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night”—is laying the foundation of a great fame for himself in the histories of printing and of industrial education. —Henry Lewis Bullen

Inland Printer, May 1913

Inland Printer, June 1913

Inland Printer, July 1913

Inland Printer, September 1913


1880 United States Federal Census
Name: Freddie J. Trezise
Age: 5
Birth Year: abt 1875
Birthplace: England [sic]
Home in 1880: Joliet, Will, Illinois
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father’s Name: James Trezise
Father’s Birthplace: England
Mother’s Name: Martha Trezise
Mother’s Birthplace: England
Cannot read/write:
Blind:Deaf and dumb:
Otherwise disabled:
Idiotic or insane:
Household Members:
Name / Age
James Trezise, 35, Stair Builder
Martha Trezise, 26
Freddie J. Trezise, 5
Mary I Trezise, 2

Joliet, Illinois, City Directory, 1891
Name: Fred Trezise
Street Address: r 707 2d av
Occupation: Printer, Joliet Press

Joliet, Illinois, City Directory, 1892
Name: Fred Trezise
Street Address: bds 807 Second av
Occupation: Printer, Signal

Joliet, Illinois, City Directory, 1893
Name: Fred J Trezise
Street Address: 807 Second av
Occupation: Printer C.B. Hayward Co.

Joliet, Illinois, City Directory, 1898
Name: Fred J Trezise
Street Address: 707 Second ave
Occupation: J.E. Williams & Co.

1900 United States Federal Census
Name: Fred J Trezise
Age: 25
Birth Date: Feb 1875
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1900: Chicago Ward 13, Cook, Illinois
Address: 50 North Francisco
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse’s Name: Edna Trezise
Marriage Year: 1898
Years Married: 2
Father’s Birthplace: England
Mother’s Birthplace: England
Occupation: Printer
Household Members:
Name / Age
Fred J Trezise, 25
Edna Trezise, 22
Wm Trezise, 2 months

Inland Printing, 1907

Inland Printer, 1909

1910 United States Federal Census
Name: Fred J Trezise
Age in 1910: 35
Birth Year: 1875
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1910: New Lenox, Will, Illinois
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Edna M Trezise
Father’s Birthplace: England
Mother’s Birthplace: England
Household Members:
Name / Age
Fred J Trezise, 35
Edna M Trezise, 33
William J Trezise, 10

Letters & Letter Construction: With Chapters on Design & Decoration
Inland Printer Company, 1910

Inland Printer, 1911

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Name: Fred James Trezise
Address: 4654 Beacon Street
City: Chicago
County: Cook
State: Illinois
Birth Date: 13 Feb 1875
Race: White
Draft Board: 55
Age: 43
Occupation: Manager, Bert L. White Co.
Nearest Relative: Jennie F. Trezise (wife)
Height/Build: Medium/Medium
Color of Eyes/Hair: Gray/Brown
Signature: September 12, 1917

Cook County, Illinois Marriage Indexes, 1912-1942
Name: Fred J Trezise
Gender: Male
Spouse Name: Jennie Gilmour
Spouse Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 15 Sep 1917

1920 United States Federal Census
not found

1930 United States Federal Census
Name: Fred J Trezise
Gender: MaleBirth Year: abt 1875
Birthplace: Illinois
Race: White
Home in 1930: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Address: 4652 Beacon Street
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse’s Name: Jean T Trezise
Father’s Birthplace: England
Mother's Birthplace: England
Occupation: Distributor/Printing
Education:
Military service: No
Rent/home value: $10,000
Age at first marriage: 23
Household Members:
Name / Age
Fred J Trezise, 55
Jean T Trezise, 38
Fred J Trezise, 15 months

1940 United States Federal Census
Name: Fred Trezise
Age: 65
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1875
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Illinois
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Head
Home in 1940: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Street: Beacon Street
House Number: 4657
Farm: No
Inferred Residence in 1935: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Residence in 1935: Same House
Sheet Number: 5A
Number of Household in Order of Visitation: 105
Occupation: Pressman/Newspaper
House Owned or Rented: Rented
Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented: 75
Attended School or College: No
Highest Grade Completed: High School, 1st year
Hours Worked Week Prior to Census: 40
Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker in private work
Weeks Worked in 1939: 52
Income: 1400
Income Other Sources: Yes
Household Members:Name / Age
Fred Trezise, 65
Jean Trezise, 48
Fred Trezise, 11

Chicago Tribune
April 4, 1950
Fred J. Trezise of 4652 Beacon st., died in the Ravenswood hospital yesterday of injuries received when he was struck by an automobile....

The Inland Printer
May 1950
Fred J. Trezise, who had been associated with the printing trade for forty years in Chicago, died April 3 of injuries received when he was struck by an automobile on March 30. Mr. Trezise was an instructor in The Inland Printer Technical School established by the late A.H. McQuilkin, former editor of The Inland Printer. He also conducted Specimen and Job Composition departments and designed covers for this magazine.

Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988
Name: Fred James Trezise
Death Date: 3 Apr 1950
Death Location: Cook County, IL
File Number: 6024163
Archive Collection Name: Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths)
Archive repository location: Chicago, IL
Archive repository name: Cook County Clerk


(Next post May 25: Star Wars)

Anatomy of a Logo: Star Wars

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The film, Star Wars, premiered on May 25, 1977. Today, on its 36th anniversary, I’m examining the evolution of the film’s logo. 

During the film’s pre-production, a decal (below) was produced. In the first Official Star Wars Fan Club newsletter, reprinted in the Star Wars Scrapbook (Chronicle Books, 1991), there was an explanation about the decal by Ralph McQuarrie, who did the art:

...“It was done as a symbol for the film—to go on film cans and letters. George [Lucas] had had one for American Graffiti, and wanted one for Star Wars.” 

...“It was done while we were working on costumes,” said McQuarrie. “This was how we first pictured Han Solo. It could be a sort of Luke character, but I think it’s more like Han. Anyway, George decided that Han Solo should be a more relaxed character, and his costume was changed. But this decal was designed before the change.”


At the time the original title was The Star Wars. To my eye, the font on the decal is Futura Display. Below is a detail from a page in the Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles with samples of Furtura Display and Futura Display Open. The letter “T” was modified to close the gap with the “H” and “A”.




On the corporate letterhead, the film title dropped the article and a new logo had been created. In the Star Wars Scrapbook, it was revealed that Joe Johnston did the title lettering which was based on the Precis font family. (Thanks to eagle-eyed Ferran Delgado for finding the font.)



1976 San Diego Comic Con; the text credits Joe Johnston for the lettering

From the book, The Art of Star Wars (Ballantine Books, 1979), are some of McQuarrie’s concepts for the film poster with the Johnston logo.



Art by Howard Chaykin

In December 1976, a novelization of Lucas’s screenplay, ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster, was published by Ballantine Books. The cover art was by McQuarrie and the cover fonts are from the Helvetica family.


A full-page advertisement for Del Rey books appeared in Starlog #7, August 1977. Included was the Star Wars novel with a photograph on the cover. The book with this cover was not published. In place of the photograph would be an illustration with a logo, which I have included.


As mentioned earlier, the original title was The Star Wars. Below is a storyboard panel, by Alex Tavoularis, of the opening crawl reproduced in The Art of Star Wars.


Lucas referred to the crawl used in the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials. The same crawl was used in The Green Hornet serial.


Universal Pictures, 1936

Universal Pictures, 1940

Dan Perri designed a logo, with a vanishing point, for the opening crawl, but it was not used. Instead, it appeared in print on posters and advertisements.

1977 movie poster

People Weekly, September 4, 1978


The New York Times, March 24, 1985

Lucas turned to Suzi Race to design a new Star Wars logo. She wrote about her involvement in a two-part post on her site: part one and part two. The Star Wars Poster Book (Chronicle Books, 2005) had a short account of her role:

...Though the poster contained no painted imagery, it did introduce a new logo to the campaign, one that had been designed originally for the cover of a Fox brochure sent to theater owners….Suzy Rice, who had just been hired as an art director, remembers the job well. She recalls that the design directive given by Lucas was that the logo should look “very fascist.”

“I’d been reading a book the night before the meeting with George Lucas,” she says, “a book about German type design and the historical origins of some of the popular typefaces used today—how they developed into what we see and use in the present.” After Lucas described the kind of visual element he was seeking, “I returned to the office and used what I reckoned to be the most ‘fascist’ typeface I could think of: Helvetica Black.”

Inspired by the typeface, Rice developed a hand-drawn logo that translated well to the poster campaign, and ultimately to the movie itself. “I did have the screen in mind when I drew the logo originally,” explains Rice, who “stacked and squared” the words to better fit the brochure cover. It was an aesthetic choice that has lasted nearly three decades.

The now-familiar “S” ligature extensions that Rice drew were modified a bit after Lucas “remarked that it read like ‘Tar Wars,’” says Rice. “He asked me to make some revisions on the leading and concluding ‘S’”


Brochure cover with Rice’s logo

Detail from the brochure

Mylar poster with Rice’s logo

A caption in The Star Wars Poster Book explained how Johnston revised the Rice logo:

The second version of the Advance poster on regular paper features the standardized “W” used today. The modification was made by ILM conceptual artist Joe Johnston after it was decided that the original didn’t work well in the pan shot that was initially planned for the opening credits.


Poster with Johnston’s logo revisions


Above are the Rice logo (top) and the Johnston revised logo (bottom). Johnston redesigned the “W”, widen the other letters and increased the letter-spacing. His version of the Rice logo was used in the film.

Rice’s original logo was used in a 20th Century Fox brochure promoting its upcoming films in Variety, January 6, 1977. The logo was also used in some consumer magazines and books, which were in production months before the film’s release.


Rolling Stone, June 2, 1977; Rice logo in perspective; advertisement font is Serif Gothic

U.K. edition paperback

Starlog #7, August 1977

Science Fantasy Film Classics, December 1977


Meanwhile, Marvel Comics was preparing their adaptation of Star Wars by writer Roy Thomas and artist Howard Chaykin. Sometime in 1976 or early 1977, letterer Jim Novak was tapped by Stan Lee to  rework the logo. Novak explained how it happened in an interview with David Anthony Kraft in Comics Interview #1, February 1983.

DAK: You’ve been credited as letterer of almost every series Marvel publishes, at one time or another, Jim. What are some of your uncredited works?

Jim Novak: The Spider-Man newspaper strip, various logos such as Power Man & Iron Fist (that’s one I remember doing that I felt proud of). The Star Wars logo has kind of an unusual story behind it. They brought in their logo from the studio and Stan Lee wasn’t crazy about it—the “W” was a little bit different looking and the letters weren’t Marvel-style. So I ended up re-doing it. It was way before the movie even came out. I didn’t even know what Star Wars was, at that point.

DAK: No one had any idea.

Jim: At the same time, we were working on the comic adaptation. I lettered the first issue, and I had no idea what that was about, either. The next thing I knew, the Star Wars logo was being used everywhere, from newspaper ads to some of the promotion and merchandizing materials.

DAK: You did that logo for Marvel and it ended up on all the Star Wars stuff?

Jim: Yeah. It was kind of a surprise to me, because I didn’t give it much thought. I was either working on staff or just there that day. I made a few significant changes, but it was basically their design and I Marvelized it, let’s put it that way.

DAK: Which one do they use now on posters?

Jim: I think it’s my logo. I don’t recall seeing the one they probably spent a couple thousand dollars on.

DAK: And you did yours for...

Jim: Twenty-five dollars. Things have changed since then. Now the financial situation is a lot different….

In the interview, I believe Novak was referring to the Rice logo. In the first Star Wars issue, all the letters are separated and bolder in stroke width. The major change was the design of the letter “W”. In the next issue, the horizontal strokes of the “ST” and “RS” were reconnected (Return of the Ligatures), as Rice had originally designed. That was done, I believe, for trademark reasons.

Splash page from the first issue

Splash page from the second issue


Novak said “...I made a few significant changes, but it was basically their design and I Marvelized it, let’s put it that way.” On closer examination, I compared his logo to the logos on the Ballantine Books mass market paperback and the mylar poster (all below). As you can see, the paperback and poster logos are essentially the same, with the exception of the W and weight of the outline. Someone drew a new “W” to replace the original one by Rice. Apparently, only the “W” was influenced by Novak’s logo. His logo, as far as I can tell, was never used outside of the comic book.



From the Star Wars Scrapbook was this comp of an unused advertising concept with the revised Rice logo.


It’s clear that the revised Rice logo was applied to some merchandising, mainly in publishing.

Dust jacket


The Del Rey dust jacket has two versions of Rice’s logo; artist John Berkey made Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader left-handed. Below are the Science Fiction Book Club edition and its newsletter, Things To Come, which disregarded the logo altogether.


The Del Rey mass-market paperback with Berkey’s art flopped, so Skywalker and Vader are right-handed. Rice’s original and revised logos were used on the cover and inside. The novel was followed by many more books published by Ballantine Books who had the exclusive license.


The Star Wars Sketchbook, Ballantine Books, 1977

The Star Wars Portfolio, Ballantine Books, 1977

Star Wars Blueprints, Ballantine Books, 1977

The Star Wars Iron-on Transfer Book, Ballantine Books, 1977

The Star Wars Album, Ballantine Books, 1977

The 1978 Star Wars Calendar, Ballantine Books, 1977

The 1979 Star Wars CalendarBallantine Books, 1978

The Art Star WarsBallantine Books, 1979

The 1980 Star Wars Poster Art CalendarBallantine Books, 1979

The Rice logo was used in the comic strip and, modified again, for the 20th anniversary release of the Star Wars Special Edition.

Los Angeles Times Syndicate; Sunday page


Poster

The film logo was also used in merchandising and promotion.

Souvenir program

Detail of record album cover

Music book

Detail of record album cover

Trading cards


Poster

Playbill, December 1977
Advertisement, 1981

The 1980 Star Wars Poster Art Calendar; logo in Superman perspective

Later, the film logo was used as a frame around the logos of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

 Advertisement

Program

In 1998, a Star Wars manga adaptation by HisaoTamaki was published. Currently, Dark Horse has the license to publish the Star Wars comic books.


Poster for the 1978 re-release

MAD Magazine, January 1978

Credit for the Star Wars logo belongs to Suzy Rice. First there was her original design. Second, Joe Johnston revised her logo for the film. And third, there was her original logo with the revised “W”, which can be traced to Jim Novak, whose contribution, although minor, was significant.

The research for this post was made easier by the chronology and treasure trove of images at Star Wars Pre-Release Collectibles. Special thanks to my brother, Allen, for use of his Star Wars collection.

(Next post May 28: Morrie Kuramoto)

Creator: Morrie Kuramoto

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MAMORU “MORRIE” KURAMOTO
May 28, 1921 – March 14, 1985

Information at Ancestry.com

California Birth Index, 1905-1995
Name: Mamoru Kuramoto
Birth Date: 28 May 1921
Gender: Male
Mother's Maiden Name: Mukai
Birth County: Tulare

California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1957
Name: Mamoru Kuramoto
Arrival Date: 1 Oct 1922
Age: 1 Years 4 Months
Birth Date: abt 1921
Birthplace: Fresno, California, United States
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Japanese
Name and address of nearest: Mrs. Tsui Kuramoto ([Grand]mother), #1479 Yoshidacho, Takatagun, Hiroshimaken
Ship Name: Persia Maru
Port of Arrival: San Francisco, California
Port of Departure: Yokohama, Japan [September 12, 1922]
Destination: Fresno, California, United States
Last Residence: United States of America, California
Line: 10; Matsumi Kuramoto, mother
Line: 11; Yoshie, sister
Friend's Name: Msasuke Shin
Archive information (series:roll number): M1410:164

Name: Mamoru Kuramoto
Arrival Date: 26 Jun 1936
Age: 15
Birth Date: abt 1921
Birthplace: Calif, Reedley, United States
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Japanese
Ship Name: Chichibu Maru
Port of Arrival: Los Angeles, California
Port of Departure: Kobe, Japan
Last Residence: Japan
Archive information (series:roll number): m1764:69

U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
Name: Mamoru Kuramoto
Birth Year: 1920
Race: Japanese, citizen (Japanese)
Nativity State or Country: California
State of Residence: California
County or City: Los Angeles
Enlistment Date: 30 Mar 1942
Enlistment State: California
Enlistment City: Fort Macarthur San Pedro
Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source: Civil Life
Education: 3 years of high school
Civil Occupation: Sales clerks
Marital Status: Single, without dependents
Height: 67
Weight: 121

U.S. City Directories
Name: Morrie Kuramoto
Residence Year 1959
Street Address: 136 West 91 TRaflgr 32937
Residence Place: Manhattan, New York
Publication Title: Manhattan, New York, City Directory, 1959

Honolulu, Hawaii, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), 1941-2011
Name: Morrie Kuramoto
Birth Date: 28 May 1921
Death Date: 14 Mar 1985

U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006
Name: Mamoru Kuramoto
Service Info.: Pvt US Army World War II
Birth Date: 28 May 1921
Death Date: 14 Mar 1985
Service Start Date: 30 Mar 1942
Interment Date: 1 Jul 1987
Cemetery: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Cemetery Address: 2177 Puowaina Drive Honolulu, HI 96813
Buried At: Section T Site 663-A

Social Security Death Index
Name: Morrie Kuramoto
SSN: 550-22-9033
Last Residence: 11105 Long Island City, Queens, New York, United States of America
Born: 28 May 1920
Died: Mar 1985
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)



Marvel Comic Convention 1975
Program Book

















FOOM
#17



















Jim Shooter

Kleefeld on Comics
Photo of Kuramoto with the Timely bullpen.

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story
Photo of Kuramoto with Kevin Banks, the artist of Calvin.

Scott Edelman
Marie Severin’s ’70s Marvel Bullpen map

Comic Book Artist #2
Barry Windsor-Smith Interview
CBA: Did you work in the Bullpen with regularity? Do you recall what the atmosphere was like? Any anecdotes or memories of Marie Severin, John Verpoorten, Herb Trimpe, Frank Giacoia, Bill Everett, Gil Kane, and other office “regulars”?

Barry: I worked there on occasion. The offices were no bigger than an average NYC apartment. Areas were sectioned off—the Bullpen itself could hold four people sort-of comfortably, with liberal deodorant use. Stan had the only office with a door. The atmosphere was quite merry most of the time. Marie was a constant source of laughs with her wonderful cartoons of all of us. I remember one afternoon in the late summer of '68, the radio was playing the Beatles' latest song and as it came into the long, chanting coda one by one each person began singing along—Herb, John Romita, Morrie Kuramoto, Tony Mortarello, Marie and a few others—all singing at the top of their lungs, “Naaa—NaNa, NaNaNaNaaa—Hey Ju-u-ude…” It was wonderful, gave me chills of pleasure.


20th Century Danny Boy
Partners for Life - The Interviews: Dave Hunt
DB: When did you become aware of the history surrounding Ross and Mike?

DH: It wasn’t too long because we bullpen guys were always talking. We were usually in the one room which made things even more interesting. Marvel comics when I first joined them in August 1972 were incredibly small. I walked through the door, as there was no security, and I was in Marvel comics. At that point they were basically one room. There were a couple of small offices, Stan Lees and that was about it. We moved shortly after several times and they became bigger and bigger until we had one entire floor in an office building. The classic picture I have of Marvel comics was one room in which you had Morrie Kuramoto, Danny Crespi, Frank, Mike, myself and a round robin of other people. So within that small room we were talking all the time and I would come home and my teeth would be hurting from laughing. I loved it so much because it was not like going to the office. It was like going to the circus every day. It was like a dream.


What If?
#34, August 1982, self-portrait
















Grand Comics Database
Comic book credits

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999

The Comics Buyer’s Guide
April 19, 1985
“Morrie Kuramoto, 41-year comics veteran, dead at 64”



















National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Honolulu, Hawaii











(Tomorrow: Marvel Bullpen)

Creator: Marvel Bullpen

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Marvel Bullpen photo was published in FOOM #17, March 1977; links to Grand Comics Database (GCD), Todd Klein (TK) and Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 (WW).

Top row, left to right: Joe Letterese* (Comic Vine photoGCDTKWW), Morrie Kuramoto* (GCDWW) Dan Crespi (GCDWW) Sal Contrera (GCD) Herb Cooper* (GCDWW) Artie Simek* (GCDWW) Vince Madafferi** (WW), Carl Burgos (GCDWW) Stan Starkman* (GCDTKWW), Neva Del Vecchio, and Chris Rule (GCDWWWikipedia).

Bottom row, left to right: Sol Brodsky (GCDWW), Ray Holloway* (GCDWW) and Stan Goldberg (GCDWW).


*Letterer

** Who’s Who listing suggests a fake signature, but the photo proves Madafferi was for real. The Social Security Death Index has someone named Vincent D. Madafferi who was born May 30, 1929 and died April 20, 2006.

(Next post on Monday: Professor G.A. Gaskell)
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