Simon & Garfunkel at Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall concert poster
On 22 January 1967, Simon & Garfunkel performed at Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. For the poster, Milton Glaser put both musicians literally on a pedestal, and gave their iconic silhouettes the same three-dimensional treatment as he used for the characters in his (Glaser) Baby Fat — illustration follows typeface, for an inimitable graphic gesamtkunstwerk. In his 1973 monograph, Glaser confirms that the typeface came first: “The letterforms of Babyfat […] led to the illustrative representation of the performers; usually the sequence is the reverse.”
Original copies of the poster go on eBay for a couple hundred dollars. The music can be had for less: A recording of the concert was released in 2002 as Live from New York City, 1967. Baby Fat is not available in digital form, but there is Buxom, an adaptation of the Black style, made by Fotostar/Facsimile Fonts in c.1970, and Keepon Truckin NF, a revival made by Nick Curtis in 2007. URW’s digital version of Buxom comes closest to the Outline style that is used here.
Detail showing the chromatic treatment of the letterforms, with slightly misaligned registration and some extra blue on the bottom — genuinely handmade!
The handbill uses the same design as the poster, but leaves the type without color fill.
2 Comments on “Simon & Garfunkel at Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall concert poster”
Flippo (from an Alphabet specimen) is another font similar to Buxom and Glaser Baby Fat, but its design looks kinda squarish.
That’s right, Javi.
We have a page for this typeface as Flatback. This is the name under which it was shown by Lettergraphics in 1970. My understanding is that Flippo is an alias later introduced for a copy by Castcraft.
By the way, the source cited by Daylight Fonts is neither the American 1970s phototype company Alphabet Innovations nor the British Alphabet Photosetting, but rather a book titled Alphabete 2 – with typeface samples from various sources, compiled by German publisher Novum Press in 1990.