New York Daily News front pages (1939–85)
From Moonday, July, 21, 1969 (Did I work here in a past life?!)
For around 45 years, ATF’s Daily News Gothic delivered the majority of front page headlines for Daily News (officially New York Daily News). Everything from the events of World War II, to the assassination of John Lennon mostly kept consistent with the same type. Tempo Condensed was a steadfast supporting act (usually as oblique). Late 30s/early 40s front pages sometimes used Cheltenham as a secondary. Back covers looked to occasionally have alternate headlines, especially with sports issues.
Daily News Gothic – a metal type credited to ATF director Gerry Powell – effectively replaced the Daily News’s industry-standard wood type sans-serifs used by most newspapers, at that time. ATF were likely referencing wood types in creation of this metal one. Condensed Title Gothic No. 11 and Railroad Gothic (also both metal) definitely hit similar notes.
This Daily Gothic/Tempo combo was used from the Spring of 1939 until the fall of 1985, when a redesign looks to have been put into place. Franklin Gothic Condensed finally unseated Daily News Gothic.
New York Daily News celebrated its 100th anniversary on June 26th, 2019. The paper started out in 1919, with the name Illustrated Daily News. (Only to change to the current a few months later.)
Nick Sherman digitized an ATF trial proof of Daily News Gothic. See samples on his site HEX.
An early use of Daily New Gothic from 1939. A bomb meant to kill Hitler fails.
Daily News Gothic (“ASSASSINATED”) below a condensed woodtype (“KENNEDY”).
On August 1, 1966, former U.S. Marine Charles Whitman opened fire at the University of Texas campus in what was one of the the deadliest mass shootings in US history.
In a speech before the National Press Club on October 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford denies the near-bankrupt New York City a federal bailout.
4 Comments on “New York Daily News front pages (1939–85)”
A wonderful post – fascinating, thank you. What font is used for the lower case sub-headlines – e.g. “Johnson Sworn In”. I think it might be Tempo, which, unless I am mistaken, is used by The Sun and Mirror UK tabloids to this day. May I offer thanks once again for producing one of the most engrossing sites on the web. I can never visit without spending several hours here!
William, thanks for the kind words! It means a lot to us.
Yes, many of the sub-headlines use various styles from Tempo. “Johnson Sworn In” is in Tempo Heavy Condensed. “One Small Step” and others show the Heavy Condensed Italic.
Some other fonts used in those front pages included Intertype Vogue Extra Bold and/or the Oblique variant.
The New York Times also had a set of varied (and mainly non-digitized) fonts over the years for their headlines. Until they went from 8 to 6 columns in September 1976, they used the combined 10 point Gothic No. 3 with 11 point Gothic Condensed No. 1, for example. (For the most part, they seemed to use the Intertype variant, as the capital S on the latter type was shaped a bit different from Linotype’s version.) Linotype Antique No. 1 was also a popular headline typeface, along with Bookman (or as Intertype called it, Bookface). And of course, the Cheltenham family, which Intertype saw fit to call “Cheltonian.”
Thank you, William. I’ve added Vogue to the typeface credits.