“Wellbee says” handwashing poster
From the CDC’s Public Image Library:
This 1964 poster featured what at that time, was Communicable Disease Center’s (CDC) national symbol of public health, the Wellbee, who was reminding the public to “be well, be clean, WASH YOUR HANDS”. CDC used Wellbee in a comprehensive marketing campaign that included newspapers, posters, leaflets, radio and television, as well as personal appearances at public health events. […] This artifact can be viewed, by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) David J. Sencer CDC Museum, located in Atlanta, Georgia.
The “Wellbee says” type is either Filmotype April or something extremely similar. The typeface for “WASH YOUR HANDS” is a casual flared sans similar to Westerveldt – perhaps something also from Filmotype. The smaller type is a Futura-like substance, though it’s hard to identify an exact match from the available image.
5 Comments on ““Wellbee says” handwashing poster”
Thanks for posting this, Nick!
“Wellbee says” appears to be in Filmotype Brooklyn. This face is indeed similar to April, but overall rounder, see this visual comparison of two digital versions. Together with its lighter precursor Filmotype Alice and a bolder contemporary addition named Filmotype Candy, Brooklyn has been made available again by the digital reincarnation of Filmotype.
The casual flared sans looks like Filmotype Madison. It’s shown together with the bolder Memphis and Moraine and the wider Miami, Niagra, and Malta in a c.1974 Filmomaster catalog.
The Futura-like small font distinctly resembles Twentieth Century to my eyes—there’s something about the a, t, and w that I can’t put a finger on.
Did you know that Filmotype Madison appears to be identical to Microflair from Photo Lettering?
No, I didn’t know, thanks for the pointer! I looked into it and it indeed looks like Microflair Casual is identical to Filmotype Madison. I don’t know which came first. Microflair Casual first appears under the name Flaxa in PLINC’s 1965 catalog. By 1971, it was integrated into the Microflair family under the name Microflair Casual.
The other styles from this series – four of which were already shown in 1965 under the name Microflair – are only distantly related to Microflair Casual (or Filmotype Madison).
Here’s an overview of PLINC’s Microflair series:
I assumed its name hints at the concept of doing an interpretation of Microgramma, but with flared strokes. If that’s true, the interpretation is not very faithful. PLINC also had Microcircus, which stays closer to Microgramma.
Addendum: the “G” underneath the samples for Microflair Casual indicates “Graphic handlettered interpretation of type style”. This means that a PLINC lettering artist drew this based on an existing typeface. It seems likely that Madison was that typeface.
The “O”, on the other hand, stands for “Original handlettered design”.