45th Annual Academy Awards poster
Did the designer of this poster already know that Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather would win the Academy Award for Best Picture? Or is it a coincidence that they went with a typeface by an Italian American designer? The Art Deco caps with stripe pattern are from Moon Walk, drawn by Richard Nebiolo for Photo-Lettering before 1971. The designer from New Jersey had previously done the lettering for the “Moonwalk” logo which actually traveled to the moon, for which he received a personal award from NASA.
Also, was Nebiolo’s Moon Walk intentionally paired with Eurostile, a typeface that originated at the Nebiolo foundry in Turin, Italy? To my knowledge, there is no connection between the foundry and the designer beyond the name.
The 45th Annual Academy Awards took place on March 27, 1973 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles and were broadcast by NBC. From Wikipedia:
The ceremony was marked by Marlon Brando’s boycott of the Oscars and his sending of Sacheen Littlefeather to explain why he couldn’t show up to collect his Best Actor award for The Godfather, and by Charlie Chaplin’s only competitive Oscar win for Best Original Dramatic Score for his 20-year-old film Limelight, which was eligible because it did not screen in Los Angeles until 1972. […] Cabaret, Bob Fosse’s adaptation of the Broadway stage musical, set a record for the most Oscars won without winning Best Picture. Best Picture winner The Godfather received only three Academy Awards.
5 Comments on “45th Annual Academy Awards poster”
Happy 45th anniversary to Stewf, Fonts In Use co-founder and honorary I̶t̶a̶l̶i̶a̶n̶ Sardinian American!
😍 beautiful find, Florian! Italian to the max! And Happy Birthday Stephen!
I have completely overlooked Moon Walk. Thank you, Florian! The best birthday is one when you learn something new.
Thanks for documenting this typeface. My father would be proud to see his work online. There is no known connection to the Nebiolo foundry, although we haven’t been able to track down the origins of my great-grandfather from Italy. So it could be possible!
Liz, thank you for stopping by and chiming in! I have a couple of questions about your father and his work. If you don’t mind, I’ll be in touch via email.