Interrobang, Part 7: Richard Isbell, Lettering Artist

Richard Louis Isbell was born on June 9, 1924 in Kingsville, Canada according to his World War II draft card. Twenty days later he was baptized at a Catholic Church in Leamington, Canada. His American parents were Roy Floyd Isbell and Katherine Linder.

The 1930 United States Census counted Isbell, his parents, older brothers, Arthur and Eugene, and younger brother, Vernon, in Detroit at 942 Fisher Avenue. His father was a commercial chauffeur.

In 1940 Isbell, his parents and Vernon were Detroit residents at 2597 Coplin Street. His father was a bus driver.

Isbell attended Cass Techincal High School. The Detroit News, May 17, 1942, said he was one of many students who won a prize in a poster contest sponsored by Walker & Company. Isbell graduated in 1943. The prom, which was cancelled due to a race riot, was held fifty years later. The Detroit Free Press, June 29, 1993, published a photograph of Isbell dancing with classmate, Doris Ann Smith.

On June 30, 1942, Isbell signed his draft card. His address was 2521 Ashland Avenue. He was employed at the Dossins Food Products Company. Isbell’s description was five feet nine inches, 150 pounds, with gray eyes and brown hair. His veteran’s file said he enlisted in the Marine Corps on February 5, 1943.

The Detroit News, November 10, 1944, published a Marine Corps photograph of Isbell.

Isbell was one of the war casualties listed in the Flint Journal, December 8, 1944. The Detroit Times, December 23, 1944, published a letter from Isbell’s mother.

I received the pictures of my son, Pfc. Richard L. Isbell, marine artist, and I want to thank you very much.

He was wounded while on Peleliu Island, October 6, and these pictures mean a lot to me.

Mrs. Katherine Isbell, 2521 Ashland Avenue.

A Marine Corps Muster Roll for July 1945 listed Isbell at the Platoon Commanders’ School Detachment in Quantico, Virginia. He was discharged on August 8, 1945.

The Detroit News, April 6, 1945, announced Shirley Smith and Isbell’s engagement.

... The other engagement is that of Shirley Smith to Pfc. Richard L. Isbell, USMC. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Ray Smith, of Underwood avenue, and he is the don of Mrs. Catherine Isbell, of Ashland avenue.

... Pfc. Isbell enlisted in the Marine corps in February 1943. He was sent overseas in June of that year, and saw action at Cape Glouster, Talsea and Peleliu, where he was wounded. ...

The Detroit Free Press, June 10, 1945, said

Works of two Detroiters will be featured in a Marine Corps combat art exhibit Monday at the J. L. Hudson Co. The Detroit artists are Pfc. Richard T. Wolff, of 6276 Edwin, and Pfc. Richard L. Isbell, of 2521 Ashland.

The display, which will be held for two weeks, covers a range of South Pacific combat subjects.

On November 17, 1945, Isbell and Shirley Mae Smith married in Detroit. The marriage license said he was an engineering artist and she an artist. Luc Devroye said Isbell was in the illustration department of General Motors. Two years later, he joined New Center Studios, as a lettering and design artist, and stayed for nine years. His alphabets for Mercury and Pontiac automobiles appeared in 1955. The following year Isbell and others established Art Group Studios and serviced automotive clients. In 1960, he was at Headliners International. He returned to General Motors in 1965.

According to the 1950 census, Isbell was a commercial artist at an art studio. He, his wife and three children, Kathleen, John and Barbara, lived in Detroit at 9040 Minock Street.

The 1960 Birmingham, Michigan city directory  listed Isbell at 723 Ridgedale Avenue. He was an artist at Headliners.

In the mid-1960s, the American Type Founders Company commissioned Isbell to design a typeface. At the time he was Graphic Director for Headliners of Detroit, a division of George Willens & Company. Isbell’s Americana, with an interabang, debuted in 1967.

Art Direction, May 1967

Art Direction, July 1967

 

Art Direction, September 1967

Americana new foundry typeface from American Type Founders in 10, 12, 14, 18, 25, 30, 36, 42, 48, 60 and 72 point. New design by Richard Isbell in light, almost italic serif.  ATF, 200 Elmora Ave., Elizabeth, N.J. 

Art Direction, October 1967

 

Isbell was profiled in the Detroit Free Press, August 14, 1967. Four days later one of the paper’s columnists wrote about the interabang. Martin K. Speckter, creator of the interrobang, corrected the columnist in a letter published in the Detroit Free Press, October 5, 1967.

The Detroit Free Press, June 23, 1975, said Isbell left George Willens & Co. and formed a partnership with Jerry Campbell. Their Bloomfield Hills studio, Campbell-Isbell Alphabets, specialized in photo-lettering, logos, trademarks, screen credits single and alphabet design. ITC Isbell, a typeface by Isbell and Campbell, was released by the International Typeface Corporation in 1980.

U&lc, December 1980

 

Isbell, one of several men with beards, was featured in the Detroit Free Press, August 9, 1984, here and here.

“America Icons: Detroit Designs” was an exhibition in 2004. The Detroit News, May 22, 2004, said

... Even the type font used for all the exhibit labels was designed in 1981 by Richard Isbell, who taught at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies.

Isbell passed away on December 3, 2009 in Warren, Michigan. An obituary appeared in the Detroit Free Press, December 6, 2009. He was laid to rest at Pine Lake Cemetery.

 

(Next post on Monday: Ed McLean, Letterer, Freelance Writer and Copywriter)