School Days: Richard Sala, Cartoonist

An excerpt from the Richard Sala interview with Darcy Sullivan in The Comics Journal #208, November 1998.

Sullivan: Were you doing illustrations during this period?

Sala: Yeah. When I was at ASU, a friend of mine was president of the Cultural Affairs Board. One good thing about small scenes like Tempe is when you go to the weird little art shows, movies, or parties, you keep running into the same handful of people and eventually get to know each other. This is right before the years that punk really hit, in the late ’70s, and it was certainly before it hit Arizona. We were sort of proto-punks, and we founded this thing called Art Brut Graphics — we didn’t really found it, we just named it that. We did all the posters and movie schedules and stuff for the Cultural Affairs Board. Mostly my stuff would appear in the State Press, which was the newspaper for ASU. I started doing work for some of the local weeklies as well. The people at The New Times in Phoenix are my heroes. The New Times gets a bad rap these days because they’re a chain alternative newspaper. But I was there when those guys were starting, and to be an alternative newspaper in Phoenix in the ’70s was like putting a target on your back.

The president of the Cultural Affairs Board (CAB) was Charles Emerson. The CAB was a student-run organization located on campus in the Memorial Union (MU). Also at the MU was a graphic design studio run by Ron Clark. For a couple of years, 1976 and 1977, I worked at there and met Emerson who was looking for someone to design posters for the film series at Neeb Hall.

I moved to New York in October 1977 and was still involved doing posters for Emerson. I did this with assistance from my friends at ASU. I mailed layouts with directions to Tom Chung. Rusty Falk, Peter Fasolino, Sonja Zelen and many others did the illustrations. It was Chung who introduced Sala to me when I visited friends in Tempe and at ASU in early 1978. Chung and Sala were classmates in the illustration class.

In the summer of 1978, Emersion sent the list of films, for August 25 to October 1, to me and Chung. Films were assigned to various people including Sala and his girlfriend, Debby Spector. Below is Sala’s July 15, 1978 letter to me.

I wrote back and mentioned masks. Very quickly the eighteen illustrations were finished, photostatted, and pasted down. Type was set and arranged accordingly. I contributed the logo. Below are both sides of the poster.

Art and design credits were at the bottom of the poster. Most of the artists used pseudonyms. Hilario Placenta was Emerson. Richard “Black Death” Sala did the art for the August 25 and 26 films Suspiria, Captive Wild Women, Night of the Living Dead and Island of Dr. Moreau. The art for The Goodbye Girl, August 31 to September 1, was by Debby “Art Rap” Spector.

 

 Below are both sides of the poster with numbers identifying the artists. Sala and Spector’s credits were switched.

The next poster, October–November, was produced by Emerson, Spector, Sala and a few others. Art Brut Graphics made its first appearance.

Below is the November–December 1978 poster.

I don’t know how many film posters Sala did.

In December 1979 I received a postcard announcing Sala and Spector’s “Viewmasters” exhibition at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, December 5–31, 1979. Unfortunately I missed it.

But I was fortunate to have glimpsed the emerging talent of Richard Sala.

Further Reading and Viewing

The Comics Journal #161, August 1993, Sala’s sketchbook

The Comics Journal, Richard Sala 1955–2020

eBay, set of three Neeb Hall film posters from Sala’s estate

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Rich Chidlaw, Cartoonist
ASU Graphic Design Workshop

(Next post on Monday: Ho, Ho, Ho!)

School Days: Rich Chidlaw, Cartoonist

I was an early 1970s fine arts major at Arizona State University and met other students interested in comics. Rich Chidlaw lived on the first floor of Best Hall B dormitory; I was on the second floor. Best Hall consisted of three buildings (A, B and C) on the ASU campus and located across the street from the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Gammage Auditorium. Rich contributed cartoons to the student paper, State Press. After ASU, he did comics and animation; he is in a group photo here. Below is his sketch of Barbarella. Chidlaw passed away October 3, 2023. Camelback High School, In Memory

 

Rocket’s Blast Comicollector #74, 1970; advertisement for Ryle Smith and Chidlaw’s Bedlam Magazine

 

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(Next post on Monday: Richard Sala, Cartoonist)

School Days: W.C. Fields Shorts

At Arizona State University I was enrolled in Vanessa Vargo’s illustration class which was at 7:40 in the morning. For one of the assignments I created a poster promoting short films starring W.C. Fields. The “W.C. Fields Shorts” program was scheduled at the Memorial Union (MU) Movie House for October. The assignment called for the poster to be 18 by 24 inches (45.7 x 61 centimeters) and printed in two colors. 

I don’t have the thumbnail sketches but the concept was based on showing Fields in boxer shorts. Below are the top hat, headless Fields figure and lettering drawn on vellum. The lettering was based on the Koloss typeface in the Letraset catalog. (The alphabet can be viewed here.) Graphite was rubbed on the reverse side of the vellum then the top hat and lettering were transferred to illustration board and inked. Letratone was adhered over the lettering and parts of the hat. Four dancing figures, wearing different patterned orange shorts, were rendered in ink and gouache. Pantone paper was used for the background. The first version had an orange background. The second version used brown which made the orange shorts pop out.

I entered the poster in the Department of Art’s 1976 Annual Art Student Exhibition which was jurored by Misch Kohn.

Catalog design by Leon Dunn, ASU Graphic Design Workshop
Cover photography by Chris Hornung
Typeface: ITC Tiffany
Dimensions: 7.0625 x 7.4375 inches / 18 x 18.9 centimeters


(Next post on Monday: Casa Grande Neon Sign Park)

School Days: 7th Annual Hayden’s Ferry Poster

The Hayden’s Ferry annual festival poster (below) was created in the Fall 1976 term at Arizona State University’s Graphic Design Workshop which was headed by instructors Tom Hall and Ray Varnbuhler. Detailed information about the workshop and samples of printed matter are here. A history of the Mill Avenue Merchants Association’s (MAMA) festival is here. 

Tom Hall assigned the poster project to me. The poster specifications were 19 x 24 inches and printed in two colors. 

Below is a the first concept sketch which was rendered in markers. The image area measured 10.5 by 14 inches. The logo lettering was based on the wood type fonts French Clarendon and Egyptian Ornamented from the book, Wood Type Alphabets: 100 Fonts (1977). The illustration was a street scene filled with people and Mill Avenue storefronts. In the sky was the sun. At the bottom was a panel for the names of the merchants.

In the second concept the logo was loosely based on the font Cheltenham. Below it was a ribbon to be filled with information about the fair. The illustration showed more detail of the street scene plus the addition of a hot-air balloon. The bottom panel had a rendering of the type treatment for MAMA. The image measured 19 by 24 inches.

These two concept sketches were presented at a regularly scheduled class where progress reports were made by workshop members on their assignments. I stated my preference for the second concept. And I asked for help with the illustration. Dave Redding volunteered.

The logo lettering artwork measured 5.0625 by 17 inches. A transfer type (whose name I don’t recall) was used on the ribbon for “ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR” and “DEC. 3 • 4 • 5 10 AM–DUSK”.

A photostat was made of the logo and pasted on the back of the original art which was inadvertently trimmed. (The image area is 4.1875 by 14.5 inches.) The Cooper Black font was used for “7TH ANNUAL” and pasted to the ribbon (below).

At some point MAMA representatives approved the design and the poster went into production. The lettering, illustration and type were pasted on a large board which was known, in the trade, as a mechanical. An overlay gave color instructions to the printer. Black and orange inks were used on the goldenrod paper stock. I don’t recall the printer but it was done locally, possibly at Temple Daily News or Little Wonder Press.

 

Fonts from the ITC Korinna family were used for the bottom panel.

Detail of poster credits

My logo continued to be used at subsequent fairs. Below are a belt buckle (2.25 by 3.75 inches; purchased on eBay) from the 1978 fair; t-shirts from 1977 and 1980; and 10th anniversary Frisbee from 1979.

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(Next post on Monday: Julian Waters)

School Days: Herb Lubalin

Herbert Fredrick “Herb” Lubalin was born on March 17, 1918, in Manhattan, New York, New York, according to the New York, New York Birth Index at Ancestry.com. Lubalin’s Social Security application, transcribed at Ancestry.com, said his parents were Joseph Lubalin and Rose Jospe.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Joseph resided in Manhattan at 58 East 98th Street. The head of the household was his brother-in-law, Aaron Siegel, who was married to Yetta, and had three children. Joseph was a freelance musician and Russian emigrant who came to American in 1904. Rose was a native New Yorker who lived with her parents, and was the fourth of five siblings. Rose was a bookkeeper at a printing company. The family lived at 19 East 108 Street.

The New York, New York Marriage index, at Ancestry.com, said Joseph and Rose married on June 9, 1914 in Manhattan.

Joseph signed his World War I draft card on June 5, 1917. His address was 25 West 110th Street in Manhattan. Joseph was a musician at the Rialto Theater, at 42nd Street and 7th Avenue.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 30, 1919

News of Lubalin’s birth was published in the New York Tribune, March 19, 1918: “Lubalin—Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lubalin (nee Rose Jospe), 132 West 121st st., announce the birth of twin sons on March 17th.”

The 1920 census recorded the Lubalin family in the Bronx at 1135 Forest Avenue. Also in the household was Rose’s older sister, Emilie Jospe.

The Lubalins and Emilie were counted at 307 [Beach] 47th Street in Arverne, Queens County, New York in the 1930 census.

Excerpts from Herb Lubalin: Art Director, Graphic Designer and Typographer (1985).

...Lubalin…was…the younger of fraternal twin boys…

…His early interest in art was encouraged, although he was colorblind, as was his twin. Figures he drew with crayon had startling purple hair.

…Herbert was a good art student in high school, despite his inability to draw recognizable images. His teacher encouraged his feelings for design and lettering, knowing one can develop as an artist without relying on drawing accurately.

Further schooling in art was accidental. To have an art career wasn’t in Herb’s original plan, although, typically, he expressed no thought for a future….But Herb’s high school academic standing was so low he wasn’t accepted by the tuition-free College of the City of New York, where his twin was enrolled.

The Wave (Rockaway Beach, New York), June 27, 1935, published the names of the Far Rockaway High School graduates which included Herb and Irwin Lubalin.

Excerpts from Herb Lubalin: Art Director, Graphic Designer and Typographer (1985).

What happens when a poor kid with bad grades can’t afford to go to a regular college? He applies to a free art school.

In 1935, Herb passed the entrance exam (“mostly in the form of an intelligence test“) to the prestigious Cooper Union. “I was 64th out of 64 applicants.”

…“For the first two years, I was the worst student in the school. In the last two years, I was about the best.”

The turning point was a class in calligraphy. The angle of the flat pen point used in calligraphy prescribes that the art be done with the right hand. Herb drew with his left hand. The instructor told Herb he’d have to learn to use his right hand on the assignment.

“I didn’t tell her I wrote with my right hand. Since calligraphy really is handwriting, it was easy for me. I got the highest mark in the class, not because I was the best, but because the teacher felt I’d overcome a great handicap.

“I guess this gave me confidence, because from that time on, I did very well.”

The Wave, November 24, 1938, reported this item:

Miss Isabel Bisgyer of Ocean Crest Boulevard will celebrate her birthday on Sunday. Tomorrow friends will take her to see “Hamlet,” and later will treat her to dinner In the Hotel Pennsylvania. In the party are Miss Rues Diamond, Morton Friedlieb, Eugene Hammer, Herbert Lubalin and others.

Lubalin attended Cooper Union and graduated in 1939. The Long Island Daily Press (Jamaica, New York), June 6, 1939, said he received an Advertising Design Certificate.

Also in the Class of 1939 were designer Lou Dorfsman and cartoonist Mel Tapley. Pictured in the 1939 yearbook were calligrapher and illustrator Jeanyee Wong, Class of 1941, and illustrator Roy Krenkel.

Sylvia Kushner

Sylvia Kushner, of the surprised look and unique coiffeur, is a shining example of industriousness and a gal with with a delightful sense of humor. A four year honor student, her real forte is dress designing and draping, in which her originality and creativeness have been successful in acquiring satisfied customers. Besides her work, Sylvia has had one other factor on her mind these past four years…but why tell tales outside of class? 

Herbert Lubalin

Herbert Lubalin is another shining light of the class of ’39. His wit and “creativeness” are, unfortunately, often censored. Baseball, ping pong, basketball, and penny-ante have been Herb’s extra-curricular activities at Cooper, not to mention his greatest talent, “tall stories.” In 1937 Herb received the medal given for general excellence in all subjects and hasn’t let up the least bit in upholding this distinction. Last summer Herbie ran a day camp for children in his native Far Rockaway. He has an especial affinity for kids, kittens, ketchup, other such sentimentalizes beginning with “K.”

Louis Dorfsman

Louis Dorfsman left Day School in the middle of his third year to go to work in the commercial art field. Starting at the Trans-Lux Theatres, he is now designing exhibition booths and window displays for the Display Guild. A tall guy with one of those grins that the gals eat up (a brunette anyway?). “Shlep,” as he is quaintly called by his chums, is an ace drummer and managed to keep busy between club dates and just dates.

Louis Dorfsman

Sylvia Kushner and Herbert Lubalin

Lubalin’s father passed away July 1939 and was laid to rest at Montefiore Cemetery.

Advertising Age, June 1, 1981, said, “Mr. Lubalin’s first graphic design job following college was with the New York World’s Fair at $8 per week. Upon requesting a pay hike of of $2, he was fired. He free lanced for a year and then worked for a number of small advertising agencies and Fairchild Publications.”

According to the 1940 census, Lubalin, his mother and brother were residents of Woodmere in Hempstead Township, Nassau County, New York. The trio lived on Woodmere Boulevard in Apartment 5J. Lubalin was a self-employed commercial artist.

Excerpts from Herb Lubalin: Art Director, Graphic Designer and Typographer (1985).

…He had entered Cooper Union unaware of two impending romances that would change his life. One lasted three decades, the other, until his death.

The first big excitement was to meet a classmate, the petite and beautiful Sylvia Kushner. Four years later, the two artists were married, after they had been graduated, Herbert with the Student’s Medal for General Excellence….

…Herb and Sylvia had three sons and 32 years together….

The New York, New York, Marriage License Index said Lubalin and Sylvia Kushner obtained a marriage license on October 2, 1940 in Brooklyn.

Excerpt from Herb Lubalin: Art Director, Graphic Designer and Typographer (1985).

…In 1945, Lubalin became art director at Sudler & Hennessey, a studio specializing in pharmaceutical ads and promotions. He worked with a bullpen of 20 illustrators, photographers, comp people, letterers and retouchers who followed through from Lubalin tissues—tissues on which the Lubalin legend began….

 

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Herb Lubalin, Part 8

Herb Lubalin, Part 9

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Herb Lubalin, School Days

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Herb Lubalin and the 37th Annual of Advertising and Editorial Art and Design

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The Name’s Lubalin, Herb Lubalin.

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(Next post on Monday: Speedball Pen Advertisements)