(no subject)

[lsanderson]

Good Film, Shame About the Helvetica
By PETER EDIDIN

"Good Night, and Good Luck," the movie about Edward R. Murrow's battle to expose the demagoguery of Joseph R. McCarthy, has received both critical and popular acclaim. But the movie has its fervent detractors - and they aren't people nostalgic for the days of backyard fallout shelters. They are typographers and graphic designers. Their charge: typographical inaccuracy.

It appears that the CBS News sign, prominently displayed in the film's carefully reconstructed New York newsroom, uses the typeface Helvetica. But Helvetica was not designed until 1957, the year McCarthy died. The movie takes place in the early 1950's.

And here I thought I was picky about a pierced ear and sheep shearing...

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

And that air they were breathing! A preposterous mish-mash of elements in totally inaccurate proportions. In addition to which, their bloodstreams contained chemicals that were not in widespread use in the 1950s. The film stock the movie was shot on was not introduced on the market until 1974, and from the way they walked, they were wearing totally anachronistic socks (and possibly underwear!) as well.