Commentary

Font Spotting the “Thank You for Smoking” Titles

Stephen Coles on March 31, 2006

As soon as I saw the stellar titles that opened Thank You for Smoking, I had to fight the font freak in me from attempting to identify each typeface ~~Shadowplay Studio~~ (now Smith & Lee) used to emulate the look of cigarette packaging. Now that Veer has formally called us out, I’ll take a whack at it.

Thank You For Smoking 001
Copperplate Gothic 30 AB by Frederic W. Goudy

Thank You For Smoking 002
Fenway Park by Jason Walcott
As originally identified by Grant at The Skinny.

Thank You For Smoking 003
Copperplate Gothic 33 BC

Thank You For Smoking 004
Copperplate Gothic 30 AB

Thank You For Smoking 005
Bodoni Bold Condensed by Giambattista Bodoni

Thank You For Smoking 006
Freestyle Script by Martin Wait
Maybe should have used Freestyle Script Alternate. It connects.

Thank You For Smoking 007
Neue Helvetica 66 Medium Italic by Max Miedinger
I believe that is Solex Bold Italic by Zuzana Licko underneath.

Thank You For Smoking 008-1
Blackoak by Kim Chansler and Barbara Redick
Manually condensed?

Thank You For Smoking 009
Dunno
Looks like one of the Victorian types digitized by Dan X. Solo for Dover.

Thank You For Smoking 010
ITC Century Condensed Book by Tony Stan

Thank You For Smoking 011
Avenir 85 Heavy by Adrian Frutiger

Thank You For Smoking 012
Charlotte Book by Michael Gills
One of those blasted glyphic serifs that I can’t recall. Thank you, Yves!

Thank You For Smoking 013
Gotham Bold by Tobias Frere-Jones
Hand lettering for “Cigarettes”

Thank You For Smoking 014
Gotham Book

Thank You For Smoking 015
Avenida by John Chippendale

Thank You For Smoking 016
ITC Avant Garde Book Oblique by Tom Carnase and Herb Lubalin

Thank You For Smoking 017
Dunno
A puzzler. It’s almost Bordeaux, but more square and with bracketless serifs.

Thank You For Smoking 018
Eccentric by Gustav F. Schroeder

Thank You For Smoking 019
Helvetica Black Condensed and Italic
Could someone tell me how I can get a gig as a music supervisor?

Thank You For Smoking 020
Dunno
Orbit rounds and ITC Blair straights. Also: Stainless.

Thank You For Smoking 022
FF Scala Sans Caps by Martin Majoor

Thank You For Smoking 023
ITC Blair Medium and Adobe Caslon by Carol Twombly

Thank You For Smoking 024
Knockout Junior Flyweight by Jonathan Hoefler (perhaps)

Thank You For Smoking 025
Peignot by A.M. Cassandre
This looks really lovely, despite the fake small caps. I always forget Peignot as an alternative to Optima when seeking a sans with stroke contrast.

Thank You For Smoking 026
Gotham

Thank You For Smoking 027
FF Scala Bold by Martin Majoor

Thank You For Smoking 029
Gotham

Thank You For Smoking 030
Hand drawn?

Thank You For Smoking 031
Fenway Park and Franklin Gothic No. 2 Roman

That’s it. I think I got 23 out of 28. Not bad. But not great for a freak. Help me fill in the blanks.

7 Comments

Viktor Kaganovich says:

08.15.07 at 2:29 pm

Mindy Marin is Corvinus Skylight.

To not have recognized it…
Stephen Coles says:

08.15.07 at 4:19 pm

Do you mean Corvinus Skyline? Close, but not quite. Note the ‘A’ and ‘R’.
grace says:

01.09.08 at 2:20 pm

hi guys I’m doing a work about that movie and I need a part of the script. It’s the part in which they explain that the way to reach the target it’s making actors smoking while they act.

If someone can help me I will be so grateful.

Thanks
Luke Dorny says:

07.07.10 at 7:41 pm

Is that COOPERplate or COPPERplate?
Stephen Coles says:

07.07.10 at 7:54 pm

Wow. 4 years is never too late to fix a typo. Thanks, Luke!
Yon Dir says:

08.11.10 at 10:57 am

About “Davis O. Sacks” font, is:
”La Reyna Catalina NF”.
Kevin Boynton says:

08.31.10 at 11:51 am

I could be wrong, but isn’t “Rolfe Kent” set in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk Light Extended? Then they skewed at an angle so the letters distort even more (especially the “O”).