Valérie Čižmárová singles (Supraphon, 1974–1977)
Valérie Čižmárová (1952–2005) was a Czech singer and actress of Slovak origin. In 1973, Gustav Šeďa designed a template that was used for several of her single releases on Supraphon.
Šeďa combined photography by Vilém Sochůrek with one of Othmar Motter’s lesser known typefaces. The lowercase-only Motter Alustyle was released through Berthold Fototypes in 1972. The diacritics may have been made from a comma. Note that the shape used for the háček (caron) serves for the acute, too – just flipped. Alustyle’s diagonal notches were echoed in the frames as well.
The images show the sleeve for “Správnej Hoch” / “Mám Už Toho Dost” (1976). The same design was also used for “Jeho Laskominy” / “Střapatá Chryzantéma” (1975) and “Spousta Příběhů” / “Zrzek” (1974). The preprinted picture sleeve was overprinted with the titles and the serial number set in two weights from Zhurnalnaya Roublennaya, here with a monocular a.
9 Comments on “Valérie Čižmárová singles (Supraphon, 1974–1977)”
Several years later, in 1981, Gustav Šeďa once more relied on Motter Alustyle for a cover design. “Pár nápadu” is a disco song by female vocal trio Bezinky. Photography by Roman Kelbich.
Thank you so much for this, Florian!
I’ve been looking around to see if one can download the font, since I’d very much like to use it at my Fan Blog for Valérie Čižmárová, “Bananas For Breakfast”, to put more of a “brand” on the site – no luck so far, but it’s good to be able to put an actual name to that typeface for future reference at any rate.
That design, I can confirm, was used from 1974 – although “Spousta příběhů” and “Zrzek” had, in fact, been recorded in late 1973 to 1977.
Since it was also used for a Bezinky sleeve that might qualify Motter Alustyle for “branding” also at “Girls Of The Golden East”.
Hi Christopher, thanks for chiming in, and great to hear this post was useful for you.
As far as I know, there is no digital version of this font. You could try contacting Motter Fonts, which is run by the designer’s son, and inquire about their plans to release a digitization. If all you want to do is piece together a word or line for a header graphic, you’ll find a glyph set on the website of Daylight Fonts. Motter Alustyle is lowercase only.
Thanks, Florian!
Would you believe that, by stumbling upon this site, I’ve been inspired to make a couple of use submissions myself, now I’ve spotted another font to which I can now put an actual name – one related to Valérie Čižmárová herself and the other concerning two other singers related to her in various ways.
I’ll keep you guessing regarding what font that is (in both cases) for the time being, however!
Watch my user profile!
Did you guess Davida, Florian???
Now, regarding that font I currently know as Question Mark…
That could be another Bananas For Breakfast brand!
Hi Christopher, no, I didn’t see that coming! Davida enjoyed great popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and apparently not only in the Western world.
For the unknown typeface: This appears to be a breit (wide) style of Folio. It’s similar to the more famous Helvetica.
Glad I surprised you, Florian!
I see that Davida had another outing in 1970s Czechoslovakia!
Since, in a previous “musical life”, I once owned Shades Of Deep Purple – my Christmas 1975 present from my brother … that I later gave away, sorry! My (increasingly vague!) memories of that cover made me think that might have been Davida too, but it turns out that it was the quite similar ShadesRech0 … which I note has no entries at Fonts In Use.
Strangely, I see that The Rolling Stones’ Around And Around – another Christmas present from my brother that I’ve still got! – takes in both Folio and Orpheus, as mentioned at that latest “Bananas For Breakfast” post!
So, thanks for that prompt feedback, Florian!
My understanding is that the cover typography of Shades Of Deep Purple uses a modified (redrawn?) version of an (neo) Art Nouveau face best known as Roberta. “ShadesRech0” is a fan font by Cristian Lunfardo, based directly on the letterforms of the Deep Purple cover and extending it into a full typeface.
Thanks for correcting me on that font used for the sleeve of Shades Of Deep Purple, Florian. I can now see why ShadesRech0 isn’t at Fonts In Use, if it isn’t an ‘official’ font!