Bobby Sherman cardboard records (Metromedia)
Bobby Sherman (b. 1943) is a Californian singer and actor who started his career as a teen idol. In 1969, he signed with Metromedia Records, a company founded by Len Levy (1925–2022) shortly before.
Metromedia explored a novel way to reach his teenage fanbase: it partnered up with Post Cereals, who would include Sherman’s sixties bubblegum pop with their cereal products such as Alpha-Bits, Honey Comb, and Raisin Bran. The single-sided 6″ records didn’t come inside of the box. No, they were part of the box! Alan Cross recalls:
To play the record, you had to cut it carefully from the packaging. Yes, it was crappy, warpy cardboard coated with the thinnest, crappiest grooves that quickly wore out. Audio was predictable awful.
According to Mr. Breakfast, there were four different cardboard records available, each with five songs.
Bobby Sherman’s name is rendered in yellow caps from the condensed width of Benguiat Buffalo, set on a circle, featuring letterforms that were distorted by means of lenses. With its pronounced slab serifs, Buffalo was well-suited to withstand such a treatment, see also the Hello, Dolly! movie poster from around the same time. The designer cleverly used the alternate A with double-sided top serifs to minimize any interletter gaps.
To the best of my knowledge, Bobby is unrelated to Nick Sherman, who collects “interesting examples of type and lettering that follows a curve, including text that wraps around a circle or arch”, especially such that “incorporate some amount of arching, fanning, and/or distortion to improve the effect.”
