Louis "Lou" Dorfsman was a graphic designer who oversaw almost every aspect of the advertising and corporate identity for the Columbia Broadcasting System in his 40 years with the network.
Dorfsman was renowned for his graphic achievements that gave CBS its corporate identity. He saw the value of integrating graphic with interior, on-air motion, and animation design. In addition to creating sets for Walter Cronkite’s evening news show and the CBS Morning News, he oversaw every visual detail of the CBS headquarters building, selecting type for the numerals on the wall clocks, the elevator buttons, and even the elevator-inspection stickers. He also implemented a custom-made typeface for all CBS graphic design called CBS Didot, which is still used today.
He was in at the birth of television in the USA and throughout the sixties set a benchmark of excellence for future designers to aspire to. His advertising work for CBS in particular has that authentic ‘Mad Men’ feel about it and he was helped by having the perfect designer/client relationship with Dr. Frank Stanton, the president of the channel.
It is the 35 foot wide by 8.5 foot tall typographical artwork he designed with the typographic legends Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase for the building’s cafeteria which he titled “Gastrotypographicalassemblage”—the Great Wall of CBS—that he was most proud of.
Dorfsman considered this massive frieze of custom-milled woodtype spelling out foods and food groups—from lamb chops to hasenpfeffer—his magnum opus, “his gift to the world.”
It was composed of 1,650 letters, carved from pine or poplar and lacquered white, that were glued or nailed to a plywood background. These were interspersed with actual vessels and utensils, as well as foods reproduced in plastic or plaster.
Perfectly suited to the ’60s, when New York embraced Pop Art and fondue, the mural survived the 1980s, even as “suki yaki,” “hot tamale” and “Tom & Jerry” grew quaint, and spellings like “catsup,” “cumquat,” “gefülte fish” and “pasta fazole” grew outmoded.
When Laurence Tisch became CEO of CBS in 1986, he started cutting costs everywhere from the mailroom to the newsroom. Even the cafeteria wasn’t safe. Tisch didn’t seem that interested in typographic nuance or learning to say “Gastrotypographicalassemblage.”
The work was saved from corporate-mandated oblivion by the sculptural illustrator and 3D designer Nick Fasciano, who originally worked on the piece. Once in his possession, he stored it in his basement for 23 years as the ravages of time sent the piece into disrepair. Adhesives from the ‘60s that were used to secure the letters in place gave way, and many of the letters cracked off as soon as they were touched. The wall also contained 65 three-dimensional food objects that either deteriorated or were aged beyond repair.
Shortly after Dorfsman’s death in 2008, it was announced that The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, would fund the restoration and display it on their campus.
Rarely do works of typography earn such celebratory attention, but after what it’s been through in the past few decades, some good news for the Gastrotypographicalassemblage is certainly overdue.
