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50 Years of SNL's Graphic Parodies (2024)


Designer Marlene Weisman recalls the madcap golden years of NBC's perennial hit.

These were classic years for the perennial NBC hit, and Marlene—who worked on on-air titles, parodies and props (not least of which included graphics for Wayne’s World)—was a pre-Mac master of hand-lettering, Letraset, phototypesetting, and even vinyl lettering machines. After a few scrappy, punky years in the ’80s creating graphics for NYC music scene–related clients—The Bottom Line, Peppermint Lounge, Tramps, New Audiences, jazz concert promoters, a variety of indie bands, and the American branch of UK’s Stiff Records among them—I wanted to move on to something new. Besides the demolition of that huge room-size stat machine and other printing equipment, you can’t even imagine the treasures they threw into their dumpsters, cleaning out a wall of files that held years of vintage television graphics—show cards, credit scrolls and other history items from the 1950s on!

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