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177:. He was one of eight children, five born in Austria, three born after the family regrouped in New York City. Ira's father Max emigrated in 1895 and established himself in a grocery business. His oldest son Jacob followed in 1898. The rest of the family — mother Sadie, and sons Samuel, Joseph, Israel (Ira), and Moses — followed in 1900. Daughters Lena, Sara and Minnie were born in New York. The Schnapp family lived at 86
550:, who had befriended Schnapp when he started working at DC around 1967, said it meant Schnapp was being sent home to die. Gaspar Saladino, who had begun working on staff at DC in 1949, not long after Schnapp, called Schnapp "Mr. DC," and said "It was sad that when he left it was as though he'd never been there at all."
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Readers — designers — look upon the work of Ira
Schnapp, and despair! You will never surpass it! You will never equal it! You will never even come close to it! Try to imagine a world where Schnapp's work never existed ... It simply can't be done, because Schnapp's designs are inextricably woven into
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Around 1949, Schnapp took a staff position at
National (DC) Comics, working in their production department at 480 Lexington Avenue every day. Schnapp may have been the company's first staff letterer. His main task was to produce nearly all the logos, cover lettering and in-house advertising, as well
352:
The
Superman logo redesign began a relationship with DC Comics that lasted the rest of Schnapp's working life. His son Martin remembers him often working on lettering for interior pages at home, beginning in the early 1940s. By 1946, many stories lettered by Schnapp can be found, especially on the
328:#6, dated Sept.-Oct. 1940. Based on Shuster's ideas, Schnapp gave the logo professional polish and correct perspective, greatly improving it. It was used on all Superman merchandise thereafter until another redesign in 1983, a very long run of 43 years. Schnapp is often credited with designing the
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obituary ran on July 26, 1969. There was no mention of his death at age 74 by DC Comics, and it seems to have gone unnoticed in the comics world. Schnapp's wife
Beatrice died in 1977, and his daughter Theresa (Teddy) died in 2009. As of 2015, his son Marty was alive and working in New York City.
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comic strips. Despite his brilliance as a logo and title designer, in the words of comics historian Kirk
Kimball, "Schnapp's word-balloon lettering was ... surprisingly pedestrian." By comparison, his balloon lettering for covers was more polished and precise, but still often sedate. Pop artist
266:
Ira and
Beatrice Schnapp had two children: daughter Theresa, born in 1922, and a son, Martin, born in 1930. In the 1930 census Schnapp's occupation is given as Artist. By the early 1930s, Schnapp and his extended family and siblings had relocated to Manhattan's
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logo in 1940. He did a great deal of logo and lettering work for the company in the 1940s. Around 1949, he joined the staff as their in-house logo, cover lettering and house-ad designer and letterer, and continued in that role until about 1967.
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as lettering story pages when he had time. By doing so, Schnapp set the style for the entire company, producing a huge amount of work that caught the imagination of readers and kept them coming back for more. Dozens of logos for books like
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Schnapp lettered comics stories of every kind for DC Comics beginning in the early 1940s, including humor, funny animals, romance, western, characters licensed from movies and TV shows, and super-heroes. He also produced lettering for the
292:. Twenty-four entries were published from January 23 to July 2, 1940. No syndication information is included in any entry, and the project was not a success. The feature is the only known time Ira Schnapp received a newspaper byline.
282:, each entry featured a famous work of art, either a painting or sculpture, reproduced in pen, ink, and textured shading, with a small portrait of the artist, and descriptive text. The only known publication of the series was in the
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styles to the newsstand. His cover lettering and house ads were full of excitement, encouraging children to buy the comics. Despite the great volume of work he was doing, Schnapp did not receive credit, except on two issues of
353:
company's humor titles, though he worked on all kinds of stories, including those with superheroes. Schnapp also created more logos for DC, including most of their new titles from 1947 on, such as radio show-based titles like
567:, the co-owner of National (DC) Comics. One of their sons was Jay (Schnapp) Emmett, who began as a National employee and worked his way up to President of Warner Communications. Solomon and Faye's daughter Carol married
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recalled that "DC kept Ira employed doing miscellaneous things around the production department because ... management felt they owed him for all his great work." Schnapp was retired by the company in 1968. Artist
210:, as drawn on the architectural plans by the architects. The tissues served as a guide for the stonecutters carving the letters on marble blocks. Schnapp later showed some of these tissue layouts to artist
197:
Little evidence has surfaced about
Schnapp's early work during and after leaving school, but late in his life he often talked about helping to design the very large carved inscriptions on the façade of the
505:
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Schnapp's son Marty remembers his father dying suddenly of a heart attack on July 24, 1969. He died at St. Luke's
Hospital on 113th Street, New York, not far from his long-time home. A brief
185:, graduating in June 1913. Nothing specific is known about his art training. Ira's occupation is listed as Salesman in the New York State Census of 1915, and his family was then living in
322:. Shuster redrew the logo for each subsequent issue, leading to a very inconsistent look. Schnapp was brought in to redesign the Superman logo. His version first appeared on the cover of
258:. Schnapp was related to Liebowitz by marriage, and though there are no records of his work in the pulps, style similarities suggest he was working for the Donenfeld pulps by 1934.
491:#83 (November 1962) as the basis for one of Lichtenstein's most iconic works. Lichtenstein slightly reworked the art and dialogue, and re-lettered Schnapp's original word balloon.
233:. Nothing is known of his output during the 1920s, but by the 1930s, Schnapp was doing show card lettering for movie theater lobbies, including huge displays for the premiere of
278:
With his own family now numbering four, Schnapp looked for ways to increase his income. He began work on a project he hoped would become a syndicated newspaper feature. Called
991:
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Several members of Ira
Schnapp's family and extended family were also involved in the comics business. His brother Solomon married Faye Liebowitz, the sister of
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on
Manhattan's Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, constructed from 1908 to 1912. He was probably part of a design team working for the architects
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Beginning around 1950, Schnapp designed and hand-lettered hundreds of DC house ads. These ads ran across the entire line, with text by editors like
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in lower Manhattan, and Ira and his siblings probably attended New York's Public School #188. Ira definitely attended New York City's
449:. Fans were intrigued by Schnapp's titles, such as "Coming Super-Attractions!" for the Superman titles, "Just Imagine!" for
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Schnapp probably did all kinds of show card, print and advertising logos and lettering in the 1930s, including logos for
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By 1917, Schnapp was doing lettering for the W.T. Slide Company of 115 East 23rd Street in Manhattan, according to his
189:. On September 30, 1918, he married Beatrice Schwadron. By 1920 the couple were living in their own home in The Bronx.
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as the new main logo and house-ad designer and cover letterer for the entire line of comics. Long-time DC writer
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was appointed as DC's art director, and then editorial director. In a major shake-up, Infantino transitioned to
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at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. How Schnapp became involved in this high-profile design job is unknown.
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206:. His role was making huge full-size tissue layouts of the letters, which are in the style of Rome's
214:. He may have done similar work for inscriptions on other monumental buildings of the time like the
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in 1967, near the end of his career. While readers loved his work, its creator remained unknown.
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133:(October 10, 1894 – July 24, 1969) was a logo designer and letterer who brought his classic and
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It's probably the best logo ever designed for a comic book, and maybe for anything, anywhere.
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the very fabric of American pop culture. That is a legacy most designers can only dream of.
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logo redesign was his first work for the company. The designer of the original
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house style in logos, cover lettering and in-house advertising (1950–1967)
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seal, which became a fixture on comic book covers for over forty years.
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of New York City hosted a retrospective exhibition of Schnapp's work,
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Architectural design, film titles, lobby cards, and pulp magazines
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Schnapp in 1955, at his desk in the National (DC) Comics offices
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used the splash page of a romance story lettered by Schnapp in
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905:"REVIEW: Arlen Schumer's Outstanding IRA SCHNAPP Exhibit,"
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and the adoption of the Comics Code, Schnapp designed the
318:#1 in the summer of 1939, featuring cover art and logo by
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Schnapp was born in the small town of Sassow, then in the
141:(then National Comics) beginning with the redesign of the
336:(now a comics professional and movie producer) that the
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draft card. This work was probably used as title and/or
966:"OH, SCHNAPP! Part 5: The SUPER-est Logo of Them All!,"
954:"OH, SCHNAPP! Part 3: DC Comics House Ads as Artform,"
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Klein, Todd. "Schnapp, Donenfeld and the Pulps Part 1"
717:"Ira Schnapp and the early DC logos, new information,"
497:(1963) is now part of the permanent collection of the
942:"Oh, SCHNAPP! The Greatest Hits of DC's IRA SCHNAPP,"
833:"Logo Study: DC Comics Cover Logos 1939-1949 Part 3"
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By 1940, Donenfeld and Liebowitz, now in control of
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Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States
804:, Alphabettenthletter.blogspot.com (July 20, 2012)
960:"OH, SCHNAPP! Part 4: Batmania and Go-Go Checks!"
697:"Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 5,"
675:"Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 2,"
655:"Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 1,"
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820:"Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 4"
761:"Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 3"
732:, Alphabettenthletter.blogspot.com (May 2, 2016)
879:. The Silver Age Sage. Retrieved July 19, 2008.
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314:#1 in 1938. Superman gained his own title with
169:. After World War II that area became part of
571:, son of the other owner of National Comics,
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332:logo in 1938, but he later told a young fan,
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948:"Oh, SCHNAPP! Part 2: Ira's Sweet 16 Logos,"
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786:"Ira Schnapp's 'The Art of the Ages'"
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200:James A. Farley Post Office Building
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849:Kimball, Kirk (October 10, 2006).
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775:, Kleinletters.com (July 30, 2012)
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16:Austrian-American graphic designer
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927:Klein, Todd (September 3, 2016).
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606:Kirk Kimball of Dial B for Blog:
956:by Arlen Schumer (Apr. 29, 2015)
950:by Arlen Schumer (Apr. 21, 2015)
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163:Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
55:Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
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626:"The Super Type of Ira Schnapp"
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962:by Arlen Schumer (May 6, 2015)
907:13th Dimension (May 17, 2015).
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499:Museum of Modern Art, New York
422:brought Schnapp's classic and
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628:, curated by Arlen Schumer.
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877:"Gaspar Saladino Interview"
864:"Gaspar Saladino 1927-2016"
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1002:Golden Age comics creators
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513:Comics Code Authority seal
377:, dated March–April 1949.
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381:DC Comics staff position
348:DC Comics freelance work
894:(July 26, 1969), p. 25.
167:Austro-Hungarian Empire
59:Austro-Hungarian Empire
1007:Artists from the Bronx
802:"Creator: Ira Schnapp"
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344:logo remains unknown.
183:Stuyvesant High School
120:logo redesign (1940),
77:July 24, 1969 (age 74)
922:"Living La Vida Logo"
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581:American Comics Group
523:Comics Code Authority
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368:Mr. District Attorney
241:Radio City Music Hall
204:McKim, Mead and White
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529:Retirement and death
622:Type Directors Club
280:The Art of the Ages
262:The Art of the Ages
250:being published by
853:. Dial B for Blog.
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105:Letterer, Designer
535:Carmine Infantino
430:The Inferior Five
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131:Ira Schnapp
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227:intertitle
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889:"Deaths,"
594:, on the
577:Fred Iger
465:Lettering
458:The Flash
419:Metal Men
389:The Flash
236:King Kong
229:cards in
187:The Bronx
139:DC Comics
122:DC Comics
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587:Quotes
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365:, and
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