Bayou Juju

Here's the real deal. A friend brought this back for me from New Orleans a long time ago...and I'm afraid to throw it away (what if it's really working!?)! It's from Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street. Times being what they are and all, even the voodoo shops have websites now.

Good JuJu

This pre-Valentine squib is inspired by a foray into the pantry to clean out ancient treats (unconsumed for a year and exhumed to avoid waste). The gummy hearts are a product (and a train wreck of a package) of Mayfair Sales, Buffalo, NY. A shallow search for Mayfair's site led me to a post by a gent named Michael Marcus, who normally posts about publishing, but reminisced about Jan/Feb candies.

But I digress. The heart of this post is the typography for "Mayfair." Can you name the face? A hint: I found its name in Photolettering's One Line Manual of Styles, one of the now-vintage type books on BTD's shelves. BTW, you could give your students an interesting sidebar discussion about Art Nouveau-inspired funky faces from the ______by luminaries such as______________. Extra points and picas for naming the the outlined "JuJu!"

* I first heard the term "good juju" from Amy D, originally from New Orleans, who worked at BTD in the early 1990s. Valentine candy could be "good juju"—i.e. a fetish or some sort of toy or magic to ensure romance. It's a stretch, but so's eating those gummy hearts!