When Stephen Colbert took over the helm of The Late Show from David Letterman this past Fall, he needed signage as star-studded as his line-up of guests. Enter Going Sign & Servicing Company, Inc. of Plainview, New York.
Going Sign was started in 1903 in Brooklyn by Vice President Kevin Going’s grandfather. In its one hundred-plus-year history, the sign company has gone from specializing in painted letters on horse-drawn carriages to a full-service shop with the latest equipment and machinery to handle all types of signs.
The sign shop has a continuous relationship with CBS (which airs The Late Show), and the shop fabricated the original marquee for Letterman back in 1993. They’ve maintained the marquee since then (even dismantling it after Letterman’s retirement in May), in addition to doing other sign work for CBS.
So the sign company was the natural choice for the new Colbert signage, which includes an all-new marquee and a double-sided upright sign mounted to a building façade.
Going Sign sat down with everyone involved on the project—CBS, the architect, the engineer, the general contractor, and Colbert’s show staff—and discussed the designs. “We added our thoughts and input on how to make things a little bit easier, how to do it the right way,” says Going.
With the design set, Going Sign had a very tight deadline of eight weeks to complete a project that would normally take ten to twelve. The sign company got all hands on deck and went to work.
First Guest: Upright Sign
The double-sided, upright sign includes seven panels, each with a channel letter that spells out the name “Colbert.” Each sign panel is made up of two wall steel C-channel kickers.
Four pieces of 1-1/2-inch-by-1-1/2-inch-by-3/16-inch-thick aluminum mounting angle are attached to the steel—two pieces on each side—with non-corrosive A325 mounting bolts. An 1/8-inch polycarbonate spacer was used between the angle and the steel to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion.
(Note: North Shore Neon Company in Maspeth, New York handled the steel work.)
Next 1/8-inch-thick aluminum faces in duranodic bronze were mounted to SignComp series 7 frameless bodies #1575 in finished duranodic bronze.
On one side, they were mounted using #8 countersunk screws every twelve inches on center; on the other side, the aluminum faces were welded to the SignComp extrusions. One side was screwed in rather than welded, to allow for access in the future.
The letters were made from .063 aluminum returns finished with white Matthews Paint and bent in-house using the shop’s hand finger brakes. The returns were mounted to the aluminum faces with 1/4-inch-diameter non-corrosive mounting bolts.
A 1-3/4-inch-thick white Dibond® composite aluminum backing was used in the return.
A .080 aluminum white sign face is attached via an aluminum mounting clip riveted to the tone coat return with a 1/4-inch countersunk screw in white.
Attached to the sign face are SATCO porcelain lampholders #80/1097 with Bitro LED bulbs used to illuminate the sign. All holes for sockets for the LED bulbs were created using Sign Wizard software from Aries Graphics International. (Note: These Bitro LED bulbs served as an alternative to using traditional incandescent bulbs.)
The letters are all 7 feet, 6 inches tall and range in width from 2 feet, 2-3/4 inches to 3 feet, 3-1/2 inches.
To attach this upright sign to the building, Going Sign attached the steel C-channels to two existing steel stubs.
All installation for the upright sign and the new marquee had to be done on off hours, and it took about two days to install the upright sign.
Going Sign used its 85-foot Elliott Equipment truck, 110-foot Skylift Boom, and various other bucket trucks and pick-up trucks to complete the installation work.
Second Guest: Marquee
The new marquee on the Ed Sullivan Theater required three new sign cabinets.
The cabinets were fabricated with a combination of aluminum tubing and angle attached to a SignComp series 4 frameless body #1355 finished in textured white with Matthews Paint. The aluminum angle was attached with mounting clips and #8 countersunk screws. Going Sign used #8 pan head screws to connect whole sections of aluminum together.
The aluminum tubes were attached with 1/4-inch-diameter, non-corrosive, self-tapping screws.
The two sign faces on the side cabinets are rectangles, while the main cabinet face has a curve at the top. This was framed with custom-curved aluminum tubing.
The sign faces are made of 1/8-inch-thick aluminum finished in PMS 286c blue paint from Matthews Paint. A Cybermation router was used to stencil-cut the faces for the acrylic push-thru letters.
For the “Late Show” letters, Going Sign used one-inch-thick clear acrylic push-through graphics with 3M™ Diffuser Film 3635-70 White as an underlaminate on the first surface and 3M™ Scotchcal™ Translucent Graphic Film 3630-143 Poppy Red on the second surface.
The letters spelling out “Stephen Colbert” featured on the two side cabinets are made of one-inch-thick clear acrylic push-through graphics with 3M Scotchcal Translucent Graphic Film 3630-20 White on the first surface and 3M Diffuser Film 3635-70 White on the second surface.
The words “this” and “with” are made of 1/4-inch-thick clear acrylic flush graphics with 3M Scotchcal Translucent Graphic Film 3630-20 White on the first surface and 3M Diffuser Film 3635-70 White on the second surface.
One of the interesting parts of the sign faces is that Going Sign drilled different-sized holes into the aluminum faces on all three sides in the star pattern that would appear in the sky if you were standing at the theater on September 8, 2015 at 11:35—the date and time of the premiere of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Going Sign placed 1/8-inch-thick clear acrylic back-up with no vinyl behind the sign face and illuminated the star pattern and letters with Bitro’s TheLATTICE LED matrix lighting product.
Above the sign faces on the sides of the marquee is the word “CBS” and the CBS logo. Above the main marquee are the words “Ed Sullivan Theater” and the CBS logos. All of these elements were made of one-inch-thick clear acrylic push-through graphics with 3M Scotchcal Translucent Graphic Film 3630-22 Black Opaque on the first surface. They were backlit with LEDs.
Decorative arches also adorn the space above the three sign faces. A .080 aluminum face finished white with Matthews Paint backs the “Ed Sullivan Theater” and CBS elements, as well as the arches. The 11-inch-wide-by-11-1/2-inch-tall arches are made of white acrylic and uplit by white Bitro LEDs.
On either side of each sign face are decorative fiberglass columns. Going Sign had them custom made in Florida to mimic the columns inside the theater. These columns are uplit with white Bitro LEDs.
To finish off the marquee, flashing bulbs run along the bottom of each side in one row and along the top of each side in two rows. Going Sign used Bitro A19 LED bulbs with a Bitro Alpha Slimline power supply #ASU-100-24u. The bulbs were fastened into Leviton ceramic lampholders #0985 with a decorative .040 aluminum flower roset surrounding the bulbs.
On the marquee installation, Going Sign bolted the cabinets to the steel on the marquee’s roof using A325 mounting bolts. A 1/4-inch-thick Lexan spacer was used to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion.
Installation on the marquee took longer than the upright sign, and Going Sign was onsite for a few weeks. (Note: The shop also did work on the ceiling of the marquee.)
The final result is some star-studded signage that’s helping to usher in the next era of late night!
By Ashley Bray
Photos: Bitro, Going Sign & Servicing Company.
