Francis Charles ‘Frank' Cicero, former co-owner of Globe Poster Printing, dies
His firm, Globe Poster Printing, produced the placards for generations of R&B artists. Its work for the Motown Revue packed the names of the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas and the Four Tops on sheets of cardboard that found their way onto telephone poles and vacant buildings, creating an effective, but cheap, word-of-mouth sales campaign for the performers.
'Tina Turner used to phone in her orders all the time,' said his brother, Robert J. Cicero Sr. 'Our posters were a cheaper way of advertising, especially for artists on their way up.'
Born in Baltimore and raised in Parkville, he was the son of Joseph J. Cicero, who bought the poster business in 1975, and his wife Marie. He attended St. Ambrose and Immaculate Heart of Mary schools before graduating from Towson Catholic High School in 1962. He earned a psychology degree from the University of Baltimore.
Mr. Cicero worked briefly in his father's poster printing business in the early 1960s but became a worker in the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. There he met his future wife, Debra 'Debbie' Rice. They married in 1975.
That year, he joined his father and brothers at Globe Poster, an old Baltimore firm that moved from South Hanover Street to the Candler Building, Byrd Street in South Baltimore and then to Highlandtown.
'Frank worked the front counter and was the epitome of cordiality and helpfulness,' said Milton A. Dugger Jr., a customer. 'In the Black community, his posters spoke loudly. If you didn't have a poster, nobody knew your event would happen. His posters brought life to your affair.'
It was not all show business. Over the years Globe Poster announced candidates for city council and summer street carnivals. The late Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos used Globe for his 1960s City Council campaign, as did Spiro T. Agnew for his various electoral ambitions.
But they were best known for the fluorescent color behind the typefaces for James Brown, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King and Bobby 'Blue' Bland.
'We actually did most of our work for customers out of Baltimore,' said his brother, Robert. 'We worked closely with the clubs in D.C. for the 'Go-Go' funk sound and hip-hop artists. We also worked for rhythm and blues artists in Kansas City, Saint Louis, Louisiana and Texas. We were simply the cheapest form of advertising.'
The firm had a minimum order of 50 posters; for a large traveling show, such as the Motown Revue, Globe would produce 5,000 posters, with the name of the performing venue left blank, so that it would be added later. The firm once had eight presses running four hours a day.
The posters found their way into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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His wife said Mr. Cicero designed many of the posters from the mid-1970s to 2010, when Globe closed its doors. The family then donated Globe's printing materials to the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Mr. Cicero was a student of Baltimore history and a Baltimore Streetcar Museum member. He also cultivated a love for Italian cooking and made meatballs, pasta, and Italian cookies.
'His childhood was full of laughter,' said his daughter, Sarah Cicero. 'He loved to tease. He developed many friendships in youth which remain strong to this day.'
Survivors include his wife of more than 49 years, Debra 'Debbie' Rice Cicero, a former social worker who also worked in the family business; three daughters, Sarah Cicero, Julia Cicero and Mary Cicero, all of Baltimore County; a brother, Robert J. Cicero Sr., of Cockeysville; and six grandchildren.
A Mass was held March 15 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Towson.
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