In the early days of illuminated theater signage, before fluoresecent panels and interchangeable plastic letters were the norm, theater managers relied on prefabricated letters with sockets for holding incandescent bulbs to showcase their acts and movies.

One manufacturer of these letters was the Metropolitan Engineering Company located in Brooklyn, New York.  A page from their 1906 Electric Signs catalog provided a set of characters which have new been recreated digitally as Theater Act JNL - available in both regular and oblique versions.

For those who want to use a color back fill or simply have an alternate version of this type design for contrasting text, there is also Theater Act Solid JNL - also in regular and oblique versions.