Designed by Max R. Kaufmann for ATF in 1939 in 3 weights. The working name was Speedball. The 2 lighter weights could be combined with the lowercase of Kaufmann Script by the same designer. [McGrew] 2 weights were sold in Europe by Lettergieterij Amsterdam as Lasso in 1952. [Reichardt]
Both Letraset and Mecanorma added a Drop Shadow style. There are various digitizations. In addition to the Drop Shadow, URW’s includes various extra styles based on the Extrabold: small caps, a tightly spaced Poster version, Outline, Relief. Bitstream’s digitization was also known as Freehand 041.