Born in New York; attended a public school in 119th Street. His
original ambition was to be a dentist, but he later changed his plans and,
in 1928, graduated from New York University
as an art major.
Immerman often hung around his father's nightclub in Harlem, and he
came to know many musicians and songwriters there. It was through these
connections that he got his first job, as a designer of sheet music covers.
He was extremely succesful: at one point his signature could be found on
some 80 % of all sheet music published in New York.
He later switches from sheet music work to book cover work; his first
paperback cover was for Pocket Books 123, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He established
his own design studio, located at 48 West 48th Street, in 1942; his partner
was H. Lawrence Hoffman, their first employee was
Robert
Holly, and the signature IM-HO, which can be found on several Pocket
Book and Popular Library covers, stands sometimes for Immerman and Hoffman
and sometimes for Immerman and Holly.
The studio produced covers for both hardcover and paperback publishers,
and had some 40 firms as clients.
After several years of serving as parttime art director at Pocket Books
in addition to his duties at the studio, Immerman became full-time art
director for that house in 1947 and turned the studio over to Hoffman.
He stayed at Pocket Books through 1975.
A collegue says that, although Immerman was a good artist and calligrapher,
he was often to busy to produce good work. There were times when he had
to design five covers himself and supervise the design of a dozen others,
all in the space of a few days. Some of his own covers were quite good;
others, to be kind, were not.
In the late 1970s he was employed as art director for Penguin Books.
He was, in 1981, a consultant, working out of his home in Yonkers, New
York.