Hallo John,

I would also avoid the use of 82C55. For direct driving 74HC573 (8bit latch) are often used in LED applications. Up to 70mA is allowed to flow through Vcc or Gnd pin. So, you can have run each (of the eight) LED with up to 9mA. That's very much, when using high efficient LED.
The 8bit latches are connected to databus and are addressed with memory mapping methode.

As long as I do not know more about your project, I cannot give further help.

One final point: To ME multiplexing is not acceptable, because of flickering of LEDs. Multiplexing is the most common used methode for driving LED displays, of course. But I prefer some static driving, even if circuitry might become more complex.

Bye,
Kai