Ringling Barnum OLD KING COLE (1941) One Sheet Upright

Ringling Barnum OLD KING COLE (1941) One Sheet Upright, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. From Cris Berry The Ringling Barnum performance of 1941 was a major departure from what audiences (and circus fans) had become accustomed to. After John Ringling North retained designer Norman Bel Geddes to rework the show, one of the first things that he focused on was the spec. For the 1941 season the spec - titled "Old King Cole and Mother Goose" was moved from the opening act to Display #5. A "Bandwagon" article by Fred D. Pfening Jr from Jan-Feb 2004 provides notes from a Jan 24, 1941 meeting that Bel Geddes and North had about the spec. Notes from that meeting read in part, "Everything in the circus should look as if it is happening for the benefit of Old King Cole. The Court animal act cannot be part of the King's entertainment, because it is too dominating in itself-, a horse spectacle would be the same, as well as any other big arena act, except the elephants and things that have a special quality, or any period act that doesn't fit in with the Mother Goose idea. Therefore, we should start the circus with two or three obviously unrelated acts." Several of the old Ringling parade wagons were used in the "Old King Cole" display - including the Ringling Bell Wagon and the Two Jesters calliope. This poster (in both an upright and flat format) was the first of three spec posters produced in the 1940s by the Bel Geddes Studios, and continues the avant garde theme that received rave reviews and packed the big top in 1941.