Bailey Bros. New Circus Official Route and Program Season 1944

Added by Mackenzie Franzen 1 on Feb 20th, 2023

Date

1944

Credits

Bob Stevens 2 Designer
Special Collections at Milner Library, Illinois State University 6 Collector
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc. 4 Founder

Format

Type of Work

Finished work 5261

Media

paper 1093

Dimensions

17 × 11 cm

Printed Pages

This was the cover art for the 1944 season of the Bailey Bros. Circus route and program which toured across the United States. The cover features a cheerful clown peeking out from behind a ring, along with a woman and horse who are smiling at the reader from within the ring. This is to insinuate that you will be smiling and having a fun time along with them by attending the circus. Color printing was expensive at the time, so the illustrator had to work with three colors but still make it expressive and fun. The rest of the program book has no color and looks quite bare. They relied on the front cover to appeal to the public's eye while saving money.