Friday, August 27, 2010

RBBB - 1950's

I'm not the Ringling expert that other folks are but I believe I'm right in saying the jungle tree motif on the cages was used in 1950 and 1951. Can anyone confirm or correct this?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Bob,
The jungle scenes were used on the ammo cages from 1949 to 1953.
In 1954, Bill Ballantine painted what was referred to as "Haitian Primitive" designs. The design was appropriate to the occupants of the cages. Monkeys had clown faces, lions had an african motif, tigers an asian/indian motif, etc. They were very colorful to say the least.
Then in 1955 when they returned to the separate menagerie tent, the ammo cages were once again painted with the jungle palm trees and stayed that way for their remaining years..
Dom