Manage Jazz Band Clown Costume (above)
Signed and dated lower right: "Don Foote '71."
Gouache with fabric swatches on illustration board
19 x 14 inches, overall
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Clown Costume Designs
for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus
for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus
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Portrait of Don Foote in his studio (right). |
Elephant Blanket and Headdress  |
Don Foote (1931-1984) (designer)
Pair of Clown Costume Designs for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus
American: 1971
Gouache paintings
Provenance: Collection of Arthur & Marilyn Gerold, New Hope, PA
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Pair of Clown Costume Designs for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus
American: 1971
Gouache paintings
Provenance: Collection of Arthur & Marilyn Gerold, New Hope, PA
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Pair of brightly colored costume designs in orange, pink, and red, for the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, one for a clown and one for an elephant. The Manage Jazz Band costume design depicts a clown with oversized bowtie, holding a trombone. Fabric swatches are pasted to the upper left and the reverse side has detailed measurements for the costume, as well as the name "Marcus Droquet," presumably the name of the clown. The other drawing shows an elephant wearing a blanket and headdress decorated with stylized smiling clowns. This drawing is dedicated to Marilyn Miller Gerold, a Broadway actress who appeared in several shows in the 1940s.
Don Foote was a prolific costume designer for touring entertainments such as circuses and ice shows. Raised in Rochester, New York, he went to California to study costume design at a school in Hollywood. On the advice of costume designer Edith Head, he went to New York to work on Broadway and eventually became a staff designer for Eaves costume house, which provided costumes for the stage and television. He left Eaves in 1969, when he was offered a position as the costume designer for the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, which had just been purchased by the producers Irvin Feld and Kenneth Feld. He spent the rest of his career designing costumes, props and scenery for the circus and for other entertainments operated by the Felds, such as Disney’s World on Ice, Ice Follies, Holiday on Ice, and Siegfried and Roy – in 1983 he told a reporter that he was responsible for the production of over 400 costumes per year.
On his death, the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc. issued a statement saying, “His genius created beautiful and imaginative costuming that entraced a generation of entertainment audiences, and his respect for each artist fashioned creations which enhanced their performances. We have all lost a good friend and a talented associate who has left a lasting mark on American entertainment.”
References:
Wiessmann, Joan. “Dressed from Head to Foote.” New Jersey Herald-News. 22 July, 1983. pp. D3-D4.