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Fairground Art by Sheila Denton
2. Late Mid 20th Century In the late 1920’s ‘dodgems’ were introduced to the fairground. These little cars were, and still are, "powered by electricity via a ‘trolley-pole’" as showman John Bugg informed me during a visit to a fair. This runs from the back of the car to the ceiling of the dodgem track. Although artistic decoration is limited, the surface and shape follows the trend of the car industry with its accompanying lineage, an art in itself. I remember the dodgem cars of the late 1950’s. They were rounded, squat, in plain colours with chromium trim. If one compares that to the square 1930’s style, with its Art Nouveau pattern of lines and curves in black and purple, and the streamlined dodgem car in brightly coloured, metallic-painted fibreglass seen now, it is easy to see the changes and influence over the years. In my romantic mood I prefer the style of my childhood, although the current streamlined models appear to travel much faster! Other rides from the early 60’s are the ‘Skids’, the ‘Ark’, and the ‘Swing boats’. The ‘Ark’ was so called because of the variety of wooden animals the customers could ride on. At this time the rounding boards were narrower but the artist was able to demonstrate his ability by painting large pictures on the huge showfronts, the focal point of the facade. One of the most prolific and talented artists was Edwin Hall who, with his elder brother William (Billy), was employed by ride manufacturers R J Lakin of London. None of his artwork is, as far as I know, travelling today but photographs in books, and at the National Fairground Archive, reveal the amazing decoration on these old rides. There were leopards and gorillas fighting in leafy glades, birds and snakes attacking each other in the treetops, safari rides in the jungle. Others show motorcyclists racing around a track complete with spectators in a grandstand. On these rides, a ‘Speedway’, motorcycles replaced the wooden animals. Edwin’s favourite theme was inspired by a painting by Alexander von Wagner called ‘The Chariot Race’ (now in Manchester City Art Gallery) showing a Roman arena with charioteers racing around the track, and his personal interpretation of this picture decorated many showfronts. The decorator was able to show the speed and somewhat ‘violent’ nature of these rides in his artwork. In 1930 Fred Fowle joined Lakins. Although he originally wanted to be a commercial artist, Fred started his working life painting lines around the sides of shoe soles in a shoe manufacturer, a skill that was to prove useful in later years. He looked on Edwin Hall as the ‘Master’ and in 1936 the young Fred was excited by the brighter colours Edwin introduced to his fairground art rather than the subdued tones he had previously employed. After the 2nd World War Billy Hall and Fred joined forces to become ‘Hall & Fowle - Showman’s Decorators’, and with Fred’s expertise they revolutionised the decoration of the Fairground, sometimes calling upon brother Edwin for artistic ideas. In time Fred’s own experimental designs and paintwork proved popular with the showmen, and he became recognised as the ‘Master’. His legacy carries on to this day. Primary and secondary colours glare at each other; "You can’t emphasise brightness enough", he once declared. Some of the work of F G Fowle Ltd is still seen on today’s travelling fairs. If Edwin Hall’s talent was in pictorial decoration, then Fred Fowle’s lay in the traditional scrollwork, abstract designs, and lettering with its amazing typefaces, most of which he made up himself. A typical example of Fred Fowle’s work can be seen on Joe Cogger's ‘Waltzer’ ride, the modern version of the ‘Ark’, with its cars which spin the rider round and sideways at the same time on an undulating circuit. The word ‘Waltzer’, painted on the back of the cars, is only just discernible because of the twists and turns of the letterforms. Fred pioneered the idea of filling the brightly painted letters and numbers with spots, stars, checkerboards etc in a darker tone. He used the psychedelic colours that were popular during the ‘flower-power era’ of the 1960’s, bright reds, greens, mauves, yellows and oranges. The main outline was exaggerated in black, the steadiness of the line achieved by years of practise around the soles of shoes. "There are rules in colour to my mind", said Fred in an interview for the Sunday Telegraph magazine in 1981, "Like you don’t put blue and green together. It’s okay if you put a dark line to separate them but some colours together knock your eyes for six". The result is colourful, graphic, with a sense of freedom from the confines of the normal ‘rules’ of art. It is, in some ways, abstract, but if one looks closely, out of the confusion a recognisable image emerges. It is very cleverly worked out. The alternate cars have a face in profile with bright green, swirling hair. This was painted at the time when the musical ‘Hair’ was being staged and gave Fred the idea. The swirl of the hair on the cars adds to the illusion of the twisting motion of the ride, an inspired piece of artistic decoration. There is also a face on the outer handrails of the Waltzer inspired by posters for the 1960’s musical ‘Godspell’. Like that on the poster the face is vertically divided, with each side a different colour, the hair spurting from the head in a mass of waves, like the mythological Medusa with snakes for hair. The same handrails can be seen in different coloured paintwork at several fairs. At Yarmouth Pleasure Beach in 1996 a visiting Waltzer ride had the image from ‘Godspell’ on its rounding boards too, covering the joins, with the hair painted in a mass of purple and silver. One of the Fred Fowle’s most used motifs is the snarling tiger leaping through a hoop, seen adorning the rounding boards of Shane Whyatt’s Waltzer ride at an Easter fair. This was inspired by the ‘ESSO’ petroleum logo of the 1960’s; I have seen the original advert on which Fred drew squares to enable him to scale the picture to the required size. Now over 25 years old, the tiger and surrounding scrollwork in red and yellow are as bright as ever. Aluminium leaf was used, painted over with traditional ‘flamboyant enamel’ which was described by Fred as "a transparent lacquer which lets the sun shine through to bounce back off the aluminium leaf underneath" Caught in the spring sunshine the rounding boards glow with colour and light giving a beautiful, breathtaking display. "The showfront for this Waltzer has been changed", showman Shane Whyatt informed me, "and it was originally a ‘Ben Hur’ Ark, and a picture of this can be seen in Weedon & Ward’s book, ‘Fairground Art’. Fred Fowle had painted the facade with lettering taken from a poster for the famous film of that name starring Charlton Heston. The words BEN HUR were seemingly carved in stone, dwarfing the racing charioteers painted at the base of the letters, which were inspired by Edwin Hall’s showfront. This looked an amazing piece of decorative work, combining lettering, pictorial and traditional scrollwork to achieve a colourful artistic effect. At a travelling fair in May 1996, I found showman Frankie Harris and his ‘Skid’ ride. This is one of the last of these old rides still travelling and Mr Harris proudly retains the original artwork, painted on the cars by Fred Fowle. "It’s what people expect to see" he remarked, "So I don’t intend changing it". The word SKID painted on the back of the cars was set in a many-pointed red starburst which was inspired by the artwork on a packet of ‘OMO’ washing powder of the 1960’s. The letters were "ambered to silver with the flamboyance" Mr Harris told me. They were also blocked and shaded, with black-lining and set against a white background. It appears to be simply executed but there is a lot of work involved to achieve the effect. This type of decoration takes ingenuity and patience. One of Fred’s most spectacular painted facades is on Raymond Armstrong’s Waltzer ride, often seen at Nottingham Goose Fair. A snarling lion with wild eyes, inspired by a poster for the film ‘The Lion’, stands astride a piece of red scrollwork, it’s tail curling protectively around the scroll to add to the perspective. The scroll was edged with aluminium leaf, blocked with amber, and with amber scroll burgeoning at intervals was just like the acanthus leaves on the rides of the earlier part of the century. Above the lion and across the top the word ‘WALTZER’ was painted in red, again with aluminium leaf, amber shading and black lining. From each letter a green and yellow acanthus leaf sprouted and, at each end of the word, the letter turned to amber ribbon with scrollwork at intervals also in amber. All this was against a background of blue-green, with shading throughout painted in traditional Fred Fowle style, "as if the sun is shining at top left". Scrollwork in amber curled under the lettering too. The delicacy of the paintwork was outstanding, with each piece of scroll filled with little flicks and highlights in a darker tone, e.g. sienna on the amber "‘Nadge-worthies’ is the Master’s name for them" showman’s decorator Mark Gill told me. The aluminium leaf shone in the light and, with the amber flamboyant paint, the ride appeared to be a mass of gilding, a spectacular sight. The rounding boards were decorated in amber scrollwork and ribbon with amber block-shading and black lining. The centre of each section carried what appeared to be an ‘Olympic torch’ with two-tone amber flames flaring from the holder, the shading giving a tremendously three-dimensional effect. In 1976, 13-year-old Mark Gill started work with Fred Fowle as his apprentice, initially during school holidays, then full-time once he’d left school. The first ride he helped paint was, incidentally, Armstrong’s Waltzer, putting amber flamboyant paint on the back of the rounding boards. "Uncle Len (Huckle) was looking after me, the Master had gone out", he says, "Every time I painted a bit he would wipe it off, saying, "Do it again", it wasn’t good enough. I was nearly in tears". Fred’s expertise and tuition combined with the young man’s natural talent to give his work the high standard of craftsmanship the customers of F.G Fowle had come to expect. Fred also acknowledged the quality of Mark’s work, "He’ll be teaching me soon", he commented in the Sunday Telegraph, Mark was then only 18 years old. Tommy Benson’s ‘Supreme Waltzer’ was the last big ride Fred Fowle painted, his ‘swansong’. Since 1997 the ride has been almost completely re-decorated by Mark Gill, with only a few changes to the original design. Within the face of each of the letters of the word ‘Waltzer’ one can see various images of London, e.g. Post Office Tower in the ‘L’, St Paul’s in the ‘T’, etc. This attention to detail makes the work distinctive and superior. As usual in such re-decoration work, Mark acknowledges the Master, painted on the edge of the façade are the words ‘Fairground Art by Mark Gill, to the original design by F G Fowle’, but perhaps, in the realms of traditional scrollwork, the mantle of ‘Master’ has now been passed to the once apprentice. On the front of Pete Williamson’s Amusement Arcade, at Wroxham Barns Craft Centre in Norfolk, I saw an example of Mark’s lettering and scrollwork. The bright colours and black-lining gave a superbly clean image to the lettering. The lettering was in traditional Tuscan style, blocked and shaded, with the small ‘nadge-worthies’ in the exaggerated serifs. Though there are many fine examples of scrollwork by various artists, Fred and Mark seem to be the only two decorators who use the little flicks and highlights so delicately. At Nottingham Goose Fair I noticed the signature of ‘F G Fowle Ltd’ on the corner of the rounding boards of a children’s roundabout. Each section of the rounding boards was decorated with a different nursery rhyme character; little Bo Peep with her sheep, Jack Horner in his corner, etc, and edged with red and yellow scrollwork. The ceiling and centre of the ride were adorned with characters and images from the more modern ‘Thunderbirds’ TV series and were obviously painted by a different hand because the artwork was not as good. The rounding boards were pretty but the interior painting was, for me, too much of a contrast in image and style. Pete Tei, (Tate Décor), was one of many decorators who sought advice from Fred Fowle; he was, and still is, inspired by his work. Pete initially made and painted fairground models, but has painted full-size rides since 1975. One of his best pieces of work is the front of the sales stall, which he painted free of charge for the Fairground Association of Great Britain. The twelve processes used for scrollwork are time-consuming and therefore expensive but ‘without the financial clock ticking away I was able to put my heart and soul into this one’. The result is a colourful piece of ribbon and scrollwork, filled with ‘nadgeworthies’, with virtually no space to spare. Perhaps someone should start a new fashion - using this type of art for shop fronts on the High Street instead of today’s bland, computerised, vinyl lettering. It would certainly make shopping more fun! In addition to the rides on the fairs there is opportunity for decoration on the sectional sides of the various stalls, known as shutters. Although some carry artwork to the standard as the rides, much of the decoration has been taken from Fred Fowle’s ideas, but simplified by inexperienced artists, some of them showmen, who try to save money by not employing a professional decorator to do the job. Many have circles painted in the centre with lines and ‘wings’ flaring out from the round edges. This wing pattern was initially used on the rounding boards of large rides. It was inspired by the logos of car manufacturers as people associated it with speed. It was then adapted for use on the paintwork of the shutters. The colours are bright - blue, red, yellow, pink - with attempts at shading and lining. Although presentable, the lack of expertise is still evident. The initial letters from the showman’s name on one stall, at Lowestoft Fair in August ‘96, had deep lines for the blocking and sat on a pedestal with blocked edges giving a tremendous depth and perspective. This was originally taken from the sculptural appearance of ‘the 20th Century Fox’ Filmmakers logo seen at the start of their films. Fred Fowle drew impressive scale drawings, on brown paper, (more robust than drawing paper), which typified this effect. At Henham Steam Rally, Suffolk, in 1996, I noticed a ‘Rifle Range’ on the funfair. Depicted on one side was the actor Clint Eastwood, dressed in the costume of his ‘spaghetti western’ character, and on the other John Wayne, also portrayed as a cowboy. The artist had caught their likeness very well and it was obvious to the passer-by that the stall involved shooting, even if he/she couldn’t read the words RIFLE RANGE across the top. It was a good example of visual interpretation of the theme. From the descriptions above it is obvious that the cinema played a major part in providing inspiration for the fairground decoration of this period. However the architecture of the 19th century influenced the scrollwork, and the relief, carved decoration of the early part of the century the 3-dimensional effect of the shading. I found myself comparing the art on the rounding boards to that seen on the Gallopers and gondolas. The rides of the mid-20th century were restricted in their movement by their size, shape, and mechanics. But, as John Bugg commented, the introduction of the hydraulic system to the fairground enabled the ride manufacturers to do "almost anything with the human body". How would the showmen’s decorators respond to these changes?
Bill Edwards Holds The
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