Not currently on display at the V&A

Bertram Mills' Circus

Poster
1953-1954 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This poster advertising the Bertram Mills' Circus and Fun Fair at Olympia (Grand Hall), London, 1953-1954, is illustrated with an image taken from a photograph of the elegant white-face clown Percy Huxter (1890-1960) with Little Nikki.

Percy Huxter was Bertram Mills Circus most long-standing whiteface clown, being associated with the circis for forty-two years. The son of circus performers, he and his brothers trained as acrobats and appeared as children as the novelty acrobatic act The Three Huxter Brothers, or The Three Dawsons. After military service they were engaged by Bertram Mills for his first circus at Olympia, Christmas 1920-1921, and after the trio was dissolved Huxter toured with Mills in the 1930s as a solo tumbling and white face clown act. He rejoined the circus after the second World War and stayed until he retired in 1955, working with Coco, Albert Austin and Bob Beasley at Olympia in the eccentric clown act The Four Maniacs.



Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBertram Mills' Circus (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Colour Lithography
Brief description
Poster advertising the Bertram Mills' Circus and Fun Fair at Olympia (Grand Hall), London, 1953-1954
Physical description
Pictorial and typographic. The image shows a clown.
Dimensions
  • Poster height: 50.5cm
  • Poster width: 32cm
Summary
This poster advertising the Bertram Mills' Circus and Fun Fair at Olympia (Grand Hall), London, 1953-1954, is illustrated with an image taken from a photograph of the elegant white-face clown Percy Huxter (1890-1960) with Little Nikki.

Percy Huxter was Bertram Mills Circus most long-standing whiteface clown, being associated with the circis for forty-two years. The son of circus performers, he and his brothers trained as acrobats and appeared as children as the novelty acrobatic act The Three Huxter Brothers, or The Three Dawsons. After military service they were engaged by Bertram Mills for his first circus at Olympia, Christmas 1920-1921, and after the trio was dissolved Huxter toured with Mills in the 1930s as a solo tumbling and white face clown act. He rejoined the circus after the second World War and stayed until he retired in 1955, working with Coco, Albert Austin and Bob Beasley at Olympia in the eccentric clown act The Four Maniacs.

Collection
Accession number
S.4173-1995

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Record createdApril 29, 2014
Record URL
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