OLD MOTHER RILEY’S CIRCUS

Original British 17 inch x 22 inch Trade Advertisement for the 1941 Thomas Bentley Comedy OLD MOTHER RILEY’S CIRCUS starring Arthur Lucan, Kitty McShane, John Longden, Edgar Driver, Roy Emerton, O.B. Clarence and Syd Crossley.

Old Mother Riley is the ringmaster after taking over a big top with flagging fortunes. Although the circus is plagued by the disappearance of its owner, and the bailiffs are at the door, the show somehow manages to go on. Money starts to pour in, financial disaster is avoided, and Mother Riley discovers her long-lost daughter is in fact the star of the show.

The Advertisement is in very good condition apart from two minor staple rust marks along vertical fold. Will be shipped rolled.

Trade advertisements are colourful posters aimed at cinema managers, which were either slipped in, or part of, the weekly film trade journals which were available to them by subscription but were not sold to the general public. The large size Trade advertisements are about the size of US half sheet posters and have a centre fold which is usually hard to discern when flat. Most were designed to be pulled out, and some were attached by staples. Most have the date in tiny letters in one of the top corners.
The publishers own copies from the 1930’s were destroyed by fire and water damage during the Blitz and Wartime paper drives decimated those held by cinemas making them quite rare.