Can You Identify This Poster?

[Triton Gallery]

Triton recently received some original poster sketches from the estate of illustrator Frederic Marvin, who passed away in January.

Among the artwork was an unused submission that we cannot identify. We have attached the image here and are hoping that someone in the Broadway world might have a guess. (We have some guesses we'll share later). Based on the other sketches in the collection it is safe to date it sometime in the 1970's, maybe 1980's.

Thanks for your help.

[jamiekennywicked]

Finians Rainbow?

[kec]

Finians Rainbow is my guess as well.

[Huss417]

Funny with the subject thought it was going to have to do with identifying
a troll. :)

[artscallion]

Are you sure this is a Broadway poster. The image seems very familiar to me. But my feeling is that I've seen some version of this on record album cover or a book cover.

[artscallion]

.

[Triton Gallery]

There is some album cover art in the collection but it is all 12 x 12. This is 14x22. If it is an album cover it would be a unique size.

[Reginald Tresilian]

DOCTOR JAZZ, maybe (Winter Garden, 1975)?

[Wynbish]

I don't see Finian's Rainbow except for the presence of a rainbow. And rainbows were on many things, art-wise.

[Jungle Red]

It looks like some kind of Alice in Wonderland Jazz show to me. With a butterfly.

[Mr Roxy]

This does look like Dr Jazz

[Reginald Tresilian]

Yeah, I don't get FINIAN'S RAINBOW. To me it looks vaguely turn-of-the-century, and seems to have something to do with jazz (or at least music of some kind).

DOCTOR JAZZ begins in 1917, and is the story of a black singer-dancer who goes from New Orleans to Harlem to Broadway, under the guidance of a white man. I can see all that in this design

The final poster seems to have been by the show's production designer, Raoul Pene Du Bois. Possibly that was a last-minute decision? That would also make a discarded design make sense.

But I'm just guessing.

[Roscoe]

The top female face looks rather Angela Lansbury-ish to me.

[Reginald Tresilian]

I thought so, too, so I originally thought PRETTYBELLE, but the other visuals didn't seem to support that.

[artscallion]

It struck me as a young Maggie Smith. But that didn't lead me anywhere.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Hmm. It know it's from the estate of Frederic Marvin, but I think that's a red herring - I say it's an Al Hirschfeld design for the Finian's Rainbow movie, and the girl pictured is Petula Clark. An uneducated guess which probably doesn't make much sense, but it's a fun game.

[tazber]

I'd say Doctor Jazz as well. That definitely looks like Lola Falana on the bottom.

[twinbelters]

I immediately thought of Doctor Jazz as well.

[CapnHook]

Similar concept.