A.S.Howell

A.S.HOWELL III : 1906 - 1966 Sid was born in Albert Street, Bristol and at the age of seven, moved with his family to Burton, where his father Albert worked for the fairground amusement manufacturer Geo.Orton & Sons. Although for many years the firm had been known as Orton & Spooner, it wasn't until 1925 that the two firms officially merged .... see separate page for a brief history. On leaving school at the age of fourteen, Sid was already an accomplished artist for his age, he was awarded a full time scholarship at the Municiple School of Art and Crafts, where he passed virtually every examination that was available in the 1920's. At the age of 21 he was fully qualified to teach art in all sujects, however, for reasons best known to himself, he chose to work as an Engineering Draughtsman for a local company, The Branston Artificial Silk Factory. The firm closed down in 1930, which left Sid looking for work - an opportunity arose for him to join his father at Orton & Spooner, new machines were being introduced in the form of the Noah's Arks. These needed new design concepts; Sid was fully qualified, even at the age of 24 to meet this challenging role. He had the necessary flair and imagination to fulfill these ideals, getting away from the 'traditional' and very quickly stamping his own design techniques at this important time of change. If the machine came out of Orton's in the 30's and 40's then the art work was a product of his design capabilities, others would copy, but Sid, Albert and Orton & Spooner led the field.

( Link to photograph of Sid Howell)

Arthur Bates 'Super Jungle Ride' shown on the right is a fine example of this new art design, introduced by Sid in 1932. Revolutionary at the time, it was an 'eye-catcher' at any venue, and no doubt raised a few eyebrows from the 'traditionalists', both then and even to the present day! DOES THIS SCENIC FRONT OR ONE VERY SIMILAR STILL EXIST TODAY? The 1988 movie, 'SHORT -CIRCUIT II' contains several warehouse scenes that appear to show this particular scenic front in the background - any information about this would be very much appreciated by using the 'contact' on the first page of this site.

Sid was promoted to Orton's Chief Artist/Designer following the retirement of Herbert Darby in 1933 where he continued to work alongside his father until the start of WW II and again after the war was over until 1950. During this latter period he had a short break in 1947, when he went to work at the leisure complex at Belle Vue Manchester, he returned for approximately two years, before accepting a position with Blackpool Corporation as their Chief Design Artist for the Illuminations. Housing problems at the time forced him to return to Burton in 1953, he obtained work with the local printer W.B.Darley as their design artist, this involved a lot of work for the local brewers, Bass, Ind Coope and Marston's. During this period, Sid had always continued painting and designing panels for Showmen, it is fitting that his final contract was for Frank Edwards in 1961/62 painting the new shutters for the Super Chariot Racer. His final appointment came in the early 1960's when he went to The National Coal Board Research Establishment at Bretby, as a Technical Illustrator, he stayed there until his premature death in 1966. Sid had only out-lived his father by seven years, the fairground world had lost two of the best decorative artist/designers in such a short period of time.

These are just three examples of Sid's 'fine line' artistry, from an early age, he had always been known as ' the chap who could draw and paint anything ' to a very high professional standard. There are many more examples of his work, plus a full history of the A.S. Howell's fairground design work in the book soon to be published.

They were THE Father and Son decorative art design team of the twentieth century.

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