A really spectacular Ike & Tina Turner Revue window card from 1969, a key year for the dynamic duo. They charted four singles that year, the most from any year in their career, plus they opened for The Rolling Stones on the latter’s barnstorming fall U.S. tour – at the time, about the biggest tour in modern rock history.

This cardboard Ike & Tina poster board just sizzles with its bright yellow background and elements of florescent green and orange on top of that.  Color-wise, it’s a showstopper.

And it’s full of action. All five musicians pictured are in motion, all five are shown from head to toe, and all five are looking straight at the photographer.  A lot of thought obviously went into this thing.

And the size of this Ike & Tina Turner Revue placard is amazing. The standard window-card size of the day was 14×22”; this specimen measures out to 17 by 29 inches. It’s just amazing to hold in your hands.

That’s even taller than a standard jumbo window card of the day, which usually topped out at 28” tall.

Another huge plus for this Ike & Tina in-person poster is the fact that it’s from their hometown – St. Louis, Missouri.  That’s right, George Edick’s Club Imperial (at Goodfellow & Florissant, misspelled on this poster) was in St. Loo.

The venue information on top is then rounded out by the words, “Tues. May 20, 2 shows, 7 & 10 PM.”  One can bet the second show ran pretty late.

And then there’s one more bombshell aspect of this Ike & Tina Turner Revue billboard… believe it or not, and I show you in the video… Tina autographed it.  Down by her legs.  “Love Always, Tina Turner.”

So for this thing to be from the ’60s, hail from their hometown, be signed by Tina (perhaps that night) and have such great eye appeal… it is simply the cat’s meow.

In discussing its dimensions, I forgot to mention that this Ike & Tina window display was manufactured on thick cardstock, or ‘cardboard’ as us collectors like to call it.

You’ll notice in the video that it flexes easily in my hands, but yet you wouldn’t want to roll it up in a tube, because that would probably damage it.

Poster collectors will note that this Ike & Tina Turner Revue event poster was a break from what they had been using all decade long… their trademark “fiery red & yellow” design that I’ve video-blogged elsewhere here.

That design first appeared in 1962 and was used right up until early 1969, before the switch was made to this tour blank I’m showing you today.

Once this Ike & Tina show placard started getting used, the previous design concept was quickly phased out. But guess what? There was at least one other version of this latter-day poster I’m showing you.

They made a purple one as well… purple where the yellow is on this one. I show you two different purple ones in my video, using photographs.  Everyone can decide which they like better!

Any male collector will not be able to help but notice the four miniskirts present on this Ike & Tina Turner Revue concert sign. It was the sixties, after all, when mini’s were probably at their all-time most popular.

But the Turners also loved to play up sexiness on stage, so they surely had shorter skirts before anyone else in show business and never hesitated to flaunt it.

Another plus for this Ike & Tina boxing-style concert poster is its condition. Yes it was actually used to advertise tickets before the show, which you can tell from its “toning” (it was once on a white background) and its many tack holes.

But I love the fact that it looks “lived-in”… that it actually feels almost half-a-century old when I hold it in my hands.  To me, that beats shiny white mint condition any day of the week.

Ultimately, I have to declare this Ike & Tina Turner Revue ticket poster as my favorite design of any posters I’ve ever seen by them.  I think it beats out the fiery red & yellow ones.

And you know what? I believe that the group had their own designers do their posters; I have evidence that the printers which printed their posters – Globe, Colby, Tilghman – did not also design them.  Interestingly, this poster has no printer’s credit at all.

So if I had to have just one Ike & Tina concert advertisement in my collection, this would be it. It narrowly beats out the great big 1962 one that I’ve also video-blogged.

But concert poster design is an art, and when it comes to art, nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong.  It’s all a matter of taste.

Before I close, note how their booking agency took a plug for themselves at the bottom of this Ike & Tina Turner Revue street sign.

I’m not sure where the name “Spud Nik” came from, but the phone number given is the same as it was for Ike & Tina Turner Productions, whose phone # is given on other concert posters of theirs.

This Ike & Tina fence poster is happily shown to you today by Peter J. Howard of San Luis Obispo, CA.  That’s me, long-time musicologist and collector.  I can be penned at pete@postercentral.com or called on (805) 540-0020.  Please remember that I pay the VERY BEST PRICES IN THIS HOBBY, BAR NONE, for vintage ’50s and ’60s R&B and blues concert posters like this.

In fact, to see a few more dandys like this, include an Ike & Tina from – gasp – 1960!, just move your cursor over to this page of my site: http://www.postercentral.com/rhythmnblues.htm