Hand Puppet made by Bil Baird
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Object Details
- Baird, Bil
- Varell, Miquel V.
- Baird, Bill
- Description (Brief)
- This carved wooden clown hand puppet with a white face was created by Bil Baird for Miguel V. Varell, circa 1927-1928. It is wearing a peaked orange cap with black trim, red and yellow collar, green jacket, red, green, and yellow pants, and red shoes. It has carved hands, a yellow hand skirt for puppeteer, and a metal hanging hook.
- Originally from Budapest, Hungary, Miquel Varell immigrated to the United States after World War I in search of a better life. Despite a lack of any formal training in the theater, Varell's lifelong love of puppetry inspired him to establish a puppet company based on a European style Grand Guignol, or Punch and Judy, traveling show. But Varell needed someone to create the puppets based on his own specifications. He approached Tony Sarg, his friend and well known puppeteer, to find someone who could create the puppets according to his specifications. Sarg recommended his young apprentice, Bil Baird, to create the puppets for Varell's theater.
- Using the puppets provided by Baird, Varell constructed his own portable theater, including stage sets and backgrounds, and performed at schools, clubs, and children's parties. Sadly, his career was short lived. The European style of puppetry, based on expression and moment, was replaced with talking puppets, and Varell spoke only broken English.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Lia V. Dingfelder
- 1927 - 1928
- ID Number
- 1993.0168.03
- accession number
- 1993.0168
- catalog number
- 1993.0168.03
- Object Name
- Puppet
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- fabric (overall material)
- metal (hook material)
- Measurements
- overall: 47 cm x 31 cm; 18 1/2 in x 12 3/16 in
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
- Puppets
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Puppetry
- Record ID
- nmah_1030602
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a8-e220-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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