Jack Marionette
date: label: Date made
content: 1935
name: label: user
content: Reich, Molka
label: agent
content: Works Progress Administration
label: maker
content: Reich, Molka
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This marionette represents the character Jack from the popular fairy tale <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i>. He has wooden arms and legs and his hands are made of paper mache. He wears a blue cotton shirt and gold pants with matching plaid vest, and his hat and socks are decorated with ladybug buttons and gold yarn hair. He operates with one control bar and eleven strings and has been remade from an earlier puppet created by Molka Reich, a puppeteer who had her start in the Federal Theater Project that ran from 1935-1939.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Originally from New York, Reich moved to Florida in 1935 and joined the Miami Florida Federal Theater Project in 1935. She traveled all over the state, giving popular performances of such plays as <i>Treasure Island</i> and <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i>, where these puppets appeared.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Part of President Roosevelt's New Deal, the Federal Theater Project was created in 1935 to employ jobless theater professionals and make the performing arts available to the vast number of citizens who had little money for entertainment. Over the four year period the FTA produced over 2700 plays seen by approximately 30 million people, most who had never even seen a play. Puppets were an integral part of this project and it is estimated that the marionette units presented an average of 1200 shows a week in 22 states.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Florida, Miami
topic: label: general subject association
content: Puppetry
label: related event
content: Great Depression
label: related event
content: New Deal Era
label: related event
content: Federal Theatre Project
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Puppets
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Molka Reich
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0093.01
label: accession number
content: 1982.0093
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0093.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper mache (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wool (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 in x 6 in; 45.72 cm x 15.24 cm