Mr. Tambo, Black Minstrel Puppet
date: label: Date made
content: 1850
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Mr. Tambo, named after his musical instrument, starred in an unusual marionette minstrel show said to have been staged on a showboat plying the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis between 1850 and 1875. The minstrel show, considered to be the first uniquely American form of entertainment, featured whites parodying blacks. It was often the fare of showboats bringing comedy and musical entertainment, as well as negative racial stereotypes, to working class Americans in urban and rural areas. It was rare, however, that this popular amusement was involved with puppetry.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Mr. Tambo was a traditional minstrel character who appeared with Mr. Bones and the MC. The rest of the show consisted of dynamic songs, dances and other variety acts, and ended with a short skit. There are at least nine surviving marionettes from this unique show, four of which are in the National Museum of American History Collection. Besides Mr. Tambo, we have a disassembling skeleton, a horse skeleton and a policeman. They are beautifully hand-crafted from wood, leather and cloth. All four were gifts of Hazel and J.Woodson Rollins.
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: general subject association
content: Puppetry
label: Subject
content: Blackface
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Puppets
label: Exhibition
content: Entertainment Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hazelle H. and J. Woodson Rollins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0974.01
label: accession number
content: 1979.0974
label: catalog number
content: 1979.0974.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: string (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 46 in; 116.84 cm