Elf Marionette
date: label: Date made
content: 1939
name: label: Associated Name
content: General Electric Company
label: maker
content: Tatterman Marionette Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This marionette depicting an elf is made of wood, with a painted face, hands, and legs, and wears a cotton knit stripe shirt with velvet pants and brown suede shoes. He operates with eight strings held on one bar. He retains his original clothing but he has been modified and repainted to use in a different production--a common practice with puppets.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In its original venue, this little elf was made by the Tatterman Marionette Co., who performed the play "Mrs. Cinderella" at the General Electric Show at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Led by William Duncan and Ed Mabley, the Tatterman Company toured the country and performed thousands of puppet shows to promote the wonders of electricity.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In the skit, Cinderella and her handsome prince are happily married but live in a drafty, old castle inhabited by little elves who do everything the difficult way--sans electricity! Cinderella's fairy godmother advises her to call General Electric who arrives with all kinds of new electrical appliances that make life so much easier
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: general subject association
content: Puppetry
label: general subject association
content: Worlds Fair
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Puppets
label: See more items in
content: Advertising
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: 1979.1164.05
label: accession number
content: 1979.1164
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1164.05
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: velvet (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: string (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 in; 35.56 cm