Giant Marionette from Jack and the Beanstalk
date: label: Date made
content: 1935
name: label: agent
content: Works Progress Administration
label: maker
content: Reich, Molka
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Giant marionette, from <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i>. It has ten strings and a control bar. Its face is a brown hollowed composition with red and pink yarn hair. It is dressed in a red plaid shirt, black bow necktie, black patent leather belt, brown leather trousers, and vertically pleated black boots. The legs and shoulders are wood, with cloth arms and hands. This marionette was made for and used in the Federal Theater Project in Florida by Molka Reich, 1935-1939.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Federal Theatre Project was created in 1935, in the middle of the Depression era, in order to employ jobless theater professionals and make the performing arts available to the vast number of citizens who had little money for entertainment. In the four years of its life, the Federal Theater Project units produced over 2700 plays seen by about 30 million people, most of whom had never seen a play. Puppets were an integral part of this project. Marionette units presented an average of 1200 shows a week in 22 states. The Federal Theater Project gave many the hope of a nationally supported theater, and it was the most popular cultural project of the New Deal. It was also the most controversial and the first to be abolished.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Molka Reich, joined the Miami, Florida Federal Theater Project in 1935. She travelled all over the state, giving very popular performances of such plays as Treasure Island and Jack and the Beanstalk, where these puppets appeared. Reich's performances ended when the project was abolished in 1939.
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: 1982.0093.02
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0093.02
label: accession number
content: 1982.0093
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: strings (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 34 in x 14 in; 86.36 cm x 35.56 cm