Perez I Marionette
date: label: date made
content: 1942
name: label: user
content: Haines, Elizabeth L.
label: user
content: Haines, Frank D.
label: maker
content: Haines, Elizabeth L.
label: maker
content: Haines, Frank D.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This marionette, Perez 1, is a character from a traditional Latin American folk tale,"Perez and Martina: A Portotican Folktale" written by Pura Belpre and published in the United States in 1932. Belpre was the first Puerto Rican librarian at the New York Public Library and a puppeteer. The story she wrote was told to her by her grandmother when growing up in Puerto Rico.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The traditional folk tale tells of a cockroach, named Martina, who finds a coin on a walkway and decides to buy with it a tin of face powder. She primps and then waits on her veranda above her garden for suitors to call. She settles on marrying a rat, Perez, who, unfortunately, becomes carried away by his own curiosity, falling, the next morning, into a vat of soup Martina is cooking. In some versions, he succumbs and in others, he is rescued.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In the play produced by Elizabeth L. Haines with her husband, Frank , Martina is a cricket and Perez is a mouse who competes for her favors with a rooster and a frog. Martina is looked after by an aging duenna beetle. She marries Perez, her face turning into that of a woman, and she lives "as happy as a cricket" with Perez ever after.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This is Perez #1 , from the first act, is vying for Martina's affections. . Portrayed as a mouse , Perez is made of hand carved wood, with hinged appendages and a moveable head. . His hands and face are painted a light gray, with black buttons for his eyes and nose, his ears are made of soft suede leather and his moustache is made of black feathers. . He is dressed in a frilly lace trimmed shirt, a purple velvet jacket and bright yellow pants. and he is puppet is operated with a 5- wooden airplane control with nine strings.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Throughout the 1940s the Haines performed this version of the play, ( with Martina a cricket and Perez a mouse), before school groups in the Philadelphia area. The marionettes and stage props were created by Frank and Elizabeth made the costumes and the backdrops.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: classified
content: Puppetry
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Elizabeth and Frank D. Haines
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2007.0137.004.07
label: accession number
content: 2007.0137
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0137.004.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
label: Object Type
content: puppets
label: Object Type
content: marionettes
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: velvet (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fiber, synthetic, rayon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: feathers (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: adhesive (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in x 3 in; 57.15 cm x 24.13 cm x 7.62 cm