Female Hand Puppet made by Bil Baird
date: label: Date made
content: 1927 - 1928
name: label: user
content: Varell, Miquel V.
label: maker
content: Baird, Bill
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This female carved wooden hand puppet with a jaunty air was created by Bil Baird sometime around 1927-1928 for Miquel Varell. She has strong facial features that have been emphasized with brightly painted red lips and blue eye shadow. Her clothing suggests a bohemian style, and she is wearing a golden yellow blouse under an orange vest with a gathered brown print cotton skirt with a neck scarf. A black and gold tam covers her head, and she is wearing dangle earrings and green high heels. Resembling a French coquette, she may be modeled after Gertrude Stein. A metal hanging hook and a sleeve or short skirt is attached to the back of the figure used for the puppeteers hand. Her exaggerated and detailed features are Bill Baird's signature style.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Originally from Budapest, Hungary, Miquel Varell immigrated to the United States after World War I in search of a better life. Despite a lack of any formal training in the theater, Varell's lifelong love of puppetry inspired him to establish a puppet company based on a European style Grand Guignol, or Punch and Judy, traveling show. But Varell needed someone to create the puppets based on his own specifications. He approached Tony Sarg, his friend and well known puppeteer, to find someone who could create the puppets according to his specifications. Sarg recommended his young apprentice, Bil Baird, to create the puppets for Varell's theater.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Using the puppets provided by Baird, Varell constructed his own portable theater, including stage sets and backgrounds, and performed at schools, clubs, and children's parties. Sadly, his career was short lived. The European style of puppetry, based on expression and moment, was replaced with talking puppets, and Varell spoke only broken English.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: Associated Place
content: United States: New York, New York
topic: label: Subject
content: Puppetry
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Puppets
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Lia V. Dingfelder
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0168.02
label: accession number
content: 1993.0168
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0168.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 cm x 28 cm; 14 3/16 in x 11 in