Perez II 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 is Perez #2 from the 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
label: Description (Brief)
content: he is rescued.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In the puppet play produced by Elizabeth L.. Haines with her husband, Frank D. Haines, 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: Perez #2 is made of hand carved wood, with hinged appendages and a moveable head. .is dressed for his wedding to Martina. 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 e has a moustache made of black feathers. He wears a fancy toreador suit with blue velvet pants and short jacket trimmed in the gold thread lace, and sports a bright pink cummerbund. This puppet is operated with a 5- wooden airplane control with ten 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: 2007.0137.004.08
label: accession number
content: 2007.0137
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0137.004.08
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
label: Object Type
content: puppets
label: Object Type
content: marionettes
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fiber, synthetic, rayon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metallic thread (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: feathers (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: adhesive (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: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 1/2 in x 9 in x 4 in; 59.69 cm x 22.86 cm x 10.16 cm