1930 ' S Rare Vintage Hazelle ' S Popular Marionette Puppet - African/American Girl
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:42512511 | Modified Item: No |
| Character Family: David Crackett | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
| Age Level: 12-16 Years | Year: 1950 |
| Brand: Hazelle's | Vintage: Yes |
VINTAGE AFRICAN AMERICAN/BLACK GIRL HAZELLE'S MARIONETTEGreat early HAZELLE'S African American male marionette. was made as a companion for “Topsy” (the female counterpart) who was.a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin". The patent date is 1936, which fits the design of this marionette, which is one of the earlier Hazelle’s puppets. There is no plastic, it is wood and a papier-mâché/composition type material for the head and hands.From the ...Internet:Hazelle Hedges Rollins business was conceived and started during the Great Depression in 1935 in the Hedges family basement. Anxious to start her own business, she went to the 1935 New York Toy Fair looking for retailers who would sell her marionettes. At the time, the only factories that made puppets exclusively were in France, Italy, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Inspired by a workshop taught by Tony Sarg in Greenwich Village (famous for his puppets and giant Macy’s parade balloons), she returned to establish her own small factory in the Kansas City garment district. Rollins employed Kansas City Art Institute students to make simple, lightweight, short-stringed marionettes with heads of a sawdust and clay composite.When “The Howdy Doody Show” appeared on television in the 1950s, it sparked a demand for marionettes and the company grew. Hazelle’s began making hand and finger puppets, and Rollins wrote plays to accompany her creations so children could put on their own shows. Her company, Hazelle's Inc., was the largest puppet manufacturer in the country, and sold products all over the world. Rollins created more than 300 character designs, according to the Puppetry Arts Institute website. She made animals, clowns and people, including Little Red Riding Hood, Wizard of Oz characters, Little Bo Peep, Uncle Sam, Native Americans and a “Latin from Manhattan.”She obtained patents and trademarks for mechanisms for the mouths of her marionettes, movement of their shoes and ankles, and the airplane control for manipulating them.Rollins also collected early ethnic and folk puppets that she and her husband donated to the Smithsonian Institution and other museums, along with her own creations. Rollins and her husband owned the company until it was sold in 1975. She died of cancer in 1984.
