Jan from Animated Film Tulips Shall Grow by George Pal: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Jan is a brightly painted wooden doll with blond hair dressed in traditional Dutch clothing and wearing a black hat. He was created by George Pal for his 1942 production Tulips Shall Grow, an anti-war parody of the rise of the Nazi regime in Europe. This was one of Pal's earliest movies made in the United States. Regarded as an historically significant film, Tulips Shall Grow was nominated to the National Film Registry in 1997 and placed in the archives of the Library of Congress.

In this film, a Dutch couple enjoying Holland's beautiful landscape with its windmills and tulips witness the invasion of the Nazis that terrorizes the countryside and causes death and destruction in this beautiful country. Literally made to look like nuts, bolts, and screws, the shape and stance of these animated figures represent the rigid and combative mentality of the Nazi soldiers.

Materials, dates and provenance

• maker; producer: Pal, George
• user: Walter Lantz Productions
• maker: Pal, George
• Object Name: figure, animation
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 15 in x 7 3/4 in x 4 1/4 in; 38.1 cm x 19.685 cm x 10.795 cm
• place made: United States: California, Los Angeles
• Subject: Animation
• general subject association: Motion Pictures
• Subject: World War II
• related event: World War II
• ID Number: 1983.0361.06
• accession number: 1983.0361
• catalog number: 1983.0361.06
• Credit Line: Gift of Elisabeth Pal
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.