The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An animated film with the title The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash. It consists of a single reel of color 16mm polyester film with optical sound.

The film is an adaptation of Trinka Hankes Noble's book with the same name and features a child telling their parent about a class trip to a farm. The film begins with a child reporting to their parent that the trip to the farm was "boring...kind of dull, until the cow started crying," to which the parent responds, " A cow, crying?" The rest of the film continues in this manner, where the child reports incidents that happened throughout the day and the parent responding until it’s revealed that Jimmy brought his pet boa constrictor to the farm.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1991
• Directed by: Michael Sporn, American, 1946 - 2014
• Written by: Trinka Hakes Noble, American, born 1944
• Owned by: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
• Type: children's films
• Type: sound films
• Type: color films (visual works)
• Type: short subjects
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: polyester film
• Dimensions: Duration: 6 Minutes
• Dimensions: Length (Film): 200 Feet
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Animated films
• Topic: Film
• Object number: 2017.55.35.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.