Costume arms armor and harness for Tin Man in The Wiz on Broadway: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This left arm cannon armor (a), right arm cannon armor (b), and leather harness (c) are part of a costume worn by Tiger Haynes as Tin Man in "The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical 'Wizard of Oz'" on Broadway. The vambrace is comprised of upper cannon segments that cover the upper arms and lower cannon segments that cover the forearms. The elbows are left uncovered. All of the segments join together with a harness of leather straps. The cannons are made from reinforced plastic that was formed into irregularly-shaped graduated cylinders to fit around each arm. Each upper cannon attaches to the corresponding lower cannon across the elbow with two (2) leather straps. Both upper cannons are edged in leather along the top edge and with cloth tape along the bottom edge. The interiors of all four cannons are painted with silver metallic paint and have various repairs throughout the interiors and at the opening edges using tape.

The left cannon (a) has an upper and a lower piece. The upper left cannon has five (5) horizontal lengths of cord glued to the front, and a half-circle of reinforced plastic riveted at the top, all of which are painted in silver metallic paint. The lower left cannon is shaped like a pitcher, so that when the wearer lifted his wrist above his elbow, the cannon looked like a round-bottomed metal pitcher. The bulbous portion is nearest to the wearer's elbow, and a shallow spout is at the wearer's wrist. This cannon is painted in silver metallic paint and further embellished with a red and green floral vine hand-drawn with colored ink. Three (3) holes at the outside edge indicate where a now missing handle was attached to the cannon.

The right cannon (b) has an upper and a lower piece. The upper right cannon is painted with a dark tan ground. Two (2) sets of large, red-painted numbers made from reinforced plastic are glued to the main portion of the cannon. The numbers read from elbow to shoulder, on the front side "080" and on the back side "5804". The lower right cannon has two (2) stacked lengths of cord glued at the wrist and is painted all over with silver metallic paint.

A belted leather harness (c) is attached to the outside top edge of the upper cannons. The harness has two (2) lengths of leather that loop around the wearer's shoulders and wrap around the wearer’s chest, closing with a metal buckle at the front.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1975
• Designed by: Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian American, 1930 - 2014
• Created by: Fred Nihda, 1931 - 1997
• Worn by: Tiger Haynes, American, 1914 - 1994
• Subject of: Black Fashion Museum, American, 1979 - 2007
• Type: lower cannons
• Type: upper cannons
• Type: belts (costume accessories)
• Medium: reinforced plastic, paint, leather, metal, cord, colored ink, tape, and glue
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 26 × 41 3/4 × 5 3/4 in. (66 × 106 × 14.6 cm)
• Place used: New York City, Manhattan, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Costume design
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Men
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Object number: 2007.3.7.1.3abc
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Black Fashion Museum founded by Lois K. Alexander-Lane
• 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: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.