Costume tap shoes for Tin Man in The Wiz on Broadway: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This pair of sabatons tap shoes are part of a costume worn by Tiger Haynes as Tin Man in "The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical 'Wizard of Oz'" on Broadway. Sabatons are armored shoes worn with a suit of armor to protect the feet. These ankle-length costume sabatons are made from panels of dark brown suede and of leather painted silver. The toe cap and arch of the foot are silver, with a panel of the brown suede dividing them over the top of the foot behind the toes. The portion that reach around the ankle and up the leg is brown suede, but with a silver heel cap. The shoes close at the inner sides of the leg using a metal zipper with a brown string pull tab and a piece of black Velcro that fastens over the zipper so it is not visible. The soles of the shoes are leather with stacked heels. Non-skid black rubber is attached to the ball of the foot on each sole. The shoes have metal toe taps on the toes and heels, though the proper left toe tap is missing. Text engraved on all of the taps reads "CAPEZIO / TELE TONE / TAP / TRADE MARK". There is also white hand painted text on the interior of the leg of each shoe reading "9 1/2 E / 360 / 1498".

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: sabatons
• Medium: leather, suede, paint, metal, and Velcro (TM)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (left (a)): 8 × 3 3/4 × 11 1/4 in. (20.3 × 9.5 × 28.6 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (right (b)): 8 × 3 3/4 × 11 1/4 in. (20.3 × 9.5 × 28.6 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: 2007.3.7.2ab
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.