Knucklehead Smiff Ventriloquist Puppet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Knucklehead Smiff was a Paul WInchell creation that appeared along side Jerry Mahoney. The Paul Winchell television show ran from 1950-1954. In 1951, Mahoney was joined by his friend Knucklehead Smiff. Smiff was sculpted by Winchell and laid over a Jerry head and was made of plastic wood with a detachable wooden head. He wears a casual red and blue jogging suit with matching blue sneakers. This is the original version, and later versions were made of lightweight fiberglass.

Winchell appeared as a guest on numerous television shows and from 1965-1968, Winchell and his side kicks starred on a popular children's television show "Winchell-Mahoney Time". While controlling both dummies simultaneously, Winchell came up with the idea to put his hands into the sleeves of the two characters, giving the effect that the two puppets were talking not only to him but each other.

In addition to his ventriloquist skills, Winchell was a well known voice over for children's movies and television shows. One of his most memorable characters included acting as the voice of Tigger in the Disney movies "Winnie the Pooh," for which he received a Grammy award.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1951
• user: Winchell, Dr. Paul
• maker: Marshall, Frank
• maker: Winchell, Dr. Paul
• Object Name: puppet
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 44 in x 19 in x 9 in; 111.76 cm x 48.26 cm x 22.86 cm
• place made: United States: Illinois, Chicago
• general subject association: Puppetry
• Subject: Television broadcasts
• Subject: Radio and television broadcasting
• Subject: Children's television programs
• ID Number: 1982.0424.01
• catalog number: 1982.0424.01
• accession number: 1982.0424
• 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.