Latin from Manhattan Marionette: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This puppet, a 28-inch marionette in the image of an exotic South American beauty, was designed and built by Hazelle Hedges Rollins in 1935. She created it under the tutelage of the renowned Tony Sarg, a major figure in twentieth-century puppetry. The puppet’s name, The Latin From Manhattan, was inspired by the title of the song, “She’s a Latin From Manhattan” by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, which was introduced by Al Jolson in the 1935 Warner Bros. film, Go Into Your Dance. This eighteen-string marionette is barefoot, has brown wavy hair, and wears a black and gold dress with brocade and sequins along the neck, hips, legs, and ankles. A fringe of gold and black bugle beads surrounds the hips.

Hazelle Hedges Rollins (1910-1984), a native of Kansas City, Missouri, parlayed her skills at puppetry into a successful business. With her husband, J. Woodson Rollins, she created Hazelle, Inc., the world’s largest exclusive puppet manufacturing company.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1935
• user: Rollins, Hazelle H.
• maker: Rollins, Hazelle H.
• Object Name: puppet
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Physical Description: string (overall material)
• Physical Description: synthetic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 24 in x 6 1/2 in x 3 in; 60.96 cm x 16.51 cm x 7.62 cm
• place made: United States: Missouri, Kansas City
• made at: United States: New York, New York City
• general subject association: Puppetry
• ID Number: 1981.1085.10
• accession number: 1981.1085
• catalog number: 1981.1085.10
• Credit Line: Gene and Nancy R. Krupa
• 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.