Moorish Hand Puppet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This hand puppet was created by Bil Baird between 1926-1927 for Miquel Varell. This hand carved and painted wooden figure with its dark Moorish features sports a red and black plaid costume with a beaded collar and a red fez. The puppet has no body and his hands are made of cloth. The face, with its exaggerated facial features, is vibrantly painted and is a wonderful example of Baird's early work.

Originally from Budapest, Hungary, Miquel Varell immigrated to the United States after World War I in search of a better life. Despite a lack of any formal training in the theater, Varell's lifelong love of puppetry inspired him to establish a puppet company based on a European style Grand Guignol, or Punch and Judy, traveling show. But Varell needed someone to create the puppets based on his own specifications. He approached Tony Sarg, his friend and well known puppeteer, to find someone who could create the puppets according to his specifications. Sarg recommended his young apprentice, Bil Baird, to create the puppets for Varell's theater.

Using the puppets provided by Baird, Varell constructed his own portable theater, including stage sets and backgrounds, and performed at schools, clubs, and children's parties. Sadly, his career was short lived. The European style of puppetry, based on expression and moment, was replaced with talking puppets, and Varell spoke only broken English.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1927 - 1928
• maker: Baird, Bil
• user: Varell, Miquel V.
• maker: Baird, Bill
• Object Name: Puppet
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 54 cm x 34 cm; 21 1/4 in x 13 3/8 in
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• Associated Place: United States: New York, New York
• Subject: Puppetry
• ID Number: 1993.0168.08
• accession number: 1993.0168
• catalog number: 1993.0168.08
• Credit Line: Gift of Lia V. Dingfelder
• 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.