Pop Hand Puppet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This hand puppet, known as Pop, is one of the three characters used to represent the famous Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal. His head is made of molded synthetic rubber, his hands are red felt, and he is dressed in a peachy pink colored cotton shirt. Snap, Crackle, and Pop were created in the 1930s as spokesmen for Kellogg's Rice Krispies. Their images are based on drawings by illustrator Vernon Grant and cartoonist Don Margolis. These three little sprites were popular images used to advertise cereal to children.

This particular set of puppets is from the early 1960s were offered as premiums for saving cereal box tops. These familiar elves continue to represent the Rick Krispies brand in the twenty first century.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1950 - 1959
• user: Rollins, Hazelle H.
• user: Rollins, Hazelle H.
• Object Name: puppet
• Physical Description: felt (overall material)
• Physical Description: rubber (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 8 1/2 in x 11 in; 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm
• place made: United States: Missouri, Kansas City
• Associated Place: United States: New York, New York
• general subject association: Puppetry
• Subject: Radio and television broadcasting
• Subject: Television broadcasts
• Subject: Consumerism
• Subject: Toys
• ID Number: 1980.0910.08
• accession number: 1980.0910
• catalog number: 1980.0910.08
• Credit Line: Anne W. and John W. Rollins, Jr.
• 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.