Reddy Kilowatt Hand Puppet: Museum Object and Cultural History
Reddy Kilowatt Hand Puppet: Object Name: advertising. Object Name: puppet. Physical Description: plastic (overall material).
The object in the museum catalogue
This hand puppet of the character “Reddy Kilowatt” has lightning bolts for limbs and a light bulb for a nose. First created in 1926 by Ashton B. Collins of the Alabama Power Company, Reddy Kilowatt served as a licensed spokes-character for privately-owned electric utilities. Designed to put a friendly face on electricity, Reddy was used to advance a variety of electrical messages, first encouraging electricity adoption, then electrical safety and efficiency. Collins also used the character to promote his conservative political views. Reddy appeared in print advertisements, animated shorts, films, TV ads, and a variety of licensed merchandise.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Object Name: advertising
- Object Name: puppet
- Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 9 1/4 in x 6 1/2 in x in; 23.495 cm x 16.51 cm x .0254 cm
- ID Number: 2013.0047.11
- accession number: 2013.0047
- catalog number: 2013.0047.11
- Credit Line: from Xcel Energy
- 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.
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