{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1277554"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1277554/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014GX5720/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014GX5720/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014GX5720","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1277554/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1277554","accessionNumber":"S.3495-2013","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Photograph of members of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, 1938","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This photograph shows four marionettes being manipulated on a puppet stage by four performers who stand on a bridge above the stage. It is one of five in the collection taken by the Keystone Press Agency at the opening of the 13th annual exhibition of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild at Victory House, Leicester Square, London. \n\nThe exhibition was opened by the fourteen-year old Molly Sheldrake, billed as Britain's youngest Punch and Judy performer and seen in this photograph. It drew large crowds and ran from the 24th to the 30th October 1938, featuring almost 250 puppets, with 25 different troupes giving about 70 demonstrations. In his article on the exhibition in the periodical, the <i>World's Fair</i>, 5 November 1938, Gerald Morice noted that Tuesday 25 October was a foggy, wet and cold day but that they filmed scenes from a marionette show all morning, from in front and behind, for British Movietone News. He added that all the national daily papers, with the exception of the <i>Daily Mirror</i>, carried stories about the exhibition, mostly with photographs, and that Molly as 'the youngest Punch and Judy performer in the country' really caught the imagination of the press.\n\nTwo of the puppets in the photograph are H.W. Whanslaw's Cactus the Camel and Harry Bigg's Chelsea Pensioner, both of which were given to the V&amp;A as part of the collection of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild. Cactus the Camel appeared in the early BBC children's television programme, <i>Telescope</i>, along with his best friend the sailor marionette, Timothy, who sailed in his wooden boat <i>HMS Telescope</i>. The two-weekly programme, hosted by Cliff Michelmore, was first broadcast on BBC Television on Saturday, 21 April 1951. It consisted of hobby demonstrations and stories, as well as the puppetry section <i>Ship Ahoy!</i> which featured the adventures of Timothy and Cactus. Harry Whanslaw made Cactus in about 1930. In 1956 the film<i> The Adventures of Timothy Telescope</i> was directed by Jill Allgood with Harry Whanslaw and Harry Bigg operating Timothy and Cactus on board <i>HMS Telescope</i>, with a family of crows keeping watch from the ship's crow's nest.\n\n","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph taken in 1938 of four puppeteers including Molly Sheldrake and Harry Whanslaw (next to her), standing on a puppet theatre bridge and manipulating four marionettes on a puppet theatre stage - a man in a tailcoat, Cactus the camel, a Chelsea Pensioner, a skeleton and a man. Cactus the Camel, and the Chelsea Pensioner are in the museum's collection","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Keystone Press Agency Ltd.","id":"AUTH328923"},"association":{"text":"photographers","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Photograph","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Puppetry","id":"THES266219"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2014GX5720"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"009","id":"THES356623"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1938","earliest":"1938-01-01","latest":"1938-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.3497-2013","id":"O1277564"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.3498-2013","id":"O1277587"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"S.3499-2013","id":"O1277590"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"S.389-2019","id":"O1509197"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.624-2001","id":"O106835"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.453-2001","id":"O103294"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.3496-2013","id":"O1277555"},"association":"Object"}],"creditLine":"Given by Gerald Morice","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Supplied by Keystone. Phone Central 9634-5-6-7. Keystone View Company, 12 Wine Office Court, Fleet St., London, EC4","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stamped in blue ink verso"},{"content":"J4902","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"pencilled reference number, verso"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photographs of puppeteers, including Molly Sheldrake and Harry Whanslaw, manipulating marionettes including a Chelsea Pensioner and Cactus the Camel, at the 13th Exhibition of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild exhibition, Victory House, Leicester Square, London, 24 October 1938. Black and white photograph by the Keystone Press Agency. Gerald Morice Collection","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},{"text":"Leicester Square","id":"x43496"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[{"text":"British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild","id":"C3936"}],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.3495-2013"],"accessionNumberNum":"3495","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2013,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-14","recordCreationDate":"2013-12-31","availableToBook":true}}