{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1363810"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1363810/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK6707/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JK6707/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JK6707","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1363810/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1363810","accessionNumber":"S.607-2016","objectType":"Puppet","titles":[{"title":"Marionette of Madam Butterfly","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This marionette of Madam Butterfly is one of the many superbly crafted marionettes created by Frank Mumford and used by him and his wife Maisie with their company, the Mumford Puppets. Madam Butterfly is the eponymous heroine of Puccini's 1904 opera based on the semi-autobiographical 1887 French novel <i>Madame Chrysanthème</i> by Pierre Loti.\n\nFrank Mumford was born in North London in July 1918 and created his first puppet theatre aged six while ill in bed. At the age of 11 he entered a schoolboy craft contest at London's Alexandra  Palace and won first prize, along with an apprenticeship at Edmonds of Wood Green to learn window display where he created a puppet troupe and performed afternoon shows and a Christmas show. Originally billed as 'Master Mum ford and his Marionettes', he played the Wood Green Empire aged 24. It was partly thorough the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild that he made contact with other puppeteers. He became a tea boy at the Lanchester puppet theatre and, with other puppeteers and his future wife Maisie Tierney, formed his first puppet company that performed in London theatres including the Players' Theatre, the Grove, the Gate, Kew, Little, the Arts, 20th Century and the Grafton amongst others.  The company disbanded due to war in 1939 when Frank served in the 16th Parachute Surgical Team Field Ambulance. He was taken prisoner in Arnhem in 1944 and returned to the UK in 1945. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the Central Pool of Artists and put together the two-hour touring show <i>Stars on Strings</i> for the Army and Navy Air Force's <i>Stars in Battledress</i> organisation. The show toured air bases for six months, manned by 11 staff with a large cast of puppets, until Frank was demobbed in 1946 and the show was converted into a commercial enterprise. The Mumford Puppets, featuring Frank, Maisie and occasionally other operators, played their first performance in Littlehampton in 1946.\r\n\r\nSince large-scale shows were expensive to tour, the Mumfords created shorter acts with larger puppets, designing and building practically everything themselves including their stage costumes. The result was a slick, glamorous, fast-paced international cabaret act  that they continued to perform for audiences all over the world until Maisie's death in 1985. They regularly played in Variety theatres and top London nightclubs including the Coconut Grove, Churchill's, Governor House, Ciros, the Embassy, Dorchester and the Savoy Hotels, and the Starlight Room. This led to engagements abroad - a three-month contract in 1949 in a revue at <i>Le Boeuf Sur le Toit</i> in Paris; and performances for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, for Madame and General Franco, and for the Sultan of Oman. The Mumford Puppets appeared on television, and after Maisie's death in 1985 Frank continued to perform, giving his last show in 2004 at the Leeds Variety Theatre, aged 86.\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Carved and painted marionette of Madam Butterfly (or Cio-Cio-San), the eponymous heroine of Puccini's 1904 opera, with a jointed mouth, hollow eyes with synthetic eyelashes, painted eyebrows and eye shadow. She wears black woollen wig decorated with a beaded, paste and silver wire kanzashi, or hair ornament, and carries in her left hand a purple satin fan needing repair, decorated with sequins and edged in silver foil. Her kimono is made from a vintage magenta and turquoise satin fabric sequined with pink and silver sequins and beaded with tiny turquoise, blue and black glass beads in floral patterns. Her under dress is of gold metallic silk fabric and her obi is of purple sequined fabric, decorated with strips of silver sequins and edged with turquoise satin. She wears Japanese-style sandals with cream foam soles and black thongs, one of which needs repair, over her carved shoes.\r\n\r\nShe is controlled by head strings, hand strings and knee strings attached to crossed wooden control bars.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Mumford, Frank","id":"AUTH340388"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Mumford Puppets","id":"AUTH342198"},"association":{"text":"performers","id":"x44973"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"cloth","id":"AAT162391"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT53658"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Hand-carved wood with wool, thread, fishing line, mixed fabrics, braid, sequins, bead, and gems.","categories":[{"text":"Puppetry","id":"THES266219"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Opera","id":"THES263971"},{"text":"Cabaret","id":"THES274470"},{"text":"Variety","id":"THES269955"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2016JK6707"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES345704"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"marionette","id":"AAT211126"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1950","earliest":"1945-01-01","latest":"1954-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.603-2016","id":"O1363806"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.604-2016","id":"O1363807"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"S.608-2016","id":"O1363811"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.609-2016","id":"O1363812"},"association":"Object"}],"creditLine":"Given by Jennifer Allen","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"81","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"soles of sandals to crown of wig","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"78","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum length of sleeves","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Marionette of Madam Butterfly. Made and used by Frank Mumford (1918-2014) with his troupe the Mumford Puppets.\r\n","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Mumford, Frank","id":"AUTH340388"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[{"text":"Mumford Puppets","id":"AUTH342198"}],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.607-2016"],"accessionNumberNum":"607","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2016,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2016-08-08","availableToBook":true}}