Popular Entertainment - Overview
This Museum's popular entertainment collections hold some of the Smithsonian's most beloved artifacts. The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz reside here, along with the Muppet character Kermit the Frog, and props from popular television series such as M*A*S*H and All in the Family. But as in many of the Museum's collections, the best-known objects are a small part of the story.
The collection also encompasses many other artifacts of 19th- and 20th-century commercial theater, film, radio, and TV—some 50,000 sound recordings dating back to 1903; posters, publicity stills, and programs from films and performances; puppets; numerous items from World's Fairs from 1851 to 1992; and audiovisual materials on Groucho Marx, to name only a few.
"Popular Entertainment - Overview" showing 4 items.
Soccer Ball
- Description
- The soccer ball has evolved over the years, but the most famous model is the Adidas Telstar. It is made of leather and consists of 32 hand-stitched panels - 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons. These shapes are used to create the “roundest sphere of all time.” The use of white and black made the ball more visible on television. The first was used in 1970 for the FIFA (International Federation of Football Association) World Cup.
- Different leagues began to use different colored balls to create “trademark” looks. The red, white, and blue ball shown here was used in the NASL’s (North American Soccer League) first championship game. The “Soccer Bowl,” as NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam christened it, was played on August 24, 1975, in San Jose, California, between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Portland Timbers, two expansion teams that joined the league that year. Tampa Bay beat the all-British Timbers, 2-0, and became the third consecutive expansion team to take the NASL crown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1975
- date made
- 1975
- user
- North American Soccer League
- maker
- Adidas
- ID Number
- 1979.1059.01
- accession number
- 1979.1059
- catalog number
- 1979.1059.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Basketball
- Description
- A basketball is defined as “an inflated spherical ball used in the game of basketball.” Most basketballs have an inflatable, inner, rubber bladder, are wrapped in layers of fibers, and then are covered with leather, rubber, or a synthetic composite. The surface of a standard 29.5 inch ball is divided by “ribs” and contains approximately 4,118 pebbles, at a diameter of 2.5 millimeters each. The traditional basketball is orange with black ribs although the balls come in a variety of colors. The Wilson Sporting Goods Company began producing basketballs early in its history, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the Wilson ball was chosen as the official basketball of the National Basketball Association, cementing its place in sports history. The ball shown here was used by the donor, Thomas Weber, during the early 1970s in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1974
- associated dates
- 1976
- 1974-1976
- user
- Weber, Thomas E.
- maker
- Wilson Sporting Goods Company
- ID Number
- 1980.0682.01
- catalog number
- 1980.0682.01
- accession number
- 1980.0682
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ping-Pong Ball
- Description
- At the end of the 19th century, when ping-pong was coming into its own, the ball was generally made of string, rubber, or sometimes even a used champagne cork. It wasn’t until 1901, that James Gibb, an Englishman, discovered celluloid balls in the United States and found them “perfect for the play of ping-pong.” The name of the sport is attributed to the sound the ball makes when it is hit back and forth on the table. The ball itself is 40 mm in diameter, hollow, and made from celluloid. This particular ball was used by the donor, Frank Roche, while a freshman at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1969. He and his roommate bought the ball to play ping-pong for recreation.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1969
- user
- Toye, Robert
- lender
- Roche, Francis D.
- user
- Roche, Francis D.
- maker
- Windsor Star
- ID Number
- 1992.0087.02
- catalog number
- 1992.0087.02
- accession number
- 1992.0087
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Football, used in Super Bowl XIV
- Description
- This ball was used in Super Bowl XIV, held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on January 20, 1980. In the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams 31-19. It was the Steelers' fourth Super Bowl win and the second straight year that Terry Bradshaw took home the Most Valuable Player trophy.
- The Wilson Sporting Goods Company introduced the Wilson Duke football during the early 1940s. Wilson has provided the official ball for the National Football League's Super Bowl since Super Bowl II in 1968.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1979
- user
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- maker
- Wilson Sporting Goods Company
- ID Number
- 1980.0131.05
- accession number
- 1980.0131
- catalog number
- 1980.0131.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center