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 1943 items.
Page 194 of 195
C-3PO, from Return of the Jedi
- Description
- In the fictional universe of George Lucas' Star Wars films, robots called droids (short for android) come in many shapes and serve many purposes. Two droids--R2-D2 and C-3PO--have won enormous popularity for their supporting roles in all six of the series. In the collections of the museum are costumes of R2-D2 and C-3PO from "Return of the Jedi," released in 1983 and the third film in the Star Wars series.
- Designed from artwork by Ralph McQuarrie in 1975, R2-D2 looks more like a small blue-and-white garbage can than a human being. In the films, R2-D2 is the type of droid built to interface with computers and service starships--a kind of super technician suited for tasks well beyond human capability. By turns comic and courageous, this helpmate communicates with expressive squeals and head spins, lumbers on stubby legs, and repeatedly saves the lives of human masters.
- Several R2-D2 units, specialized according to function and edited into a final composite, were used for making a single movie scene. Some units were controlled remotely. Others, like this one, were costume shells, in which actor Kenny Baker sat and manipulated the droid movements.
- R2-D2's sidekick and character foil, based on art by Ralph McQuarrie, is C-3PO. Termed a protocol droid in the films, C-3PO serves the diverse cultures of Lucas' imaginary galaxy as a robotic diplomat and translator, speaking six million languages. Where R2 is terse, 3PO is talkative. Where R2 is brave, 3PO is often tentative and sometimes downright cowardly. Where R2 looks like a machine, 3PO--in spite of the distinctive gold "skin"--more closely resembles a human in movements, vision, and intelligence.
- In each of the Star Wars films, actor Anthony Daniels wore the C-3PO costumes. Like the R2-D2 units, more than one C-3PO costume was used for each movie.
- The Star Wars, films are much more than pop entertainment. Since the first of the series was released in 1977, they have been so immensely popular that they have become cultural reference points for successive American generations. And like other popular works of science fiction, they play a powerful role in shaping our vision of the future. Likewise, the droids are more than movie stars in these influential films. They are also indicators of the place of robots in the American experience. Conceived at a time when robots inhabited the imaginative worlds of science fiction rather than the real world, R2-D2 and C-3PO represent the enduring dream of having robots as personal servants, to do things we will not or cannot do for ourselves. Today, real robots are more numerous. They mostly work on industrial production lines, but researchers are working to extend the use of robots for tasks not humanly possible. It is likely we will see more of them in the future--as aids for medicine and surgery, for military and security, and even for exploring, if not a galaxy far away, at least the far reaches of our own solar system.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1984.0302.02
- accession number
- 1984.0302
- catalog number
- 1984.0302.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Tito Puente's Timbales
- Description
- Born in New York City's Spanish Harlem to Puerto Rican parents, Tito Puente became one of the most important Latino bandleaders, composers, arrangers, and percussionists of his generation. He mastered both Afro-Caribbean music and jazz, contributing to the development of Latin Jazz, mambo, and salsa. In collaboration with other great Latin music and jazz artists, he brought a new Latin sound to American music.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990-1996
- user
- Puente, Tito
- maker
- Latin Percussion
- ID Number
- 1996.0304.01
- accession number
- 1996.0304
- catalog number
- 1996.0604.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Blue Sky Boys
- Description
- Beginning in 1936, brothers Earl (1919-1998) and Bill Bolick (b. 1917), known for their intricate melodies on guitar and mandolin, influenced many other duet performers. The Blue Sky Boys retired in 1951, but returned to performing in 1962, drawn by the rising interest in folk and traditional country music.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1974
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.002
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.002
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hughes Family Show
- Description
- Many acts in country music were built around brother duos and family members.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1972
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.007
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.007
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Del McCoury
- Description
- Del McCoury's voice is known as one of the finest examples of traditional bluegrass's "high lonesome" sound. Delano Floyd McCoury (b.1939) got his first big break in 1963 when Bill Monroe hired McCoury's band to play a few shows. McCoury briefly joined Monroe's band, but returned to a successful career with his own group. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2004.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1975
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.013
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.013
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Osborne Brothers
- Description
- After performing individually with Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe, and other headliners in the 1940s, Sonny (b.1937) and Bobby (b. 1931) Osborne became one of the most popular and innovative bluegrass groups of the postwar era. Experimenting in the mid-1960s, they added piano, steel guitar, and electric instruments. While these ventures angered traditionalists, their innovative sound attracted a new younger audience to country music.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1974
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.040
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.040
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fans with Carl and Pearl Butler
- Description
- Carl and Pearl Butler pose for photographs with fans.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1973
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.090
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.090
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Couple grilling
- Description
- Some fans traveled great distances to participate in music festivals, and would camp nearby. This couple brought a grill to make a meal or two.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- negative
- 1972
- 2003
- maker
- Horenstein, Henry
- ID Number
- 2003.0169.097
- accession number
- 2003.0169
- catalog number
- 2003.0169.097
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bone Dice
- Description
- Gambling usually was banned aboard whaling ships, on the grounds that it could cause too much strife among the crew. But “bones” or dice were easily concealed from a ship’s officers, and crews found out-of-the-way places to spend their free time wagering their earnings, tobacco, or other assets.
- date made
- 1800s
- ID Number
- AG*024849.1
- accession number
- 1875.4423
- catalog number
- 24849.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scarecrow Costume
- Description
- Ray Bolger wore this patchwork outfit as the Scarecrow, one of the trio of friends who accompany Dorothy to the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz.
- date made
- 1939
- user
- Bolger, Ray
- designer
- Adrian
- ID Number
- COLL.SCRCRW.002000
- accession number
- 1987.0608
- catalog number
- 1987.0608.01
- 1987.0608.02
- 1987.0608.03
- 1987.0608.04
- 1987.0608.05
- 1987.0608.06
- 1987.0608.07
- 1987.0608.08
- 1987.0608.09
- 1987.0608.10
- 1987.0608.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center