The three human characters purportedly from Paul McPharlin's Travel and Transport Exhibit at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair:

#1: "Conastoga Man"

This marionette has a body made of wood with plastic wood additions on chest and hands. The upper arms are stuffed fabric, the hips are wood with stuffed fabric for buttocks and upper thigh. The knee and ankle joints are tongue-in-groove with trunk fiber. A hand-painted label on the puppet's back identifies him as "Conastoga Man".

The head of the marionette is plastic wood, with the top missing and covered with a badly worn yarn wig, obviously not part of the original head. There are illegible letters in pencil on the front chest of the figure, in addition to a very clear "C". Presumably it was another character at one time.

The leather boots were at one time very carefull wrapped around the legs and resolving into the feet. They have since pulled out with time.

No controller was found with the body, though the major pick-up points are intact. Unlike the other two human characters, this one does not have a moving mouth.

#2: "Back Door Man"

This marionette is is the best shape of the three. The controller has been labelled "Back Door Man". The heads and hands have obviously been repainted. Pink flesh tones show through where the black paint has chipped off. The leather joint for the mouth was painted over so that it no longer moves smoothly. Body seems to be constructed similar to that of "Conastoga Man", with the exception of sculpted wooden hands.

The double-airplane controller has “Back Door Man” written in the same hand that marked other figures in the collection. One shoulder pick-up point is missing, so the shoulders cannot be strung. I presume that John Miller strung the figure for an exhibit, since the hand strings and the head strings were switched around. I placed them where they would have been if the figure had been working independently.

#3 "Time"

This marionette, also unstrung, has the word "TIME" printed on its chest. The knot connecting his upper body to his lower body is frayed and hanging only by a single thread. The sculpted wooden hands are assymetrical, with the left hand sculpted as a clenched fist, obviously used to hold a stick or sword (as is typical with many traditional European figures). The wire for the moving mouth joint sticks out of the right ear, and can be manipulated smoothly.

The body is constructed in the same manner as the other two characters, with the exception of sculpted plastic wood feet.

Conclusions:

These figures have all seen multiple uses.

It was customary for puppeteers to “cannibalize” puppets in order to create new characters and shows. This may have been what occurred here. One of the figures resembles Abe Lincoln (“Conastoga Man”), and his head is shaped as such as it may have worn a stove pipe hat. The puppets of Abe Lincoln and his horse by Paul McPharlin at the Detroit Institute of Arts do not resemble these figures.

The white haired figure, (“Time”) may have played Father Time. His beard has been trimmed, his original hair cut and covered. The African American figure is by far the most mysterious. Was it painted for the exhibit and why? None of the figures have the fine sculpting attributed to McPharlin’s puppets, so perhaps these were earlier creations he redressed for the exhibit, or student creations.

The entire group (wagon, horses, coachmen, etc.)would have been strung on a tandem controller , now missing. The African American figure is the only one which has its own controller. Was it used for a later show? Or, was it strung so as to be operated independently? The exhibit was one that could have been “performed” in the sense that all the figures could move, and show movement. More than likely, this was done at certain times throughout the fair to show how the conestoga wagon operated. It would not have been listed as a “performance” or “show”. It may also have been a "hands on" exhibit, so that children could operate the figures.

Why and how these figures ended up at an elementary school is yet another mystery. Perhaps the exhibit became the property of the fair, and like other exhibits, they were taken apart and thrown or given away at the end of the fair.  

Fern Zwickey told John Miller. They are both gone. Neither wrote down any infomation of the exhibit or the puppets. Is there anyone else who remembers these figures and their history?   Please let me know at info@purplerock.org.

Thank you!

Rolande Duprey