With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Margo Rose
Education/Curation, Theatre/Dance/Film
1903 – 1997
Considered a grande dame of the American puppet theater, Margo Rose was a puppet artist, teacher, and performer who worked with marionettes for over 60 years. Together with her husband, Rufus (1904-1975), she brought 1950s TV icon Howdy Doody to life. The Roses were also instrumental in establishing the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater and the National Theater of the Deaf as well as the Connecticut Chapter of Puppeteers of America.
- Biography/Description of Work
Interested in puppets from a very young age, Margo Rose often put on shows in her family’s backyard. She attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, where she majored in Fine Arts. After graduation, she joined the famous Tony Sarg Marionette Company in 1927 and met her future husband, Rufus Rose, another puppeteer in the company. Before marrying Rose in 1930, Margo spent a year studying sculpture at the British Academy in Rome. The Roses settled in Rufus’s native town of Waterford, where they established their home and studio and raised their three sons. They traveled the country seasonally with their original shows. Margo specialized in design and Rufus in construction. By 1937, they had their Avery Lane site, though the house with its theater was yet to
be built. Gas rationing and other difficulties brought on by World War II caused the Roses to put their puppet work on hold in the early 1940s. Rufus took a job with the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Conn., and Margo volunteered with the American Red Cross. When the war ended, the Roses resumed touring and, in 1946, hosted the first festival for the newly formed Connecticut Chapter of the Puppeteers of America. On Christmas Eve 1948, they made history by performing Scrooge, Margo’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” the first full-length marionette production performed live on national television. Rufus joined the Howdy Doody television show in 1952 and worked the puppets, while Margo stayed in Waterford. Rufus convinced the management that other puppets were needed for the Howdy Doody Show, and the Roses made them. In the 1960s, despite a loss of several hundred of their puppets in a 1961 fire, the Roses continued to tour and to design and build puppets for television films including “Treasure Island,” “Rip van Winkle” and “Aladdin.” Together, Margo and Rufus Rose produced more than a dozen marionette productions as well as numerous films, commercials, and television projects. Until just two weeks before her death at age 94, Margo Rose shared her love for puppetry with students from Connecticut College, the University of Connecticut, the O’Neill Theater, and other venues where her talents could inspire new generations.- Sources view
- Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame: http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/arts-humanities/margo-rose/
Rose, Rufus, obituary. 5/29/1975. New London Day. Accessed at: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19750529&id=8usgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C3IFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4578,5481348&hl=en - Associated Resource(s)