Rose, Margo (1903–1997)

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Rose, Margo (1903–1997)

American puppeteer who, with her husband, animated the puppet Howdy Doody. Born Margaret Skewis in Inway, Iowa, on January 31, 1903; died in Waterford, Connecticut, on September 13, 1997; daughter of Charles Skewis and Myrtle Skewis; graduated from Cornell College, Iowa, in 1924; married Rufus Rose (a puppeteer), in 1930 (died 1975); children: Christopher, James, Rufus.

Was one of the founders of Puppeteers of America (1937); with husband, made the first full-length film using marionettes, Jerry Pulls the Strings (1938); animated the puppet Howdy Doody for television show (1952); received the President's Award for Artistic Achievement and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts' Excellence in the Arts Award; inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (1997).

Margo Rose, a noted pioneer in American puppetry, always claimed that she could trace her interest in puppetry to the days in her childhood when she and her sister would attach strings to their teddy bears and perform shows. Rose eventually turned this childhood amusement into a lifelong passion and career, earning a vaunted position among premier American puppeteers and distinction as the "grande dame of puppetry in America."

When Rose was a student at Cornell College in Iowa in the early 1920s, she attended a performance by the famous Tony Sarg Marionettes. This show and the encouragement of a college professor inspired her to make her own marionettes and also, upon graduating in 1924, to begin her own show. In 1927, she shortened her name from Margaret to Margo, joined Tony Sarg's troupe, and toured for several years as an actor and puppeteer. Not only did Margo gain valuable experience with the troupe, but she also met her future husband and partner when Rufus Rose joined the Tony Sarg Marionettes in 1928. Margo soon traveled to Italy to study sculpture, and after her return she and Rufus were married in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1930. The following year, they left Sarg to form the Rufus Rose Marionettes.

While Rufus was more outgoing than his wife (he also later became a leader in the Connecticut General Assembly), Margo, despite her quiet, unassuming manner, was an equal contributor in their creative partnership. Her husband engineered and built puppets from wood, and Margo designed and modeled the puppets' heads, created their costumes, and cared for the puppets when they traveled.

Struggling to subsist during the Great Depression, the Roses found their survival ensured when Tony Sarg asked them to perform at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. They were able to capitalize on the visibility they garnered at the fair and traveled across the country with their productions, performing two shows each day, six days a week, and frequently traveling daily. By 1938, they had also made the first full-length commercial film using marionettes, Jerry Pulls the Strings.

After the U.S. entered World War II and gas shortages became widespread, the Roses stopped traveling with their show and assisted instead in the war effort. While her husband worked at Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, Margo Rose volunteered with the American Red Cross. They did not abandon their art altogether, however. In 1943, they built a home in Waterford, Connecticut, which doubled as a studio and theater, and from there they launched the first festival for Puppeteers of America, a group they had helped to establish in 1937.

After the war, Rose resumed her puppetry. In 1952, she and her husband were hired to animate puppets for the "Howdy Doody Show," a commitment they maintained for ten years. In 1965, the couple was also instrumental in establishing the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, and in 1976 the theater barn there was named in their honor.

Following her husband's death in 1975, Margo began teaching puppetry, energetically sharing her talents with the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center, the Institute for Professional Puppetry Arts, and the National Puppetry Conference. She also volunteered in the Waterford Public Schools, was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church in New London, Connecticut, and was active in Literacy Volunteers. She was a recipient of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts' Excellence in the Arts Award and of the President's Award for Artistic Achievement, and she and her husband have been credited with influencing the very direction of American puppetry. Well-known puppeteers including Jim Henson, who developed the Sesame Street characters and the Muppets, and Burr Tillstrom, creator of the popular early television show "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie," acknowledged their debts to the Roses. Margo Rose was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in May 1997, and died four months later, at age 94.