Margo Rose (January 31, 1903 – September 13, 1997) was an American puppeteer. She designed many puppets for films and the show

Howdy Doody ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell

with her husband. The couple won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for ''The Blue Ferry" in 1958.

Biography

Rose was born Margaret Skewis on January 31, 1903, in Inwood, Iowa, to Charles Skewis and Myrtle Skewis. She attended

Cornell College Cornell College is a private college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by George Bryant Bowman. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell College, in honor of iron ty ...

, and upon receiving a fine arts degree she joined the Tony Sarg Marionette Company in 1927. She stayed there for two years, before traveling to Italy to spend a year at the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

, studying sculpture. The next year, 1930, she married another puppeteer, Rufus Rose. The couple soon struck out on their own, founding Rufus Rose Marionettes and touring the country. They worked with Starg on several occasions, including at the

Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...

exhibition. The first full-length puppet movie, ''Jerry Pulls the Strings'' (1937) was released by Rose. At the start of World War II, the couple stopped puppeteering, and Rose took a job working as a nurse with the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. In 1948, they put on a TV adaption of

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

, ''Scrooge!'', which was the first full-length marionette production performed live on national television. In 1952 the couple began working on

The Howdy Doody Show ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell

, designing several new characters. Around the same time, Rose and Rufus Rose created ''The Blue Fairy'', a show for which they won a

in 1958. In the 1960s, a large fire destroyed hundreds of their puppets. The couple continued working, creating puppets for television films including ''Treasure Island, Rip van Winkle'' and ''Aladdin''. The couple created and produced over fifteen marionette productions as well as many other films, commercials, and projects. Rufus and Rose were prominent in founding Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center, and the

National Theater of the Deaf The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) is a Connecticut-based theatre company founded in 1967, and is the oldest theatre company in the United States with a continuous history of domestic and international touring, as well as producing original wor ...

. She remained active teaching puppetry until weeks before her death. In 1997 she was inducted into the

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The CWHF had its beginnings in 1993 when a group of volunteers partn ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Margo 1903 births 1997 deaths American puppeteers