Tommy Tucker (squirrel)
Tommy Tucker (* 1942 in Washington, DC ; † 25. June 1949 ) was a male gray squirrel , which in the 1940s in the United States became famous. Specially made women's clothes were put on the animal; it was used at charity events and as a promotional figure when selling war bonds . The Washington Post described Tommy Tucker as "the most famous squirrel ever to come from Washington".
history
The gray squirrel fell out of its nest as a hatchling in Washington, DC in 1942 . A girl took the animal home and nursed it. When she moved, she gave the gray squirrel to her neighbor, Zaidee Bullis, who named it Tommy Tucker, probably based on the old nursery rhyme “ Little Tommy Tucker ”.
Zaidee Bullis sewed clothes for animals for various occasions. Since pants would have made it difficult to put on and take off because of the bushy tail, she chose women's clothes. When fully grown, the animal reached a size of 36 centimeters, the tail was 28 centimeters long. The weight of the two-year-old gray squirrel was 680 grams.
In 1943, the Bullis couple began performing with Tommy Tucker at charity events and visiting children in hospitals. The gray squirrel also advertised the purchase of war bonds . In 1944 Life magazine published a report on Tommy Tucker with photos of Nina Leen showing him in different clothes. A little later the Tommy Tucker Club , which wanted to teach children how to be careful with animals, already had 30,000 members. In 1947 an "autobiography" of the croissant appeared, probably written by Zaidee Bullis.
After World War II , Tommy Tucker's popularity declined. Nevertheless, he continued to travel with the Bullis couple, at times in his own trailer. On June 25, 1949, he was found dead in his trailer while driving in the southwestern United States. It was believed that he died of a heart attack due to his old age.
Tommy Tucker was stuffed and was supposed to be on display in a museum, but it didn't. Apparently he works for a law firm in Maryland today ; the clothes and merchandise are in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC
Web links
- Documents on Tommy Tucker in the archives of the National Museum of American History
- Meet Tommy Tucker, The 1940s Squirrel Who Used To Dress Up Like A Human . Huffington Post , July 29, 2013, updated December 6, 2017
- Photographs in the archives of the National Museum of American History
- Photographs of Tommy Tucker in Life Magazine, January 31, 1944
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c John Kelly: Tommy Tucker, Washington's most famous squirrel . Washington Post , April 8, 2012 (English)
- ↑ a b c d e Philine Gebhardt: Squirrel Tommy, Crossdresser - The rodent star in women's clothes . Spiegel Online , January 20, 2019
- ^ The true story of Tommy Tucker , National Museum of American History Archives at the Smithsonian Institution .