MARSHALL, Jay (James Ward Marshall, 1919 - 2005). Jay Marshall’s “Lefty” Glove Puppet. Glove puppet rabbit crafted from two white dress gloves by Jay Marshall himself, with black buttons sewn in place for eyes, black lips drawn in by hand, and a stiff cardboard form in a second glove to simulate the look of the rabbit’s ears. Accompanied by an ANS in Marshall’s hand to Eddie Dawes stating, “Dr. Dawes, This is the Lefty made and used at the IBM 1975 convention in Southport. Betty Davenport Roy sewed on the buttons. [signed] Jay Marshall.” A photograph of Marshall and Dawes in the Dawes library is also included, with Marshall displaying the Lefty puppet on his hand and Dr. Dawes looking on.
During World War II, Jay Marshall entered the special services, entertaining troops in the Pacific Theater. It was then that he realized a full-size vent dummy “wouldn’t carry a suitcase,” so he replaced his full-size puppet with a khaki army glove decorated with eyes and lips. After the war, a fellow entertainer suggested Marshall change the single glove into a white one, and add ears to approximate the look of a rabbit. And so “Lefty” was born. He would travel the world with Marshall for decades thereafter, playing nearly every major theater on nearly every continent, from New York’s Palace to the Palladium in London and as the opening act for Frank Sinatra. Marshall starred on almost every major television variety show in America (performing on Ed Sullivan’s show some 14 times), and too many conventions, private functions, and tradeshows to count. While a magician first and foremost, it was, ultimately, the song Jay sang with Lefty, combined with jokes and asides, of course – the act was really a seamless feat of acting, with Marshall talking to his own left hand – that put the pair in the spotlight over and over again. Jay and Lefty became an institution of sorts, and in point of fact, one of Marshall’s puppets is now enshrined in the permanent collection of a famous American institution as well: the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.