{{Short description|Artwork by Louis Paul Jonas}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file = File:Uncle Beazley - Paint job - Stierch.jpg | painting_alignment = | image_size = 300px | title = Uncle Beazley | caption = ''Uncle Beazley'' in the National Zoo in 2012 | other_language_1 = | other_title_1 = | other_language_2 = | other_title_2 = | artist = Louis Paul Jonas (sculptor) | year = 1967 | type = Fiberglass | height_metric = | width_metric = | length_metric = | height_imperial = | width_imperial = | length_imperial = 25 | diameter__metric = | diameter_imperial = | imperial_unit = ft | metric_unit = m | city = Washington, D.C. | museum = Near Lemur Island in National Zoo | coordinates = {{Coord|38|55|44|N|77|2|52|W|type:landmark_region:US-DC|display=inline,title}} | owner = Smithsonian Institution }}
''''' Uncle Beazley''''' is a life-size fiberglass statue of a ''Triceratops'' by Louis Paul Jonas.<ref name=Goode>{{cite book|first=James M.|last=Goode|chapter=Uncle Beazley|title=The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C.: A Comprehensive Historical Guide|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|year=1974|page=260|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXLqAAAAMAAJ|isbn=0874741386|oclc=2610663|access-date=2016-07-04|quote=This 25-foot long replica of a ''Triceratops'' ... was placed on the Mall in 1967. ...<br />The full-size ''Triceratops'' replica and eight other types of dinosaurs were designed by two prominent paleontologists, Dr. Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, and Dr. John Ostrom of the Peabody Museum, in Peabody, Massachusetts. The sculptor, Louis Paul Jonas, executed these prehistoric animals in fiberglass, after the designs of Barnum and Ostrom, for the Sinclair Refining Company's Pavilion at the New York World's Fair of 1964. After the Fair closed, the nine dinosaurs, which weighed between 2 and 4 tons each, were placed on trucks and taken on a tour of the eastern United States. The Sinclair Refining Company promoted the tour for public relations and advertising purposes, since their trademark was the dinosaur. In 1967, the nine dinosaurs were given to various American museums.<br />This particular replica was used for the filming of ''The Enormous Egg'', a movie made by the National Broadcasting Company for television, based on a children's book of the same name by Oliver Buttersworth. The film features an enormous egg, out of which hatches a baby ''Triceratops''; the boy consults with the Smithsonian Institution which accepts Uncle Beazley for the National Zoo.}}</ref><ref name=Beazley1>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612081739/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ZooArt/UncleBeazley/|archive-date=June 12, 2007|url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ZooArt/UncleBeazley/|title=A Dinosaur at the Zoo|work=Art at the National Zoo|publisher=Smithsonian National Zoological Park|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref> It is located near Lemur Island<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815205511/https://www.si.edu/content/Accessibility/matm/nzp/zoo-map.pdf|archive-date=August 15, 2016|url=https://www.si.edu/content/Accessibility/matm/nzp/zoo-map.pdf|title=Map of National Zoo showing Lemur Island|work=Smithsonian National Zoo Sensory Map|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=October 2, 2016}}</ref> in the National Zoological Park (the '''National Zoo''') in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States.<ref name=Beazley1/>
==History== thumb|''Uncle Beazley'' was on the National Mall between 1980 and 1994 [[File:Uncle Beazley in the Snow (5243256205).jpg|thumb|''Uncle Beazley'' in the snow at the Smithsonian Castle, 1977]] The statue is named after a dinosaur in the children's book ''The Enormous Egg'' (1956), by Oliver Butterworth, and a film adaptation televised on the ''NBC Children's Theatre'' in which the statue appeared.<ref name=Goode/><ref name=Beazley1/><ref name=Beazley2>{{Multiref2 |1={{cite book|last=Butterworth|first=Oliver |author-link=Oliver Butterworth (writer) |title=The Enormous Egg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtIa1N0-Z78C |others=Illustrated by Louis Darling |location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Little, Brown and Co.|year=1956|isbn=0590475460|oclc=299175|access-date=July 4, 2016}} |2={{cite web |title=About this book: The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831191835/http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/enormous-egg |archive-date=August 31, 2012|url=http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/enormous-egg |year=2016 |others=Illustrated by Louis Darling |publisher=Scholastic Inc.|access-date=July 3, 2016|quote=At first Nate doesn't see what all the fuss is all about. All he wants is to keep his new pet. But Uncle Beazley, the dinosaur himself, just keeps getting bigger and bigger...}} |3={{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309154701/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311075/|archive-date=March 9, 2008|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311075/|title=NBC Children's Theatre (1963–1973): The Enormous Egg: Episode aired 18 April 1968|publisher=IMDb.com, Inc.|year=2008|access-date=July 3, 2016}} |4={{cite web|first= F Gwynplaine|last=MacIntyre|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309154701/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311075/|archive-date=March 9, 2008|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311075/|title=User Comment|date=May 28, 2003|work=NBC Children's Theatre (1963–1973): The Enormous Egg: Episode aired 18 April 1968|publisher=IMDb.com, Inc.|access-date=July 3, 2016}} }}</ref> The book and the film, which aired on April 18, 1968, tell the story of a boy who finds an enormous egg laid by a hen that hatches a baby ''Triceratops''.<ref name=Goode/><ref name=Beazley1/><ref name=Beazley2/> The ''Triceratops'', named Uncle Beazley, becomes too big, so the boy brings him to the Smithsonian Institution.<ref name=Beazley1/> Beazley is first kept at the National Museum of Natural History, but is eventually transferred to the National Zoo's Elephant House because there is a law against stabling large animals in the District of Columbia.<ref name=Goode/><ref name=Beazley1/>
Beazley was constructed in 1967 for ''The Enormous Egg'' TV special that aired the next year. The statue is modeled after one of nine dinosaurs of different species that Jonas designed and constructed for the Sinclair Oil Corporation's pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair in consultation with paleontologists Barnum Brown and Edwin H. Colbert of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and John Ostrom of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. The original Sinclair ''Triceratops'' today resides in Louisville, Kentucky, and bears the nickname "Lottie" or "Louisville's Own ''Triceratops''".<ref> [https://kysciencecenter.org/triceratops/ Triceratops at Kentucky Science Center, Louisville]</ref> While Beazley has been well looked after, Lottie had been left in a state of neglect and disrepair, until a repair and refurbishment project in the summer of 2022.<ref>[https://louisvilletriceratops.com/ Louisville Triceratops webpage] (updated 8/15/2022)</ref>
The Smithsonian's ''Uncle Beazley'' was initially displayed at the Zoo.<ref name=Beazley1/> In July 1967, a crew from NBC-TV visited the Zoo to film the statue during the production of ''The Enormous Egg''. After the filming ended, Sinclair donated the statue to the Smithsonian.<ref name=NZP>{{cite web|author=National Zoological Park (U.S.) (July 1967)|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_1126|title=NBC-TV films at NZP|work=Chronology of Smithsonian History: Smithsonian Institution Archives|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=July 20, 2016|quote=A crew from NBC-TV arrives at the National Zoological Park to film scenes for the NBC Children's Theater TV special ''The Enormous Egg'', based on a children's book written by Oliver Butterworth. The ''Triceratops'' of the story, named Uncle Beazley, is depicted by seven different models varying in size from just hatched to full size. The models were made by sculptor Louis Paul Jonas specifically for the ''Enormous Egg'' production. Jonas was also the creator of the dinosaurs for the New York World's Fair of 1964. The Sinclair Oil Company will donate the life-size model (22 feet) to the Smithsonian after the filming.}}</ref>
''Uncle Beazley'' was present at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Neighborhood Museum when the museum opened on September 15, 1967.<ref name=Beazley3>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115045524/http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_9158|archive-date=November 15, 2011 |url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_9158|title=S. Dillon Ripley & "Uncle Beazley"|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Archives|date=September 15, 1967|access-date=July 2, 2016|quote=Secretary S. Dillon Ripley (1964–1984) and unidentified children with "Uncle Beazley", the dinosaur (''Triceratops'') used in the film ''The Enormous Egg'', at the opening of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum on September 15, 1967.}}</ref>
From the 1970s to 1994, the statue was located at the National Mall in front of the National Museum of Natural History.<ref name=Beazley1/><ref>(1) {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416065903/http://mallhistory.org/items/show/2|archive-date=April 16, 2016|url=http://mallhistory.org/items/show/2|title=Uncle Beazley|work=Histories of the National Mall|publisher=Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University|location=Fairfax, Virginia|access-date=July 1, 2016|quote=For a slow-moving dinosaur, Uncle Beazley is widely traveled. Before coming to the Mall in the 1970s, his home was the Smithsonian's Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. In 1994, ''Uncle Beazley'' moved from the Mall to its current residence, the National Zoo.}}<br />(2) {{cite web|url=http://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sichronology&uri=full=3100001~!9361~!0#focus|title=Uncle Beazley on the Mall|work=Historic Images of the Smithsonian|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Research Information System|year=1976|access-date=July 2, 2016|quote=Six children play on the sculpture ''Uncle Beazley'', the 25 foot long replica of a ''Triceratops'', placed on the Mall in front of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH).}}<br />(3) {{cite web|author=National Zoological Park (U.S.)|year=1977|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_7798|title=Uncle Beazley in the Snow|work=Historic Images of the Smithsonian: Smithsonian Institution Archives|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=July 20, 2016|quote=Fiberglass model of "Uncle Beazley," the dinosaur (''Triceratops'') used in the film ''The Enormous Egg'', stands all covered with snow on the Mall. The Smithsonian Institution Building is visible in the background.}}</ref> In 1994, the statue was returned to the Zoo and was displayed in the former rhinoceros yard until 2003, when the yard was renovated for the Zoo's expanding Asian elephant family.<ref name=Beazley1/><ref>{{cite web|author=National Zoological Park (U.S.) (May 1994)|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_2246|title=Uncle Beazley Moves to the Zoo|work=Chronology of Smithsonian History: Smithsonian Institution Archives|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=July 20, 2016|quote=Uncle Beazley, the 25 foot long replica of a ''Triceratops'' that resided on The Mall in front of the National Museum of Natural History for many years, has found a new home in the Rhino Yard near the Elephant House at the National Zoological Park. Uncle Beazley first appeared in the children's book ''The Enormous Egg'' by Oliver Buttersworth. There was a ceremony to welcome him to his new home on June 8 attended by fifth-graders from the Bancroft Elementary School and Myer Elementary School. The ceremony was hosted by Research Paleontologist Emeritus Nicholas Hotton and the Zoo's Associate Director for Interpretive Programs David Jenkins.}}</ref>
In 2007, the Zoo and Smithsonian exhibits staff began work to restore the dinosaur.<ref name=Beazley1/> Zoo staff also created a garden exhibit for ''Uncle Beazley'' near Lemur Island with funding from a gift from a Director's Circle donor in memory of her parents.<ref name=Beazley1/><ref name=Switek>{{cite web|first= Brian|last=Switek|title=A Triceratops at the National Zoo|url=http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2009/06/a-triceratops-at-the-national-zoo/|date=June 24, 2009|publisher=Smithsonian.com|access-date=July 2, 2016}}</ref> The "dinosaur garden" features plants such as ferns, papyrus, and giant taro whose ancestors existed during the Age of Dinosaurs.<ref name=Beazley1/><ref name=Switek/> The statue was again refurbished in 2011.<ref name=NPR>{{cite web |last=Dukehart |first=Coburn |date=February 16, 2011 |title=Uncle Beazley Is on the Move |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/02/16/133806945/uncle-beazley-is-on-the-move |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003113112/http://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/02/16/133806945/uncle-beazley-is-on-the-move |archive-date=October 3, 2015 |work=The Picture Show| publisher=NPR |access-date=July 2, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Multiref2 |1={{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022004258.html|title=Aging 'Uncle Beazley' leaves National Zoo for 'treatment'|first=Martin|last=Weil|work=Metro|publisher=The Washington Post|date=February 20, 2011|access-date=August 17, 2016}} |2={{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911180033/http://exhibits.si.edu/?p=269|archive-date=September 11, 2015|url=http://exhibits.si.edu/?p=269|title=Uncle Beazley Has Arrived|date=March 1, 2011|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Office of Exhibits Central|access-date=July 2, 2016}} |3={{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128055349/http://landscapeonline.com/research/article/15332|archive-date=November 28, 2011|url=http://landscapeonline.com/research/article/15332|title=Makeover for National Zoo's Uncle Beazley|work=LandscapeOnline.com|date=November 28, 2011|publisher=Landscape Communications, Inc.|access-date=July 2, 2016}} |4={{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010092233/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ZooArt/UncleBeazley/facelift.cfm|archive-date=October 10, 2012|url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ZooArt/UncleBeazley/facelift.cfm|title=Uncle Beazley Gets a Facelift (May 2011)|work=Art at the National Zoo|publisher=Smithsonian National Zoological Park|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=July 1, 2016}} |5={{cite web|first=Arcynta Ali|last=Childs|url=http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/05/an-old-favorite-returns-to-the-national-zoo|title=An Old Favorite Returns to the National Zoo|date=May 3, 2011|publisher=Smithsonian.com|access-date=July 2, 2016}} }}</ref>
NBC's telecast of ''The Enormous Egg'' also featured five smaller ''Triceratops'' models that Louis Paul Jonas had created to represent the dinosaur during its youth.<ref name=NZP/><ref>{{Multiref2 |1={{cite web|author=National Zoological Park (U.S.)|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_6909|title=Louis Paul Jonas with Uncle Beazley|work=Historic Images of the Smithsonian: Smithsonian Institution Archives|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|year=1967|access-date=August 19, 2016|quote=At the National Zoological Park, Louis Paul Jonas, designer of the fiberglass sculpture of a dinosaur''Triceratops'' named ''Uncle Beazley'' used in the NBC production of ''The Enormous Egg'', is with a model of Uncle Beazley as a baby.}}|2={{cite web|author=National Zoological Park (U.S.)|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_6908/|title=Louis Paul Jonas with Uncle Beazley|work=Historic Images of the Smithsonian: Smithsonian Institution Archives|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|year=1967|access-date=August 19, 2016|quote=Louis Paul Jonas, designer of the Uncle Beazley fiberglass ''Triceratops'' sculpture used in the NBC production of ''The Enormous Egg'', holds up a model of a baby Uncle Beazley sitting on vegetation to a giraffe in the Elephant House at the National Zoological Park.}} }}</ref> In 1979, George Heinemann, the telecast's producer, donated the models to Pittsfield's Berkshire Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate organization in Western Massachusetts. In 2014, the five models, the largest of which also bears the name of ''Uncle Beazley'', were moved to Pittsfield's public library, the Berkshire Athenaeum,<ref>{{cite web |title=Uncle Beazley's New Home |url=http://berkshiremuseum.org/uncategorized/uncle-beazleys-new-home/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206173736/http://berkshiremuseum.org/uncategorized/uncle-beazleys-new-home/ |archive-date=February 6, 2016|url-status=dead |publisher=Berkshire Museum |location=Pittsfield, Massachusetts|year=2015|access-date=August 19, 2016}}</ref> and in 2018 the {{convert|11|ft|m|adj=on}} ''Uncle Beazley'' was moved to the EcoTarium in Worcester.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-09-12 |title=A New Triceratops for the EcoTarium Museum of Science and Nature |url=https://ecotarium.org/a-new-triceratops-for-the-ecotarium-museum-of-science-and-nature/ |publisher=EcoTarium |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category inline}}
{{Public art in Washington, D.C.}} {{Smithsonian Institution}} {{National Zoological Park (United States)}} {{Portal bar|Children's literature|Dinosaurs|United States|Visual arts}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncle Beazley}} Category:1967 sculptures Category:Collection of the Smithsonian Institution Category:Fiberglass sculptures in Washington, D.C. Category:National Zoological Park (United States) Category:Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C. Category:Sculptures of dinosaurs Category:Statues of fictional characters