=General Directions.= The best place for a pantomime show is where
two rooms are connected by folding doors. A screen or curtain can be
fitted to this opening. Care should be given that this screen fits the
opening so that no light can show over the top or from around the sides
or bottom. If the screen does not fit, this can be remedied by hanging
some curtains or other draperies at the top and on the sides, and by
putting carpets or rugs at the bottom.
Now for the screen. This is a sheet or square of muslin or
light-colored calico, tacked on a light wooden frame or to the opening.
The cloth must be stretched tightly, as any wrinkles spoil the effect
of the shadows. Dampen your cloth before tacking it on the frame, and
then pull it as tightly as you can before tacking; when it dries, it
will be found to have drawn tightly, and will be free from seams or
wrinkles.
If you desire to have the shadows show up sharp and clear, make your
screen semi-transparent by painting it with a solution of paraffine
wax, dissolved in spirits of turpentine. This, of course, should be
done at least twenty-four hours before your show is to take place, so
as to give it a chance to thoroughly dry.
Your theatre is now ready, all but the light, and that is prepared and
used as follows: First, secure a large lamp, and then a large pan,
which is filled with sand; the lamp is to be in the centre of this pan,
and the reasons for this precaution are obvious, as, should the lamp be
accidentally overturned, it will not ruin the floor covering, as the
oil will be absorbed by the sand; besides it obviates the risk of a
fire or explosion.
You are now all in readiness for your performance. The light is placed
upon the floor about four feet from the centre of the screen on the
actors’ side of same; the other side of the screen, where your audience
sit, is, of course, in complete darkness, otherwise the shadows of the
actors would not be in evidence.
Every one not engaged in the performance, but who is behind the screen,
waiting for his part, must be particular to keep back of the light, so
their shadows will not be thrown on the screen.
In making entrances and exits, come on from the sides, about two feet
from the screen, and you must remember that the farther you are from
the screen, and the nearer to the light, the larger will be your shadow
on the screen. Recollect, too, that you must be in profile, or sideways
to your audience, otherwise the effect of your acting is lost; as in
case you face your audience your actions are all lost to them.
=Aerial Figures.= A very funny entrance can be made by jumping over the
light, which gives the appearance on the screen as if you had just
dropped through the ceiling, and an exit by jumping over the light
looks like flying up there again in a most weird manner. A dummy figure
(suppose that of a witch, riding on the conventional broomstick) is
suspended by a fine thread or wire on the side of the screen remote
from the spectators. Behind this are ranged, one behind the other, and
at right angles to the screen, a row of lighted candles. Being all in
the same line, they throw one shadow only on the screen. The figure
is now made to oscillate slightly, so as to impart some little motion
to the shadow. One of the candles is now removed from its place in
the row, and waved gently about, now high, now low, the effect to the
spectators being that a second shadow springs out of the first, and
dances about it on the screen. A second and third candle as it leaves
its place in the line produces a separate shadow. It is well to have
three or four assistants, each taking a candle in each hand.
=Silhouettes.= The idea of projecting silhouettes with the hands on
a wall or illuminated screen is an old one. These shadows are best
made on a screen, which is illuminated by a single lamp enclosed in a
projecting apparatus, using acetylene gas. The lens must consequently
be of very short focus. The electric light may be replaced at the
amateur’s house by a lamp, or better by a wax candle. The candle will
do very well in a small room where one can be in total obscurity except
for the candle light. The chief fault of this light for shadowgraphy,
is, that the distance from light to screen must necessarily be
short, or shadows will not be sharp. The oil lamp should not be used
if another better light can be obtained, because the shadows must
necessarily be somewhat blurred. The main thing to be studied in
the selection of a light is to get a brilliant point of light and
not necessarily a large surface. Now, an oil lamp, having a large
or probably double flame, has too large a surface of illumination.
Moreover, the rays should always travel uninterceptedly to the screen,
never through the glass, and never thrown from a reflector. Seeing that
a glass chimney and reflector are almost indispensable to an oil lamp,
there is abundant reason for not using it. If the lamp is used, turn
the edge and not the flat side of the light before the screen.
=Shadow Pictures= may be accompanied by a phonograph. Care must be
taken in arranging the lights so that the shadows of the actors may
be clear cut and not out of proportion to the size of the sheet on
which they are thrown. The concealed phonograph starts, and presto!
the shadow actors behind the sheet seem to be the very embodiment of
the voices of the records. It is difficult to realize that a machine
is talking. Especially is this true when the impersonators are
sufficiently familiar with the words as to be able to form them with
their lips, although not really uttering them.
=Shadow Show.= One of the most pleasurable forms of entertainment,
in which every boy and girl takes delight, is the shadow show, and
a home-made one can be easily constructed and varied to your heart’s
content, if you are at all ingenious.
First secure some light strips of wood one inch thick and two inches
wide; you will need two of these six feet long and two of them three
feet long. These are to be joined together, making a frame six feet
high by three feet wide.
Next secure two strips one inch thick, one inch wide, and three feet
long, and two strips of the same size, but one foot long. Attach the
one-foot pieces to the three-foot strips six inches from each end.
This frame is to be attached to your larger frame, twelve inches from
the top.
Your framework should be joined so that it presents a flush, smooth
surface at all of the joints of the two frames. Over your large
framework you will now tack or glue black paper or muslin, leaving the
opening made by the smaller frame to be covered by white muslin, making
a semi-transparent screen 12 × 24 inches, upon which are to be shown
the figures.
A piece of tape is stretched across the bottom of the screen, close
to the frame. This holds against the frame the figures used in the
show and at the same time allows a continuation of their feet in the
cardboard from which they are cut to project below, and so be held by
the exhibitor.
By means of these continuations below the feet, the exhibitor can
make the figures glide along, rock backward and forward, or suddenly
disappear by pulling them downward.
All the figures should be cut out of cardboard and should have the
projection or continuation of the feet. Scenery can be cut out the
same way, and is quite easy, as you only need side screens. The scenes
can be held by the tape strip or can be fastened to the sides by using
thumb tacks. The joints of the figures are made with bits of broom
wire. If you want the eyes of the comic figures to roll about, string
a glass bead upon a thread and insert in a place cut for eyes in the
figure; fasten the thread at either side with a bit of glued muslin.
During the performance, this screen is illuminated by placing a light
about three feet behind it; the room in which the audience is seated
being, of course, dark. To shut out any light that may shine out at the
sides or top of the doorway, you should hang shawls or strips of your
black paper muslin.
Humorous and grotesque pictures may be cut out of newspapers and
magazines, pasting them on cardboard and then cutting out the
cardboard. The show may be a pantomime or the exhibitor may speak for
the different characters. All the figures to be used should be placed
on a table or a chair near the exhibitor or held by an assistant. With
a little ingenuity you can make the figures so that the arms and legs
and head work on pivots, attaching them to thread so small that it
will not cast a shadow on the screen. There is hardly any end to the
amusement you may have in this way.