Living pictures are very amusing if well carried out, and even with
little preparation may be made very pretty or very comical, whichever
may be desired. It is perhaps better to attempt comical ones if you
have not much time in which to arrange them, as the costumes are
generally easier to manage, and if you are obliged to use garments not
quite in keeping with the characters, it does not matter much; indeed,
it will probably only make the audience laugh a little more.
The great thing in living pictures is to remain perfectly still during
the performance. You should select several well-known scenes either
from history or fiction, and then arrange the actors to represent the
scenes as nearly as possible.
Simple home living pictures are a great source of fun, and many a
wet afternoon will pass like magic while arranging scenes and making
dresses to wear. Newspaper masks, newspaper cocked hats, old shawls,
dressing-gowns, and sticks are quite sufficient for home charades.
Suppose, for instance, you think of "Cinderella" for one tableau. One
girl could be standing decked out with colored tissue paper over her
frock, and with paper flowers in her hair, to represent one of the
proud sisters, while Cinderella in a torn frock is arranging the other
proud sister's train, which may consist of an old shawl. Bouquets of
paper flowers should be in the sister's hands.
"Little Red Riding Hood" is another favorite subject for a living
picture. The wolf may be represented by a boy on his hands and knees,
with a fur rug thrown over him. Red Riding Hood only requires a
scarlet shawl, arranged as a hood and cloak, over her ordinary frock
and pinafore, and she should carry a bunch of flowers and a basket.
All living pictures look better if you can have a frame for them. It
is not very difficult to make one, especially if you have four large
card-board dress-boxes.
Having carefully cut out the bottoms of the boxes, place the frames as
here shown:
[Illustration]
Cut out the center framework, leaving a large square, so:
[Illustration]
You must then fasten the four pieces together by gluing cardboard on
each side of the joints, and you will have a very good frame, which
you can cover with colored paper or ornament with muslin.
This frame will last a very long time if carefully treated. It should
stand upright by itself; but if it is a little unsteady, it is better
to hold it upright from the sides. Of course, this will only make a
very small frame, but you can increase the size by using more boxes.
If you have no time to make a frame, arrange your figures close to a
door, outside the room in which the audience is seated.
When quite ready, some one must open the door, when the doorway will
make a kind of frame to the living picture.
It is always well to have a curtain if you can; a sheet makes an
excellent one. Two children standing upon chairs hold it up on each
side, and at a given signal drop it upon the floor, so that, instead
of the curtain rising, it drops. When it has been dropped, the two
little people should take the sheet corners in their hands again, so
that they have only to jump upon the chairs when it is time to hide
the picture.
Of course, these instructions are only for living pictures on a
very small scale; much grander arrangements will be needed if the
performance is to take place before any but a "home audience."
As I told you before, comic living pictures are the easiest to perform
on account of the dresses being easier to make, but there are other
living pictures which are easier still, and which will cause a great
deal of fun and merriment. They are really catches, and are so simple
that even very little children can manage them.
You can arrange a program, and make half a dozen copies to hand round
to the audience.
The first living picture on the list is "The Fall of Greece" and
sounds very grand, indeed; but when the curtain rises (or rather, if
it is the sheet curtain, drops), the audience see a lighted candle set
rather crookedly in a candlestick and fanned from the background so as
to cause the grease to fall.
Here are some other similar comic tableaux which you can easily place
before an audience:
"Meet of the Hounds."--A pile of dog biscuits.
"View of the Black Sea."--A large capital C blackened with ink.
"The Charge of the Light Brigade."--Half a dozen boxes of matches
labeled: "10 cents the lot."
These are only a few of the many comic living pictures you can
perform; but, no doubt, you will be able to think of others for
yourselves.
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