THE WILD WEST SHOW ON A TABLE
CITY people, country people, young people, old people, busy people,
idle people, all come flocking to the Wild West Show when it posts its
gay pictures and spreads its fascinating white tents for the benefit of
the public.
But did it ever occur to you that the show could come to you—that
is, you might organize a show of your own and arrange things to suit
yourself? If you want the Wild West Show first and a circus after you
can have them. Should you prefer both shows at the same time they are
yours, for you can make the entire affair—horses, riders, Indians, wild
animals and tent. You may do even more—you can cause all the performers
actually to move, and that by the mere turn of your wrist, because your
show will be in reality the moving pictures of
=A Panorama=
[Illustration: Fig. 117.—An old broom for rollers.]
Get a common old house-broom (Fig. 117) and saw the broom part off
evenly from the handle at the dotted line A; then saw two pieces of
equal length from the handle at dotted lines B and C, making each
piece fourteen inches long. These we will call the rollers.
[Illustration: Fig. 118.—Box for show with holes in top and bottom.]
[Illustration: Fig. 119.—Broom stick rollers fitted in box.]
[Illustration: Fig. 120.—Blocks of wood across each end of bottom of
box.]
Find or make a wooden box about twelve inches high, eighteen inches
wide and eight inches deep; carefully pry off one of the eighteen-inch
sides and cut two round holes through the top of the box, one at each
end, two inches from the front and one and one-fourth inch from the
end; then turn the box over and cut corresponding holes through the
bottom; reverse the box again, bringing the right side up (Fig. 118).
The holes on the bottom must be exactly under those on the top and all
four holes must be only large enough to allow the roller to slip in,
and while in, to turn easily (see Fig. 119). Remove the rollers and
nail a strip of wood two inches thick across each end of the bottom of
the box (Fig. 120). Then hammer two strong staple-tacks on each roller
two and one-half inches from the top, or smaller end, and on opposite
sides of the stick; guide the tacks so they will incline very
slightly upward while being hammered in (Fig. 121).
[Illustration: The Wild West Show Performance.]
[Illustration: Fig. 121.—Tacks in roller.]
[Illustration: Fig. 122.—Spool on strip of wood for crank.]
Fit an empty spool on one end of a piece of wood, one inch wide, three
inches long and not less than one-fourth of an inch thick. Slide a
large-headed screw in the hole of the spool until the screw rests
on the block of wood; then screw it down tight, fastening the spool
securely on the wood (Fig. 122); screw a second spool on another piece
of wood of the same size as the first (Fig. 123, D and E). Fit the free
end of the block of wood over the top of the roller and mark off the
space on the block occupied by the end of the roller; with a gimlet
bore a hole through the centre of this space, and also in the centre
of the top of the roller; place the block of wood over the top of the
roller, bringing one hole on top of the other, and fasten the roller
and block together with a screw. In like manner screw the other block
to the top of the second roller; these blocks and spools form the
crank-handles for turning the rollers (Fig. 124).
[Illustration: Fig. 123.—Top of box and the crank ready to be fastened
on box.]
Unscrew the blocks from the rollers and carefully remove the
staple-tacks, in order that
=A Strip of Cloth=
may be tacked to the rollers and the rollers replaced in the box.
[Illustration: Fig. 124.—Box ready for tent front.]
[Illustration: Fig. 125.—Lapped ends of strips of cloth sewed.]
Purchase two yards of low-priced white cambric dress skirt lining;
fold the cambric lengthwise into three equal divisions; then cut the
folds apart, making three lengths each two yards long and about eight
and one-fourth inches wide; sew the pieces together along the end
edges, lapping one over the other that the seam may be as thin and flat
as possible (Fig. 125). This will give you a strip almost six yards
long for the panorama. Do not hem either the top or bottom. Allow a
blank space of white cloth, sixteen and one-half inches long, at the
beginning of the panorama; then commence
=Pasting Pictures=
on the strip. Colored newspaper pictures are best, because the paper is
thin and easily pasted on the cambric. Almost all leading newspapers
publish in their issues from time to time colored pictures of wild
animals, rough riders, Indians and circus performers.
When you have a collection of the pictures you want, cut each one out
neatly. When all are ready, sort them over, selecting the one you wish
to come first on the panorama; then the second picture and so on. Have
them all in order so you need waste no time hunting for a print while
pasting the pictures on the cambric.
Make a good paste of flour and water, allowing it to boil well before
using. A drop or two of oil of cloves mixed with the paste after it has
cooked will keep it fresh a long time.
Select an attractive, comical picture for the first design on the
panorama; but save the best and most startling picture for the very
last.
You should arrange
=The Performers=
in your panorama in much the same way as a story is written or a play
put on the stage. Always begin with something which will cause the
audience to want to see more; then paste on various pictures, but
toward the last lead up to the best and most exciting design; the last
picture stands for the climax in a story or a play.
When placing the pictures on the strip of cambric, remember not to
have them close together; keep them apart, allowing a little blank
space between each successive object, so your audience will have an
opportunity of enjoying every one of the performers and wild animals as
it first appears peeping from behind the roll at one side of the tent,
showing only its head, then coming in full view and passing slowly
before them until it finally disappears around the roll at the other
side (Fig. 123).
=When the Pictures Are All Pasted=
on the strip, turn over and crease down half an inch of cambric along
the edge of the first end of the panorama; tack this end on one of the
rollers. If the thickness of the top of your box is one-half an inch,
tack the end of your panorama fully four and one-half inches below the
top or smaller end of the stick. Should the thickness of the lid be one
inch, the cambric strip must be tacked on still lower—about five inches
from the top.
You cannot be too particular about having the edge of the cambric
perfectly even and straight on the roller, so the strip will lie at a
true right angle to the roller when laid out flat (Fig. 126).
[Illustration: Fig. 126.—Cloth fastened on roller.]
Having tacked the cambric on, gradually roll it around the stick,
keeping the strip running over, not under the stick, so the roller
will stand behind the cambric; have the cloth perfectly even as it
winds around and around. When the end of the cloth is reached, turn in
one-half an inch of the end edge and tack the cambric to the second
roller as you tacked the beginning on the first roller (Fig. 127).
Use the same precaution and wind in the same manner but in an opposite
direction when rolling the cambric on the second stick. With a strong
hammer strike the top or lid of the box along the edges from underneath
until it loosens and can be removed; take it off and slide the rollers
with the attached panorama into the holes on the bottom of the box
(Fig. 123).
[Illustration: Fig. 127.—Method of rolling cloth on the broom-stick
rollers.]
Replace the lid of the box, passing the top ends of the rollers through
the holes, and nail the lid down to the sides of the box; then refit
the staple-tacks in their respective places and see that they are in
tight; restore the crank-handles on top of the rollers and rescrew them
in position (Fig. 124). Now the panorama is ready to go into
=A Tent=
[Illustration: Fig. 128.—Pasteboard tent front for box.]
[Illustration: Fig. 129.—Manner of covering tent front with white
cloth.]
Cut a stiff piece of pasteboard box like the tent design (Fig. 128)
with an opening to fit the strip of muslin, spanning the space between
the two rollers; the edges of the opening must cover both top and
bottom edges of the cambric. Cover the pasteboard with white muslin
cut into four pieces—one piece for the top, one for the bottom and
one for each side. Cut the bottom piece into a strip to fit, slashed
on all edges (Fig. 129, A). Paste this on the tent (Fig. 128) first,
turning the slashed portion over and fastening it on the back of the
pasteboard; then fasten a curtain on each side (Fig. 130) and paste
the top piece of the tent on last; scallop this along the bottom edge
and paste it only along the two slanting slashed top lines; turn the
slashes over on the wrong side of the pasteboard and paste. When dry,
fit the tent over the front of the box and tack it firmly in place.
Make three little flags of gay paper, paste on sticks and glue the
sticks to the top peak and sides of the tent (Fig. 130); paste strips
of paper over and across the flag handle to the pasteboard to hold the
flag more securely on the tent (Fig. 131). Your show will then appear
to be moving inside of a white circus tent.
[Illustration: Fig. 130.—The Wild West Show with side curtains
attached.]
Set the box upon a table with the entire panorama wound on the second
roller, leaving only the blank portion of the cloth visible, and while
the audience is seated in front, begin slowly turning the crank-handle
of the first roller; at the same time telling in clear, well enunciated
words all about your Wild West Show. Do not try to have your remarks
sound as though learned from a book; that would be stiff and unnatural.
Talk in an every-day way, exactly as though you were speaking only to
your most intimate friend, and wanted to tell her all about the strange
sights and queer people, and the funny bears who are not afraid of any
man woman or child.
If you have been to a real Wild West Show, that will give you ideas, or
if you have traveled way out West and seen the actual Wild West life it
will be an inspiration for your show. Even to have read about the life
with its daring riders, wild horses, buffaloes, hazardous stage coach
drives, Indians and their war dances will be an immense help in aiding
you to enter into the spirit of the show.
[Illustration: Fig. 131.—Method of fastening flagpoles on tent.]
[Illustration: A Picnic on the Roof.]