MARIONETTES
MASKS AND SHADOWS
[Illustration: T_his is the_ T_ree of the_ M_arionettes_]
[Illustration]
MARIONETTES MASKS _and_ SHADOWS
BY
WINIFRED H. MILLS
_Head of Art Department, Fairmount Junior High Training School,
Cleveland, Ohio_
&
LOUISE M. DUNN
_Assistant Curator of Education, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland,
Ohio_
Illustrated
by
CORYDON BELL
Garden City, New York
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
1927
COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE
& COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE
COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
FIRST EDITION
_To Adventurers among Puppets and Plays_
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
CONTENTS
MARIONETTES PAGE
I. The Marionette—Its Family Tree 1
II. The Marionette—Its Famous Friends 25
III. Choosing Your Play 33
IV. Making Your Stage 47
V. Making Your Marionette 52
VI. Making Your Scenery 84
VII. Making Your Properties 102
VIII. Lighting Your Stage 112
IX. Training Your Puppeteers 119
X. Presenting Your Play 135
MASKS
I. The Map of the Mask 143
II. Occasions for Wearing the Mask 152
III. Making the Mask 160
IV. The Costume and Setting for the Mask 168
V. The Mask with Pantomime, Music, and Dance 196
SHADOWS
I. The Mystery of the Shadow 205
II. Making a Shadow Play 212
III. Producing Cut-out Shadow Plays 215
IV. Producing Human Shadow Plays 225
Bibliography 241
Index 265
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
[Illustration: [Shadows]]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Tree of the Marionettes _Frontispiece_
HALFTONES
MARIONETTES
FACING PACE
Marionette play, “Men of Iron,” given by ninth year
pupils, Fairmount Junior High School, Cleveland, Ohio 18
Scenes from Marionette play, “Adventures of Alice,”
given by ninth year pupils Fairmount Junior High
School at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Marionettes
made by Tuesday Marionette Club 34
Scenes from the Marionette play, “Men of Iron” 98
Marionette Ballet, “Petroushka” 114
_Upper._ Marionettes from “The Adventures of Alice.”
_Lower Left._ Bear and Trainer from “Men of Iron.”
_Lower Right._ Marionette from “Petroushka.” 130
MASKS
Masks. Indian Corn Maidens. Clowns. Japanese Characters:
Old Woman, Devil Mask, Old Man 146
_Upper Row._ Bishop, Queen, King. _Middle Row._
Lady-in-Waiting, Crusader, Child. _Lower Row._ Jester,
Old Woman, Little Jack 150
Masks. _Upper._ Mummer, Queen, Jester. _Middle._
Egyptian Priest, Persian Poet, Greek Maiden. _Lower._
Columbine and Pierrot 158
Characters from Christmas Mask 162
Scene from Christmas Mask given by ninth year Fairmount
Junior High School pupils at the Cleveland Museum of
Art. Lady-in-Waiting, King 178
SHADOWS
_Upper_: Scene from cut out shadow play, “The Traveling
Musicians of Bremen.” _Lower_:—Behind the scene in a
cut out shadow play, given by eighth grade pupils of
Fairmount Junior High School, Cleveland, Ohio 210
Scenes from the cut out shadow play, “The Traveling
Musicians of Bremen.” 214
Behind the scenes in the human shadow play “The Indian
and the Oki.” 222
Scenes from the human shadow play, “The Indian and the
Oki.” 226
More scenes from the human shadow play, “The Indian and
the Oki.” 232
Scenes from the human shadow play, “The Shepherdess.” 236
FULL PAGE LINE DRAWINGS
PAGE
Constructional drawing of Marionette stage, back view 50
Side view of Marionette stage, with lighting 51
Knight Marionette 77
FACING PAGE
The Map of the Mask 146
MARIONETTES
[Illustration: [Stage]]
CHAPTER I
The Marionette—Its Family Tree
This is the family tree of the marionette. Its roots are deep in the
life of ancient Egypt, India, Persia, China, Japan, and Java. Its great
trunk springs from the soil of Greece and Rome. Its branches spread over
Europe and reach to America.
Long ago, in Egypt, there were little carved figures of wood and ivory
with limbs that could be made to move by the pulling of strings. We do
not know for what use these little figures were intended. They may have
been the very first dolls in the world or they may have been little
images of the great gods which the people of that country worshiped. We
do know, however, that they were treasured, and were buried with the
kings and queens of ancient Egypt in their tombs near the banks of the
Nile. Some people tell us that the great idols in the Egyptian temples
were puppets and that the priests concealing themselves inside their
bodies could make them move their hands and open their mouths. This so
amazed many of the people who saw them that they fell down and worshiped
them.
Imagine a very long avenue with a row of carved stone figures called
sphinxes on either side, leading all the way up to a great temple.
Imagine a slowly moving procession of a hundred priests on its way to
the temple to do honor to the great god Osiris. These priests are
carrying a colossal golden boat on their shoulders. But more wonderful
than the temple with its lotus-flower columns and its beautiful colors,
more wonderful than the golden boat carried by these white-robed
priests, was a marvelously made statue of the god Osiris, which rode in
the golden boat. It moved its head constantly from side to side. The
priests knew which way it wished to go by the way it turned its head.
This figure of the god was a marionette. We also know that the ancient
Egyptians had miniature puppet stages. One has been unearthed which has
doors of ivory with the rods and wires still in their places. Among the
Egyptian puppets that have been found was one of a crocodile. Its lower
jaw moves on a pivot and its feet are connected with a kind of hinge.
INDIA
It is possible that India rather than Egypt may have been the first home
of puppets. The people of India believed that puppets lived with the
gods long before they came down to this world. There is a story of
Parvati, wife of the god Siva, that tells of a puppet which she made,
that was so beautiful that she was afraid to let her husband see it, she
carried it away secretly, to the Malaya Mountains. But Siva suspected
his wife and followed her. When Siva saw the beauty of the puppet that
she was trying to hide from him, he fell in love with it, and brought it
to life.
Another story is told in India about a basket of wonderful wooden dolls
that was given to a little princess. These dolls were made in such a way
that when the princess touched a small wooden peg one would run and
bring her a cool drink, another would fly through the air and return
with a wreath of flowers, still another could dance and one could even
talk. Sometimes, when puppets were made to represent the gods, they were
made of pure gold and birds that could talk were placed in their mouths.
The fame of these wonderful Indian puppets reached Persia and Turkey,
China and Burma, Siam and Java, in each of which countries the puppets
were different and different kinds of temples and theaters were made for
them. Even the elephants carved for them to ride upon were different in
each country.
In many eastern countries there were two kinds of marionettes: the round
kind that we know and another thin, flat kind called “Shadows.” No one
seems to know just when the first shadow figures were made. An old
legend says they came from the time when all that the people saw of the
religious ceremonies was the shadow of the priest on the walls of the
sacred tent.
CHINA
We do not know just when the earliest travelers brought puppets from
India to China and Japan. There is a legend that an old Chinese ruler
who lived more than three thousand years ago invited a famous showman to
bring his marionettes to the royal palace. This invitation delighted the
showman whose name was Yen Sze. In fact, he was so anxious to please the
king and his wives that he made his puppet courtiers smile at the royal
ladies, which so stirred the old king’s jealousy that he ordered Yen
Sze’s head cut off. Poor Yen Sze had to tear his puppets to pieces to
make the angry old ruler believe they were not real people.
Another story of Chinese puppets is one that comes from the old city of
Ping at the time it was besieged by a great warrior and his army. It
happened that the king of Ping had a very crafty adviser. This adviser
told the king to send for his chief marionette maker and order him to
make a very large and beautiful marionette, one that could dance on the
walls of the city, and this the king did. When the wives of the soldiers
of the besieging army saw the beauty and grace of this marionette
dancer, they became so jealous that they made their husbands give up the
siege and march away at once.
It is always interesting to see how human puppets are, no matter when or
where you find them. In China, some were aristocrats and lived at Court
with the Emperor and the royal family. They wore beautiful robes and
gave a great deal of thought to their speech and manners. Others were
very religious and lived with the priests in the temples; still others
seemed to have liked the out of doors, to travel and to meet and to
please the common people, and to be very much like them in all their
thoughts and ways. When these plebeian marionettes traveled, they took
little with them for they were poor and had few clothes and possessions.
This made travel very easy. Sometimes a small box would hold the stage,
properties, and all the puppets.
The master of the puppets stood inside a blue cloth sack when he gave
his play. These traveling puppets were apt to be rough and ready. They
loved to make the people laugh, but best of all they loved to please the
children. They gave plays about everyday life, about animals that could
talk, and about great Chinese heroes. They touched the hearts of the
people.
PERSIA
Puppets have helped even to make friends out of enemies, as you may see
in this old Persian story. One day, a puppet play was being given before
the Emperor Ogotai. In this play the showman thought he would please His
Majesty by showing him some of his enemies, the Chinese, being dragged
along tied to the tails of horses. Instead of pleasing the Emperor, this
cruelty greatly distressed him. He ordered the showman to come to his
palace. When the showman came, the Emperor showed him many beautiful
things that had been made by Chinese and Persian artists, explaining to
the showman that both the Chinese and Persian people loved beautiful
things. He endeavored to make the showman understand that if he had
respect for the art of the Chinese people, he could not be their enemy.
JAPAN
From China puppets traveled to Japan where the children still hear the
story of the old emperor who ordered his best showman to travel from
temple to temple for he knew that the gods would be entertained by his
wonderful marionette plays. Because they made their puppets entertain
the gods as well as the people, may be the reason that the Japanese have
become more expert in making puppets than any other people. Japanese
marionettes move their hands and their fingers and can even lift their
eyebrows to show scorn and surprise. The costumes for Japanese
marionettes have always been of the richest silks and brocades. Special
thought is given to embroidering the designs on their costumes.
Sometimes their gowns are covered with jewels. When a marionette has a
beautiful new gown, a boy comes forward and holds a light just in front
of the marionette, so that the audience can plainly see how beautiful
the costume is.
The great poets of Japan have written more than a thousand plays for
marionettes. In these plays the Japanese puppets do just the same things
that Japanese people do. They have gardens and enjoy walking in them.
The old ladies water the flowers, the young women play the kotes; the
puppet children dance and play games, the boys fly kites, the girls
carry dolls. The Japanese puppets are very silent little people. They do
not talk, they simply act. There are specially trained people who read
and chant their plays, and still others who are trained to play the
musical instruments that accompany them.
GREECE
In the old Greek cities puppets were very much at home. They interested
the older people as much as they interested the children. Puppets were
taken to banquet tables and made to act. Such cities as Athens and
Ephesus were rivals in the art of making them.
Greek boys and girls, instead of going to the movies, went to wonderful
marionette shows. These were given in the public square, in the
theaters, and even in the temples. The marionettes used in these plays
could bend their heads, turn their eyes, and move their hands as though
they were alive. This need not surprise us, because in those days, great
engineers and mathematicians planned their mechanism. You probably
remember the story of Archimedes, who burned the ships that came to
attack his city of Syracuse by the use of concave mirrors. This great
Archimedes, it is said, made such a wonderful marionette that it seemed
to move of itself. One of the old Greek plays showed a temple in which
there stood a puppet god with small figures dancing about it, and a
fountain that, by means of weights and measures, jetted forth milk.
The best of the Greek puppet plays seem to have been taken from the
Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer. In a play of five scenes, one scene
showed the seashore, with men hammering, sawing, and building ships, a
second showed the men launching their boats, a third showed the coming
of a storm on the sea, the fourth showed the ships being driven toward
the rocks, the last scene showed the wreck of the ships and the drowning
of Ajax.
ROME
Since the Romans seem to have copied so much from the Greeks, it is not
surprising that they copied the Greek marionettes. In fact, the Romans
and Greeks seem to have been equally fond of them. Roman writers
mentioned them in their books, Roman Emperors filled their palaces with
showmen and their puppets, and built small, richly furnished theaters
for them. Roman marionettes were sometimes covered with gold and silver,
precious stuffs, and shining armor. Their mechanism was amazing. Almost
every sort of transformation could be carried out. At one time, Roman
rulers became so interested in puppets that affairs of the government
were almost forgotten.
There were three kinds of Roman marionettes. The simplest kind was the
Burattini, a kind of marionette that is much like a mitten. They were
shown on the street corners by a showman who needed no more than two—one
for each hand. It cost almost nothing to see them. The shopkeepers,
gladiators, slaves, and surely the Roman children came to look whenever
they heard the showman’s fife. He would make them act droll little
dialogues or pretend to sing popular songs. There was another kind
called Fantoccini. These were jointed dolls strung on cords that were
drawn across the knees of the operator. He usually sang or played some
musical instrument while he made certain movements with his legs that
caused the puppets to advance or retire or to move all in one direction.
A third kind of marionette was manipulated by strings or wires from
above.
In the tomb of the tragic Empress Marie, wife of the Emperor Honorius,
who lived 365 B.C., were found the puppets of her little child. She
probably cared more for these puppets than for all her jewels. The great
Antiochus, when he became king of Syria, surrounded himself with mimes,
burattini, and showmen, seemingly caring little for his huge empire.
When Rome fell, the gods and temples were destroyed and puppets were
almost forgotten. But we find the world could not live long without
them. In a very short time, when the early Christians wished to help
each other to picture the precious story of the Christ, they again began
to make puppets. We must now try to picture them in the great
underground cities that we call catacombs—probably living in what were
the world’s first churches, and enacting for these persecuted peoples
the scenes of the new religion. We know that these early Christians
revered them, for they carved them on their tombs.
It was before the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem that the greatest of the
early passion plays were given by marionettes, plays so simple and
religious that they were greatly loved by the devout pilgrims who came
to that sacred shrine. It was here that puppets were probably seen by
the first crusaders who, no doubt, had much to tell of them when they
returned to their far-distant homes. Puppets lived in the churches, just
as they once had lived in the temples. The plays they gave were called
Mysteries. These puppet mystery plays were to be seen in both the
churches and the monasteries of all medieval Europe. They were solemn
festivals of sacred commemoration. Into the naves and chapels of these
early churches, large wooden stages were built, carpets were spread on
the floors, tapestries were hung on the walls. At the back of these
stages, evergreen trees were placed and in front of the trees there were
stones. These were covered with plants and moss in imitation of the
hills and valleys and pathways of the Holy Land. Everything was so
arranged that these marionettes could give the most dramatic scenes in
the life of Christ. The little figures were carved from wood, colored to
life, richly clothed, adapted by mechanisms so that their limbs could be
made to move by the action of springs and levers.
As time went on the people seemed to lose much of their strong religious
fervor. Marionettes did the same. Finally almost ceasing to be religious
they became interested only in entertaining people. At last Savonarola
banished them from the churches of Florence, and in the year 1550 the
Council of Trent tried to banish all marionettes from the churches. The
Council did this because it felt that marionettes were very irreligious.
Then the puppets rebelled and forsook the church for the theater.
Thereupon they were accused of witchcraft and magic, were tortured,
burned, beheaded, and even buried alive. All this was done in the XVIth
Century. But all these indignities did not drive the marionettes far
from the churches. They established themselves just outside the church
grounds. Here they were sure to be on the days when crowds of people
were coming to the great church celebrations. The plays they gave were
episodes taken from the Holy Scriptures. These episodes taken from the
miracles came to be known as Miracle Plays, and these plays became even
more popular than the Mystery Plays that had been given inside the
churches.
Sometimes puppets received invitations to visit great knights and ladies
in their castles. They were eager for such invitations because they
enjoyed the experiences of traveling. As always happens in travel, they
saw new things to interest them and met new people, many of whom were
quite different from their earlier and more serious-minded friends. They
enjoyed the life of the castle, the songs of the wandering minstrels,
and the heroic stories that the traveling bards told in the evenings
about the fire in the great halls. They liked the noble lords and
ladies, their speech and manners and dress. These marionettes became
what you might call aristocrats.
The marionettes that were religious found a home in the quiet of the
monasteries. They were the marionettes that were scholarly and were
interested in Latin plays as well as in the Mysteries and Sacred Dramas.
The greater number of marionettes preferred to live in the towns with
the common people and to know what was going on. These puppets were full
of health and good humor. It was this sort of marionette who changed his
name and his character almost everywhere he went. If he were in Naples,
he was Scaramuccia; in Venice, he was Messer Pantaleone; in Bergamo, he
was Arlequino; in France, he was Guignol or Polichinello; in Germany, he
was Hans Wurst and Kaspare; in Holland, he was Jean Pickel Herring; and
in England, he was Mr. Punch.
ITALY
In Italy at about this time every kind of marionette was very popular.
Especially popular were the Burattini. These little figures consisted of
a head and two hands held together by a large cloak within which was
hidden the hand of the manipulator, who made the puppet act by the
movements of his fingers and wrist. The curious word, Burattini,
possibly came from a kind of coarse, durable cloth of bright colors
known as Burato, which was used for clothing this type of puppet. One of
these Burattini was called Arleechino. He was a great baby and played
the part of a servant. His dress was made from triangles of red, blue,
yellow, and violet pieces of Burato cloth. He wore a small hat that
scarcely covered his head. His little shoes had no soles. Michael
Angelo, it is said, did not like his head and face. He remodeled them to
suit the Burattini’s character, which was an odd mixture of ignorance,
ingenuity, stupidity, and grace. Listen to his speech: “Kind sir, I know
that you are in want of a servant, after having made 327 changes in a
year, and I hope to make up the round number. I am a man who knows how
to do everything—eating, drinking, sleeping, and making love to the
maids. The only fault I have is that I do not like work. I shall be as
punctual as an idler, as faithful as a domestic thief, as secret as an
earthquake, and as watchful as a cat. As to my honesty, surely no man
can call me a thief, but rather a clever mathematician who finds things
before their masters lose them.”
You may like to know how marionettes came by their name. One day, in the
year 944, in the city of Venice, twelve beautiful maidens went forth
from their homes to marry twelve young men at the church of Santa Maria
della Salute. Suddenly a band of Barbary pirates landed near the church,
attacked the crowd, and in the confusion that arose, carried away the
maidens. In a short time the young men of Venice recovered from the
shock, jumped into their ships, followed and overtook the pirates. After
much fighting, they rescued the brides. From that very day it was the
custom in Venice to celebrate the anniversary of this event by a great
festival. Always on the last day of the festival came the marriage of
twelve beautiful young women to twelve handsome young men. The wedding
gowns and doweries were provided by the state from the public treasury.
In the course of time, this led to so much jealousy and so many quarrels
among the young men and women of Venice, that the city decided to
substitute life-sized wooden dolls for the maidens. By and by, the
Venetian toy makers began to make little figures that were exactly like
the large figures, to sell as toys for the children. These were called
“little maries” or “marionettes.”
When one learns to know the people of Italy, he can easily understand
how puppets might feel more at home there than in any other country in
the world. The Italian people love music and color and motion and life,
above all else they love heroes, their great adventures and romances.
All these things are equally dear to the hearts of the marionettes. They
repay the sympathy of the Italian people by keeping alive for them their
great heroes and hero tales. The people might have forgotten many of
their great stories had it not been for the puppets. The legend of the
Court of Charlemagne, the story of golden-haired Roland, which Taillefer
sang before William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings, have been
acted by puppets in Italy for more than three hundred years. One may
still see all the characters that were in the story as it was told in
the Xth Century. There is Rinaldo of Montauban, his horse Bayard, his
sword Flamberge, Malagigi, the magician, and Ganelon, the traitor, fair
Clarissa and Charlemagne himself. Italian boys and girls learn much of
their history from puppets. Sometimes it requires a whole year to give
one of their great plays like _Orlando Furioso_ or the story of the
seven Paladins. From Italy marionettes traveled to all the other
countries of Europe, to France, Spain, Germany, and England. Finally
they came to the United States.
FRANCE
You may wish to know how puppets found their way from Italy to France.
There were two brothers, Giovanni and Francesco Briocchi. Francesco was
a skilful wood carver and mechanic. Giovanni was very clever with his
speeches and jokes. As children, they loved marionettes. They hardly
knew which they enjoyed more, sitting in the audience watching the play,
or standing behind the stage watching their friends manipulate the
puppets. They decided that when they grew up they would be puppeteers,
make their own puppets and travel from town to town and to the fair land
of which they had heard so many interesting tales. This they did.
Giovanni made the figures skilfully and dressed them beautifully.
Francesco made them say and do such clever and amusing things that their
fame went before them into small towns and into the large cities. When
they had made enough money they said, “Now we can go to France. We can
easily carry our little stage and puppets on our backs. We can earn our
way by giving plays.” This they did, to the delight of all who saw them.
Finally they reached the city of Paris. In those days great fairs were
held where people came to buy and sell and to make merry. Here was just
the place for Giovanni and Francesco. When the fairs became permanent
the brothers decided to settle down and make a real home for their
marionettes. This at first was a simple kind of theater, but later came
to have every beautiful thing that French taste and ingenuity could
provide. One day the king and queen made them a visit and engaged them
to come out to their beautiful château at St. Germain en Laye and give
puppet plays for their young son, the dauphin, and his friends. In the
records of France you may still see the account as it stands: “Sept.
1669, to Jean Briocchi, divertir les enfants de France, 1365 livres.”
When the Frenchmen saw the success of the Italian showmen, they, too,
began to make puppets and to take them to the places where people
gathered who might be willing to spend a few sous for entertainment.
Among these was an old dentist, who found it difficult to earn a living.
He made some marionettes and a clever little boxlike stage with a
curtain about it. It was just large enough for him to stand inside and
manipulate the puppets. He decided to take his stand to the Pont Neuf,
one of the principal bridges of Paris. Here he would pull teeth when
anyone needed his services and for the rest of the time would entertain
the people. He had also a very celebrated monkey, called Fagotin, that
he knew would attract a crowd. Fagotin he dressed as a sentry, gave him
a sword, and trained him to march up and down in front of the little
puppet booth. One day a great poet, whose name was Cyrano de Bergerac,
was crossing the bridge and stopped, as did most of the people, to see
Fagotin and the puppets. It happened that the poet had a very large nose
and was a very sensitive person. When he saw Fagotin marching up and
down and making grimaces, he thought he must surely be making fun of his
large nose. At this, the poet was so angry that he challenged him to a
duel. Poor little Fagotin drew his sword with the air of a master of the
foils, only to be slain by the irate poet.
The French people, like the Italians, had a great many heroes celebrated
in song and romance. It certainly would have been poor taste on the part
of the Italian puppets to have overlooked this. In a short time the
puppets forgot Italy and were at home in many new rôles of French
literature. New plays were written for them. When that great struggle,
the French Revolution, came, the puppets took sides. Some were on the
side of the poor starving people, others were unwilling to give up their
lives of ease and luxury. During the Reign of Terror many puppets were
beheaded. In fact, while one group of people was beheading King Louis
XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, another group in almost the same
place was beheading poor Punchinello. Many puppets, however, survived,
and a whole book might be written about the history of puppets in France
and the great men and women who have loved them.
SPAIN
In Spain, the puppets first appeared in the churches, presenting great
scenes from the Bible. At first their garments were simple and
beautiful, but later they were so bejeweled and vulgar that they
offended the good taste of the people and the puppets were driven out.
Spain is the only country in which a marionette was ever made a citizen
and baptized. Don Quixote saw them, and the great Emperor Charles V, in
his retirement in the monastery of Cremona, spent many days with the
famous scholar, Torriani, making puppet soldiers and bull fighters, with
such skill that they were really able to fight.
ENGLAND
As in almost all other countries, the earliest English puppets were
those which gave religious plays in the churches. From the churches,
they went out among the people, still giving plays founded on the Bible
stories and the lives of the saints. These plays were combinations of
shadowgraph and marionette, and the English people sometimes called them
“motions.” English puppets were also very fond of going to the fairs.
Here is the pamphlet of a play given at the Fair of St. Bartholomew in
1641: “Here a knave in a fool’s coat, with a trumpet sounding or a drum
beating, invites you to see his puppets. Here a rogue, like a wild
woodman, or in antic shape like an incubus, desires your company to see
his motion.”
[Illustration:
_Marionette play, "Men of Iron," given by ninth year pupils, Fairmount
Junior High School, Cleveland, Ohio_
]
Probably the most popular puppet play in England in those days was one
called “The Old Creation of the world, with the addition of Noah’s
Flood.” The best scene showed “Noah and his family coming out of the ark
with all the animals, two by two, and all the fowls of the air seen in
prospect sitting upon trees; likewise, over the ark is the sun rising in
a glorious manner, moreover, a multitude of angels in a double rank, the
angels ringing bells. Likewise, machines descending from above, double,
with Dives rising out of hell and Lazarus seen in Abraham’s bosom;
besides several dancing gigs, sarabands and country dances, with merry
conceits of Squire Punch and Sir John Spendall.”
This play was given for fifty-two successive nights. Mr. Powell, the
clever but roguish fellow who owned these puppets, once set up his
little theater just outside the colonnades of Covent Garden, opposite
the parish church of St. Paul. He began his plays at the sound of the
church bells, and was successful in diverting so many from the church
services that he was severely reproved by the churchmen. It was this
same clever Powell, who had a very famous puppet called Lady Jane, who
went to Paris every month and came back with a trunk full of gowns of
the latest fashion. These marionette style shows delighted all the
ladies of fashion in London, including the queen.
About 1642, all regular theaters were abolished in England, but
marionette theaters were not included. You can scarcely imagine the good
fortune this meant for them, for they inherited everything that had
belonged to the great theaters, all the music and opera, the dramas, the
tragedies, and the comedies.
When news of this reached Italy and France, many showmen started at once
for England. They knew they could gather pennies on the way from almost
every pocket. The regular price of these puppet plays was but two pence,
but a fine play like _The Gun Powder Plot_ cost eighteen pence. There
were plays about giants and fairies, about Robin Hood and Little John,
about St. George and the dragon, and a hundred other tales.
All the great writers of those days now began to write plays for
marionettes. Beautiful new theaters were built for them. It became the
fashion to go to puppet plays. Ben Jonson says that many great ladies
went every day.
In 1688, Punchinello changed his name to Mr. Punch and he married Judy.
When they had a son and went to housekeeping, then the quarrels began.
You may have had the pleasure of hearing some of them. Punch had a wide
circle of friends and some of them were interested in politics. Many
great Englishmen, like Addison, Steele, Fielding, Milton, and Byron,
were glad to tell him what to say that would help to set the people
thinking. Some of the English puppets disliked cities and were only
happy when they were going up and down the lovely English roads,
traveling among the villages and country people. There you can still
find them.
To-day the most beautiful English puppets are being made by Mr. William
Simmonds who began his work with puppet plays for village children. Mr.
Simmonds manipulates his own puppets as he cleverly improvises songs,
dances, and pantomimes.
GERMANY—AUSTRIA—RUSSIA
Before we follow marionettes to our own country, we ought to take a
little time to see them in Germany, Austria, and Russia. These peoples
were skilful in wood carving and made their puppets beautifully.
Marionettes were used in the early churches of these countries, and gave
Holy Plays before the high altars. Then they went to the castles and at
last to the theaters. It was only in Germany that great musicians wrote
music for them. In 1762, Haydn wrote for them his toy symphony, “The
Children’s Fair,” which was followed by five operettas given in the
theater at Eisenstadt. Probably the great _Passion Play_ at Oberammergau
has grown out of the early puppet plays that were given in the
monasteries and cathedrals.
The city of Munich built a little theater for Papa Schmidt, an old man
who had spent all his life giving puppet plays. This was done through
citizens who felt indebted to him for the pleasure he had given them as
children. They said, the least they could do was to build him a theater,
a place for himself and his daughter and their thousand puppets, that
included all the characters in the beautiful fairy tales.
In Vienna, the artist Richard Teschner has created some remarkable
modern marionettes. He has carved them most delicately from wood and has
shown great ingenuity in the way he has put his little figures together.
In Bohemia, the puppets were interested in politics, if they were
serious, and in comedies if they were not serious. In Hungary, they
traveled with the gypsies. In Poland and Russia, they are loved by all
the common people, and at Christmas celebrations still appear in their
ancient rôles as Joseph and Mary and the Christ Child, as wise men,
shepherds, and angels.
AMERICA
Puppets are not new in America. The North American Indians for hundreds
of years used them in their great ceremonies. The Hopi Indians used
marionettes to represent the mystic maidens who in ancient times gave
them, according to their legends, the corn and other seeds. This
ceremony is performed in a darkened room—in the center of which is a
wooden framework. The marionettes are placed on a stage or platform and
when the corn maiden’s song begins, the figures bend their bodies
forward and backward in time to the music as they grind the meal between
the miniature grindstones before them. The little figures are so
cleverly manipulated that they even rub their faces with meal as the
young Indian girls are accustomed to do. During the ceremony, two
symbolic marionette birds are made to walk back and forth, on the
framework, above the maidens, seeming to utter bird calls. The Hopi
Indians also made marionettes of their enemies, the serpents, which
represented floods and misfortune.
Most of the marionettes that we have known in America, until a few years
ago, were Italian. They were very shy and would not leave their Italian
neighborhoods. They often spoke no English. They gave plays about heroes
that we know little or nothing about.
In America, there is a growing list of friends of the marionette.
Probably the name best known to you will be that of Tony Sarg, a
charming artist who has taken his puppet plays to the largest cities in
our country and delighted us with his _Rip Van Winkle_, _Rose and the
King_, and _Don Quixote_. The manager of his marionettes, Mr. Matthew
Searle, is also an artist of ingenuity and taste.
In Chicago, the splendid work of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Brown made new
friends for the marionette. Mr. Perry Dilley introduced marionettes and
guignol to the people of California. He produced a great number of
interesting plays and all of his puppets are exceptionally fine. Mr.
William Duncan and Mr. Edward Mabley, creators of the “Tatterman
Marionettes,” have brought to the marionette stage unusual imagination
and skill, which is admirably shown in their _The Melon Thief_, _The
King of the Golden River_, and _Pierre Patelin_.
Madge Anderson has written beautifully of her puppet heroes. Mrs. Helen
Haiman Joseph has written an excellent _Book of Marionettes_. If it were
possible one would like to add the complete list of all those who are
carrying on the great tradition of the marionette. The interest, already
created, leads one to hope that America may take her place high up in
the marionette tree.
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
[Illustration: [Archimedes]]
CHAPTER II
The Marionette—Its Famous Friends
Every person is proud of his famous friends. If we know a great artist,
engineer, or traveler, we think we are fortunate. Can you imagine having
so many famous friends that you could not count them? This has been the
good fortune of marionettes. The names of all their Egyptian friends
seem to be lost. But it is not so with their Grecian friends.
Archimedes, Socrates, and Plato are the names of three famous friends
that have come down to us. Archimedes, the greatest inventor of his
time, liked puppets, it is said, because he could devise so many clever
ways of making them move and appear human. Socrates probably cared
nothing for the mechanism. He enjoyed taking a puppet in his own hands,
asking it clever questions, and then furnishing the equally clever
answers. These most unusual conversations would soon gather about him a
crowd of Athenian men and women, who were greatly interested in his
humor, irony, and whimsical paradoxes. The dialogues would probably go
on and on until his scolding wife, Xantippe, appeared. Plato also cared
little for their mechanism, but like his great master, Socrates, was
interested only when they were made to talk about the very serious
things of life, or when he saw them representing the gods and heroes in
the beautiful scenes of the plays given on the small stages built for
them in one part of the great theaters.
Kings and queens were among the famous Roman friends of puppets. You may
remember that puppets were found in the tomb of the Empress Marie and
that the Emperor Antiochus cared so much for them that he neglected the
affairs of his great empire. He had clever puppet makers as part of his
royal household, and delighted in planning the plays they were to give.
He designed the stage settings, and he sometimes assisted the royal
puppeteers.
In India, China, and Japan, the great rulers were greatly interested in
puppets, and required their presence at court.
One of the most interesting stories of a royal friend of the marionettes
is that of the Emperor Charles V of Spain. This strange ruler’s reason
was clouded. His devoted minister tried in many ways to divert his
beloved king, and finally succeeded when he found that the king could be
interested in puppets. Puppet soldiers, puppet generals, puppet kings
caught his imagination. The cleverest hands of Spain made them, by the
hundred, for His Majesty, who handled them with such interest and
pleasure that his reason was finally restored. Two other great kings
could be added to the list of royal friends—they are Saladin and Louis
XIV of France.
There is a long list of famous literary friends. Greatest of these is
Shakespeare, who not only enjoyed marionettes, but wrote plays for them.
Many people are surprised when they learn that _Midsummer Night’s Dream_
and _Julius Cæsar_ were written for marionettes. Shakespeare’s friend,
Ben Jonson, wrote a marionette play, _Every Man in His Humor_. Another
great literary friend was Cervantes. Some day you may wish to take his
story of Don Quixote and turn some of its wonderful scenes into a play
for marionettes. If you do so, you may be sure that their immortal
author would approve of your venture.
In France, among their many friends, was the great dramatist Voltaire.
At first he disliked marionettes thoroughly. For it happened that they
had made fun of him, and, naturally, that was more than this great wit
could stand. Finally, the story goes, he was invited to visit a friend
who had a little marionette theater and some puppets. When Voltaire took
the strings in his own hands, his feeling for them changed. He found
they could be made to say witty things, and to make fun of one’s
enemies. It ended by his writing short plays for them to act.
George Sand, the famous French novelist, made a very simple but
delightful puppet theater for her little boy, Maurice, and set the
fashion for puppets among her literary friends. Stories could be told of
many other famous French friends, of Molière, Fontaine, Doré, and
Rousseau. Great French writers still love marionettes. You probably know
two of these: Maurice Maeterlinck and Anatole France.
When we go to Italy, we find other friends, but none greater than
Michael Angelo. Picture this artist modeling heads for marionettes. We
wonder what they looked like and what became of them. His great patron,
Lorenzo de Medici, had a puppet theater built for his palace in
Florence.
Marionettes have had famous musicians as their friends. If you are
interested in music, you will enjoy reading about Joseph Haydn and the
five toy symphonies that he wrote for marionettes.
Goldoni, the greatest Italian writer of comedies, was born in Venice,
that city in which, you remember, puppets were first called marionettes.
He lived near the street where most of the puppet makers lived and had
their shops. As a child he played puppet games with many other children
in a little park near his home. When he was seven years old he wrote a
puppet play and invited his friends to come to see and hear it. He
enjoyed writing plays that made them laugh. When Goldoni grew up he was
still the friend of puppets because he felt that they had helped him in
learning the art of play writing.
The German poet, Goethe, was a friend of puppets from his childhood.
When he was about the age of seven, a friend of his good mother made
some puppets and sent them to him and his sister for a Christmas
present. The mother had a happy thought. She made a little stage and set
it in the doorway of a room, just off the living room. On Christmas
morning, after the children had seen their presents, she had the family
sit down before the closed door. When she opened it, there was a kind of
porch concealed with a mysterious curtain. The children were curious and
eager to know what was behind that half-transparent veil. The mother,
however, bade each sit down upon his stool. At length, Goethe says, “All
were silent, a whistle gave the signal, the curtain rolled aloft and
showed us the interior of a temple painted in deep red colors. The high
priest, Samuel, appeared with Jonathan, and their strange alternating
voices seemed to me the most striking thing on earth. Shortly after
entered Saul, overwhelmed with confusion at the impatience of that
heavy-limbed warrior who had defied him and all his people. But how glad
was I when the dapper son of Jesse, with his crook and shepherd’s pouch
and sling, came hopping forth and said, ‘Dread king and sovereign lord,
let no one’s heart sink down because of this. If your majesty will grant
me leave, I will go out to battle with this blustering giant!’
“Here ended the first act, leaving the spectators more curious than ever
to see what further would happen—each praying that the music might soon
be done. At last the curtain rose again. David devoted the flesh of the
monsters to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field; the
Philistine scorned and bullied him, stamped mightily with both his feet,
and at length fell like a mass of clay, affording a splendid termination
to the piece, and then the virgins sang a song: ‘Saul hath slain his
thousands, but David his ten thousands.’ The giant’s head was borne
before his little victor, who received the king’s beautiful daughter to
wife.” This is part of the description that Goethe wrote when he grew up
and became a famous man.
Do read the delightful and vivid description which Constantin
Stanislavsky gives of his boyish experiences with marionettes in his
autobiography, _My Life in Art_. “We had decided to exchange the living
actors for actors made of pasteboard and to begin the construction of a
marionette theater with scenery, effects, and a full line of theatrical
necessities. The marionette theater demanded expenditures. We needed a
large table to put in the large doorway. While above and beneath it,
that is above and beneath the marionette stage, the openings were
covered with sheets. In this manner, the public sat in one room, the
auditorium and the other room, which was united to the first, was the
stage and all its accessories. It was there that we worked, we the
artists, the designers, the stage managers, and the inventors of all
sorts of scenic effects. My oldest brother also joined us. He was an
excellent draftsman, and a fine inventor of stage effects. His help was
important because he had a little money, and we needed capital for our
work.
“We began to paint scenery. At first we painted on wrapping paper which
tore and crumpled, but we did not lose heart for we thought that with
time, as soon as we became rich (for we were to charge ten kopeks as
admission), we would buy pasteboard and glue the painted wrapping paper
to it. From the moment that we began to feel ourselves managers and
directors of the new theater, that was being built according to our
plans, our lives became full. There was something to think about every
minute. There was a great deal to do. In the drawer of the table there
always lay hidden some piece of theatrical work, the figure of a
marionette which was to be painted and dressed, a piece of scenery, a
bush, a tree, or the plan and sketches for a new production. In the
margins of my books and copy books there were always sketches of scenery
or a geometric drawing. We always chose moments of catastrophic
character. For instance, an act from _The Corsair_, which called for a
sea quiet in the daylight but stormy all night with a wrecked ship, with
heroes swimming for their lives, with the appearance of a lighthouse, an
escape from a watery grave, the rising of the moon, prayer, and dawn.
“These performances were always sold out, notwithstanding the high price
of admission. Many people came to see them, some to encourage us, others
to amuse themselves. Our promenades between lessons took on a very deep
meaning. Before that we went to the Kugnetsky Bridge to buy the
photographs of circus artists. But with the appearance of our theater,
there appeared a need for all sorts of material for scenery and
marionettes. Now we were no longer too lazy to take a walk. We bought
all sorts of pictures, books with landscapes and costumes which served
as material for the scenery and the dramatic personæ of our theater.
These were the first volume of a rapidly increasing library.”
Perhaps that friend who has done most to keep the world still interested
in marionettes is Gordon Craig. He is a great English artist who sees
them not as so much wood and cloth pulled about by a few strings at the
whim of careless people, but rather as real creatures, human or more
than human, quiet and dignified, as the gods of old. It has been his
delight to give them again the great rôles of literature. He, too,
invited the greatest actors of Europe to come and learn from them.
Possibly you are asking what it is that gives such friendships to the
marionette. Perhaps none of its great friends could answer. The
marionette is quiet, submissive, dignified, and mysterious. It becomes a
different thing in every hand. It expresses every mood, thought, and
fancy of the one who pulls the strings. What will it do in your hands?
[Illustration: PATHOS SENTIMENT MIRTH]
[Illustration: [Boy]]
CHAPTER III
Choosing Your Play
It may not always be easy to find just the play you wish for your
marionettes. If you should go to your library and ask for a marionette
play, it is possible that the librarian would have very little to offer
you. But if you should go to her and ask for a good story that you could
make into a marionette play, you would probably be surprised to see how
many books she would place before you. You might even feel confused when
you came to make your choice. Suppose that you wish to give a humorous
play. Begin by making a list of the very best of the humorous books:
_Alice in Wonderland_—Carroll
_Alice, Through the Looking Glass_—Carroll
_Gulliver’s Travels_—Swift
_Pinocchio, The Story of a Marionette_—Lorenzini
_Don Quixote_—Cervantes
_Midsummer Night’s Dream_—Shakespeare
_Peter and Wendy_—Barrie
_Rip Van Winkle_—Irving
_Just-So Stories_—Kipling
_Arabian Nights_—Edited by Colum
_Uncle Remus_—Harris
_Rose and the Ring_—Thackeray
_Tom Sawyer_—Clemens
_Wind in the Willows_—Grahame
_Tales of Laughter_—Wiggin and Smith
You will find that it is not at all difficult to turn the vivid and
amusing characters of these books into marionettes. Neither is it
difficult to turn these stories into marionette plays.
First: Make a list of the most important incidents in the story.
Second: Decide upon the number of scenes that you think necessary for
your play.
Third: Decide upon the number of characters required for these scenes.
These three things you must do if your play is to be only the simplest
kind of a Burattini play, if it is to be a shadow play, or a marionette
play.
If you are not experienced in making marionette plays, you may think
that you need a great many characters to act your story. But the more
you learn about marionette plays, the more you will be surprised to find
how few characters, and incidents, and scenes you will need. Choose only
those which are most important. This means that you should know your
story very well indeed before you begin to make your play. When you
thoroughly know your story and all the characters in it, all that they
say and do, you will enjoy your play-making quite as much as your
play-giving.
[Illustration:
_Scenes from the marionette play, "Adventures of Alice," given by
ninth year pupils of Fairmount Junior High School at the Cleveland
Museum of Art. Marionettes made by Tuesday Marionette Club._
]
Let us choose one or two humorous books and see how we can turn them
into a marionette play. We might choose _Alice in Wonderland_ and
_Through the Looking Glass_. You remember how the story of _Alice in
Wonderland_ begins? Alice falls asleep under the tree and the white
rabbit passes by. So one might select:
Incident I. Alice and the White Rabbit
Incident II. Alice and the Caterpillar
Incident III. Alice and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee
Incident IV. Alice and Humpty Dumpty
Incident V. Alice and the Duchess, the Cheshire Cat, the Cook and the
Pig Baby
Incident VI. Alice and the Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse
Of course, a dozen plays could be made from these two books, but these
six incidents will be quite enough for your purpose. A good play, as you
know, must not be too long, it must begin in the right way, the story
must hold together, and it must be very interesting all the time, and it
must have the right ending. The above six incidents were selected with
these requirements in mind.
Now, how many acts shall we have? Since this is a dream story, the play
might begin by showing Alice falling asleep under the trees, and the
White Rabbit running past, and then Alice jumping up and following him.
This part of the play we might call a Prologue since it begins the
story. Then follow with:
Act I. Scene: In the woods
Act II. Scene: In the Duchess’s kitchen
Act III. Scene: The mad tea party
To bring the play to an end, there might be a closing scene, or
epilogue, showing Alice waking from her dream and becoming herself
again.
We must now decide just how many characters are really necessary in
these six incidents. Let us take a pencil and make the list as we find
them in these three acts:
Prologue: Alice and the White Rabbit.
Act I. Alice, the Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Humpty
Dumpty
Act II. Alice, the Duchess, the Pig Baby, the Cook, the Cheshire Cat
Act III. Alice, the Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse
Epilogue. Alice and the White Rabbit.
Here we have made from six important incidents, in the two stories about
Alice, a marionette play of three acts, with a cast of thirteen
characters. This play might be called _The Adventures of Alice_.
Possibly you and your friends are much interested in heroes and heroines
and would prefer a hero play made from such stories as:
_The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights_—MacLeod
_Sohrab and Rustum_—Arnold
_The Boys’ Iliad_—Perry
_The Boys’ Odyssey_—Perry
_Adventures of Ulysses_—Lamb
_Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy_—Colum
_Robin Hood_—Pyle
_The Tales of Troy and Greece_—Lang
_Stories of Charlemagne_—Church
_The Story of Roland_—Baldwin
_Seven Champions of Christendom_—Johnson
_Beowulf_—Cartwright
_Sigurd, the Volsung_—Morris
_Joan of Arc_—Boutet de Monvel
_Ivanhoe_—Scott
_Daniel Boone_—White
_Norse Stories Retold_—Mabie
_The Cid_—Wilson
_Britain Long Ago_—Wilmot-Buxton
Instead of hero plays you may be interested in plays of adventure. The
list of excellent books of adventure is a long one, as you know. Here
are just a few that are waiting to be turned into wonderful marionette
plays:
_Robinson Crusoe_—Defoe
_Boy’s Froissart_—Lanier
_The Wonder Book_—Hawthorne
_The Boys Percy_—Lanier
_Otto of the Silver Hand_—Pyle
_Black Arrow_—Stevenson
_Tales from the Alhambra_—Irving
_William Tell_—Schiller
_Treasure Island_—Stevenson
_Men of Iron_—Pyle
_The Story of the Canterbury Pilgrims_—Darton
_The Lance of Kanana_—French
_The Book of Bravery_—Lanier
_The Last of the Mohicans_—Cooper
_With Spurs of Gold_—Greene
_The Golden Perch_—Hutchinson
_Captains Courageous_—Kipling
Let us take one of these, Howard Pyle’s _Men of Iron_, a story laid in
England in the time of King Henry IV. The list of important incidents is
a long one.
1. Myles parting from the old servant.
2. Myles presenting his father’s letter to the Earl of
Mackworth.
3. Myles meeting with Gascoigne.
4. Myles meeting with Sir James Lea.
5. Myles at play with the boys.
6. The ball flies over into the ladies’ garden.
7. Myles and Lady Alice in the garden.
8. Myles, discovered by the Earl of Mackworth, learns that the
Earl is befriending him.
9. Arrival of King Henry at Devlin Castle.
10. The knighting of Myles.
11. Myles’ challenge to the Earl of Alban, his father’s deadly
enemy.
12. The combat between the Earl of Alban and Myles.
13. The triumph of Myles and his request for the hand of Lady
Alice.
When you have studied the story of _Men of Iron_ and made your list of
important incidents, you will find that four acts are sufficient for
your play:
Act I. Courtyard of Devlin Castle
Act II. The ladies’ garden
Act III. The great hall in Devlin Castle
Act IV. The tournament ground and the royal pavilions and gallery .
The list of characters is long but it gives an opportunity to many boys
and girls in a class to make marionettes and to have a part in the play.
Here is the list of characters:
1. Myles as a boy in Acts I and II
2. Myles as a man in Acts III and IV
3. The old Servant
4. The Armorer
5. The Bear Trainer
6. The Bear
7. Gascoigne
8. Walter Blunt
9. The Squire
10. Sir James Lea
11. Earl of Mackworth
12. The Pryor
13. The Earl of Alban
14. The Minstrel
15. The Jester
16. Lady Alice
17. Lady Anne
18. Black Horse
19. Gray Horse
20. The Pigeons
Marionette plays are exactly like all other plays. They need songs and
dances, and many things that will be certain to interest the audience.
Here is a list of the incidents that were added to this play when it was
given by the boys and girls of Fairmount Junior High School in
Cleveland, Ohio:
1. An Italian bear trainer, who whistled a jolly tune while his
bear danced and did his tricks.
2. The song of the Armorer as he worked at his forge. (The
forge was so made and wired that every stroke of the
hammer on the anvil gave forth a shower of sparks.)
3. A fight between Myles and the young squire, Walter Blunt.
4. Practice at the pells to show the training of the squires of
that day.
5. Lady Alice’s little dance.
6. Lady Anne’s song as she plays her lute.
7. Alice’s tame pigeon that flew down to her shoulder.
8. The wandering minstrel with his lute and his ballad of Chevy
Chase.
9. The antics, capers, and songs of the jester.
In order to prepare the audience for the play and to carry every person
back in imagination to the time of this play, an announcer was chosen,
who, in the costume of that day, came before the curtain and gave the
introduction to the play. This announcer was chosen with great care
because his part was so important. He was responsible for carrying his
audience back into the days of chivalry, not only by his speech and
costume, but by his tone of voice and his gestures. Here is the prologue
that one of the children wrote:
Hark ye! Hark ye! Ye who came to see
Enacted here some scenes of chivalry.
The castle gate swings wide its door
Scenes long since gone return to us once more.
Into times dim and far we bid you gaze,
Down the long vista to the tournament days.
Towers and turrets and battlements old,
Squires and pages and bachelors bold.
Lords and ladies step out from past ages
While knights and earls throw down their iron gages.
Then men were bold and strongly said their say
And there were few who dared to say them “nay.”
The minstrel, too, did tune on lyre his hero’s deeds
And sang of love, of hope, and needs.
Bears oft came dancing in court and in hall,
Trained by their master to heed beck and call.
Fair maids in latticed bowers were seen dancing,
Fantastic and gay, a jester comes prancing.
Hark! a blare of trumpets sounds as in a dream
And lo! the king and train in mail and helmets gleam.
Mid fluttering scarfs, the Queen of Beauty sat
While in the lists brave knights did wage combat.
All these have you from history’s page
Now shall you see them pictured on our stage.
Grant us your patience, lend eyes and ears as well,
The truth our puppets now will strive to tell.
There were many things in this play that every member of the class was
uncertain about. No one knew about the kinds of costumes that were worn
in England in the time of Henry IV. Neither did anyone know about
houses, gardens, and furniture, nor about the armor and the musical
instruments of that day until he had studied reference books. Here is a
list of some of the books that were found helpful:
Heraldry—_Complete Guide to Heraldry_—Fox-Davies
Furniture—_How to Know Period Styles in Furniture_—Kimberly
Tapestry—_Bayeux Tapestry_—Belloc
Tapestry—_Bayeux Tapestry_—Bruce
Tapestry—_The Practical Book of Tapestry_—Hunter
Weapons—_Armour and Weapons_—Foulkes
Customs and Life of the Time—_History of Everyday Things in
England_—Quennell
Songs and Ballads—_Songs of England_—Hatton
Costumes—_The Heritage of Dress_—Webb
Costumes—_British Costumes During Nineteen Centuries_—Ashdown
The Museum of Art and the Historical Museum can be visited for
first-hand information. Librarians, history, art, and English teachers
can be counted upon for help. The librarian will help you to find the
kind of book you wish, and will be glad to help find reference books and
pictures. The history teacher will help you in learning about the life
and customs of the people who are of the time of your play. The English
teacher can be of invaluable help to you in working out the development
of your play. Last, but not least, you will have very great need of your
art and manual training teachers. They will help you in learning how to
make your marionettes, how to make your marionette stage, how to make
your scenery and properties, how to light the stage, what colors to use
in your costumes and in your scenery, and how to place both your scenery
and your actors on the stage. They will also assist you in planning the
stage pictures.
Moreover, you may be interested in other literary plays made from such
stories as:
_Birds’ Christmas Carol_—Wiggin
_Little Women_—Alcott
_Prince and the Pauper_—Clemens
_Oliver Twist_—Dickens
_Cricket on the Hearth_—Dickens
_The Tempest_—Shakespeare
_The Merchant of Venice_—Shakespeare
_Heidi_—Spyri
_Master Skylark_—Bennett
_Gabriel and the Hour Book_—Stein
_Rip Van Winkle_—Irving
_David Copperfield_—Dickens
_The Christmas Carol_—Dickens
_The King of the Golden River_—Ruskin
Should you like the story of _The Childhood of David Copperfield_, some
such interesting incidents as the following might be chosen:
1. David and Pegotty.
2. David meets Captain Pegotty, Emil, and Mrs. Grummage.
3. David and Emily.
4. David in the schoolroom.
5. Betsy Trotwood and Master Dick.
6. David and Betsy Trotwood.
The characters in these incidents are:
1. David
2. Pegotty
3. Captain Pegotty
4. Mrs. Grummage
5. Emily
6. Sam
7. Tommy Traddles
8. Schoolboy
9. Mr. Schoolmaster
10. Mr. Schoolmaster’s assistant
11. Betsy Trotwood
12. Master Dick
13. The mouse
Five acts would give the story:
Act I. The Copperfield sitting room
Act II. Inside the boathouse
Act III. Along the seashore
Act IV. In the schoolroom
Act V. Betsy Trotwood’s garden
Since every act of a play should help in telling the story, in solving
the principal problem, and in bringing about the proper ending, this
arrangement might be made:
Act I. David reads and talks to Pegotty about her brother’s
boathouse. Pegotty invites David to spend a week there.
Act II. In the boathouse. David meets Pegotty’s family.
Act III. By the seashore. David plays with Emily, who sings a song,
and David tells Emily how much he will miss her when he
goes away to school.
Act IV. In the schoolroom. The cruel schoolmaster and his assistant.
David decides to run away.
Act V. Betsy Trotwood’s garden. David finds a home with his good
Aunt Betsy and gentle old Master Dick.
At the same time that Charles Dickens was writing _David Copperfield_
and other stories about the people he knew, several clever artists were
making drawings of the same people. You probably know many of the
amusing pictures they drew, especially those of Cruikshank, Tenniel, and
Du Maurier. If you wish to know how David and Pegotty and Betsy Trotwood
and little Emily really looked, ask your librarian to show you some of
the illustrations that these artists made. Because these pictures give
the very best idea of how the people of Dickens’ time looked, you might
copy them for your marionettes. Their faces have a great deal of
character, their clothes are those of that time, and they are so quaint
and characteristic that they will never be uninteresting.
Probably the most beautiful marionette plays that one can imagine could
be done from the great stories in the Bible. Just as in the early days
of Christianity, when marionettes helped the people to see and feel the
great scenes in their new religion, so, it would seem, that a time might
come again when the little figures might return to their earliest uses.
This could well be done in Christmas and Easter plays for the church and
Sunday school. Imagine the story of Joseph and his brethren with scenes
showing:
1. The tent life of Israel.
2. The kind old father.
3. The cruel brothers.
4. The selling into bondage.
5. The court life in Egypt.
6. Joseph among his new friends.
7. The famine.
8. The visit of the brothers.
9. The remorse of the brothers.
10. Joseph’s forgiveness in the last scene.
Parables, such as that of the Good Samaritan, are full of dramatic
possibilities.
How many beautiful plays appropriate for Christmas, Easter, and saints’
days could be made from the lives of the saints! If you are interested
in a play for your Sunday school or your parochial school, read and make
into a play the life of Saint Christopher, Saint George, Saint Patrick,
Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Agnes, Saint Genevieve, Saint Catherine
of Sienna, or Saint Joan of Arc.
If you love fairy tales you will, no doubt, wish to make a fairy
marionette play. You probably know many of the books listed here:
_Mother Goose_
_Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales_—Tr. Lucas
_The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales_—Tr. Crane.
_The Arabian Nights_—Ed. Colum
_Adventures of Nils_—Lagerlöf
_Gulliver’s Travels_—Swift
_The Blue Bird_—Maeterlinck
_Water Babies_—Kingsley
_The Little Lame Prince_—Craik
_Old Peter’s Russian Tales_—Ransome
_Æsop’s Fables_—Ed. Jacobs
_Undine_—La Motte Fouqué
_Story of the Rheingold_—Chapin
_Japanese Fairy Book_—Ozaki
_Wonder Tales of China Seas_—Olcott
_Tales of Wonder_—Wiggin and Smith
Here are a few familiar poems that may be turned into marionette plays:
_Hiawatha_—Longfellow
_Evangeline_—Longfellow
_Story Telling Ballads_—Olcott
_Lady of the Lake_—Scott
_Lays of Ancient Rome_—Macaulay
Many other stories will, no doubt, occur to you, and many ways of
turning them to your needs.
[Illustration: [Marionettes]]
[Illustration: [Stage]]
CHAPTER IV
Making Your Stage
[Illustration: [Stage]]
A chair, sofa, or table top may have been the first stage on which you
moved about your tin soldiers and paper dolls. Your imagination supplied
the scenery and lighting. A small table turned upside down and placed on
top of another table may have been your next invention. A curtain drawn
about its three sides and your string of Christmas-tree lights gave you
a very satisfactory little theater. As your stagecraft developed, you
may have seen possibilities in a soap box or a dry goods box. By
knocking out one side to make a proscenium opening and painting scenery
on the back of the box or on to cardboards which you slipped in and out,
you had a very real stage. With a proscenium arch made from cardboard
and decorated to suit the play, a little curtain on a rod,
Christmas-tree lights, and your company of small doll actors, you had a
complete theater. It could be placed in a door or an archway, or between
two screens.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
Possibly you were interested in the Burattini. You may have made a booth
somewhat like the illustration and decorated it quite gaily. It had this
advantage. By means of hinges it could be folded together. It was no
trouble to take anywhere, indoors or out, to a friend’s backyard, to
school, to the playground, or even to a picnic.
If your enthusiasm had led you further, you would have been interested
in the drawings of a semi-professional marionette stage which are shown
on the next two pages.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
[Illustration:
CONSTRUCTIONAL DRAWING OF MARIONETTE STAGE--BACK VIEW--WITHOUT
LIGHTING
]
_A_ _Stage floor, 10' × 32"._
_B_ _Bridge for puppeteers, 24" wide, 12" high above stage
floor._
_C_ _Beaverboard facing (10' × 4' 6") in which proscenium arch
(6' × 30") is cut._
_D_ _Backdrop, 7' × 4'._
_E_ _Supporting trestles, 33" high._
_F_ _Bridge ladder._
_G_ _Bridge fence._
_H_ _Iron rod attached to fence for holding S hooks._
_I_ _S hooks for holding marionettes when not in use._
_J_ _Supporting frame for wings and backdrop._
_K_ _Footlight trough._
_L_ _Curtains._
[Illustration:
SIDE VIEW OF MARIONETTE STAGE--WITH LIGHTING
]
_K_ _Footlights._
_M_ _Switchboard._
_N_ _Movable strip (one for each side of stage) of wing lights._
_O_ _Boxed overhead lights for general stage illumination. Nine
sections complete the line._
_R_ _Large curtains between the audience and back stage—framing
the stage._
_Fig. O_ _Two sections of overhead lights showing bulb, and colored
sheet gelatin _Q_ inserted. Each section can be operated
independently from the switchboard._
_Fig. P_ _If the boxed lights are not practicable the simple tin
trough with colored bulbs may be used._
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
CHAPTER V
Making Your Marionette
In your adventures with marionettes, probably nothing will give you more
pleasure than the actual making of them. This is equally true of the
Burattini, of the doll puppet, and of the real marionette.
The Burattini, Guignol, or Mitten puppet is the simplest kind of
marionette. It is usually nothing more than a head, two arms, and an
empty sack. The most important part of a Guignol is its head. This can
be made from unbleached muslin, from a hollow doll’s head, it can be
carved out of a block of soft wood, or it can be made from papier-mâché.
_Muslin Head._ Here is a pattern for the unbleached muslin head. Sew the
two halves together and then stuff firmly with cotton. If you dampen the
cheeks, the muslin will stretch and then you can round them out with
more cotton. Into the neck insert a cuff of stiff paper, ⅞ of an inch in
diameter. It should be fastened either by sewing or glueing. This cuff
gives you space for the finger which manipulates the head. Water colors
or crayons may be used for painting the face. Before you begin,
experiment on scraps of muslin.
[Illustration: [Head]]
_Doll’s Head._ If you wish to use the hollow head of a doll, you will
probably find it necessary to remodel its features. This is done by
taking papier-mâché, a mixture of bits of paper mixed with flour paste,
and building out the nose, the cheeks, and the chin, in order to give
them more character. The building out must be done gradually, a bit at a
time, after you have made the surface rough by the use of sandpaper or a
file. When you are sure that you have finished the head, stand twenty or
thirty feet away from it and see if it is still interesting to you. This
is an excellent test. Those in the last rows of your audience will be
even farther away and your Burattini must hold their interest.
_Wooden Head._ Boys who like to whittle will enjoy carving out wooden
heads. If you decide to carve the head from wood, use a soft wood, such
as pine. Start with a piece about 5 inches long by 3½ inches wide by 3½
inches high. It is well to keep in mind that the head is egg shaped. The
chin is the small end of the egg. Observe that the eyes are placed
halfway between the top of the head and the chin, and that the nose is
placed halfway between the eyes and the chin. Notice, also, that the
mouth is placed halfway between the nose and the chin. The illustration
will show you how to go about the carving. Cut the big planes first,
then the smaller planes. Curve the cheeks and chin if the character
requires it. You will then be ready to drill the ⅞ inch hole up into the
neck. Into this hole is thrust the forefinger of the puppeteer.
[Illustration: [Head]]
_Papier-mâché Head._ If you wish to make a papier-mâché head for your
Burattini, follow the directions for making the head of the true
marionette which you will find on page 67.
_Hair._ For hair, use yarn, lamb’s wool, or frayed hemp, as is best
suited to the character. The toe of a stocking makes an excellent
foundation for the wig, since it so perfectly fits the head. When the
material for the hair has been sewed to this foundation, glue it to the
head. When the glue has set, you can arrange the hair.
[Illustration: [Hands]]
_Hands._ Burattini hands should be cut out of wood and shaped as in the
illustration. Sandpapering makes them smooth. Little cuffs of cardboard
should be glued or tacked onto the wrists in order to make a place for
the thumb and second finger of the puppeteer.
_Painting._ When you have finished carving both the head and hands you
are ready to paint them. You will need red, yellow, blue, and white oil
paints. Use a piece of smooth wood or glass for a palette. Squeeze onto
your palette a small amount of each color. As you know, people do not
have pure-white skins. There is a tinge of yellow-orange in the white
man’s skin, deep red and orange in that of the red man, brown in that of
the Negro, and yellow in that of the Oriental. Begin by squeezing out
onto your palette a small quantity of white paint. Only clowns’ faces,
however, are painted a pure white. You must add a bit of yellow and red
to the white paint if you are painting a white man’s face. If you are
painting a red man’s face, you must add more red and a bit of blue. For
the face of an Oriental, add yellow to your white paint and the least
bit of red and blue. For the black man’s face, use black paint instead
of white paint and into it mix a very small amount of orange and blue.
Use a palette knife for mixing oil paints and turpentine for thinning
them. Do not be timid when you begin to paint. Strong and vigorous
painting is as important and necessary as strong and vigorous modeling
in bringing out the features and expression. When the painting is
finished, the face should fully express your idea of the character.
[Illustration: [Body]]
_The Body._ Now we come to the mantle or cloak which gives a kind of
body to the Burattini. The illustration shows patterns for the front,
back, and sleeves. To this foundation you can sew any costume that your
character may require. The hands are fastened into the ends of the
sleeves. When the cloak is fastened securely about the neck, it becomes
a kind of sack, open only at the bottom. Now slip your hand inside this
sack or mantle, your forefinger into the head, your thumb and second
finger into the arms. The head will bow, the arms will move, and the
little figure comes to life.
ANIMAL BURATTINI
[Illustration:
_A After completing papier-mâché head, cut out lower jaw as shown by
dotted line. Then replace and paste a piece of thin muslin over
lower cut, as shown by light line. This will not be seen when the
head is painted._
_B Dotted lines show the narrow elastic glued to upper and lower jaw.
One piece on each side. The forefinger of the puppeteer pulls down
the lower jaw, when it is released the elastic snaps the mouth
shut._
]
Burattini animals can be made for such stories as _The Three Pigs_, _The
Three Bears_, and _Little Red Riding Hood_. There are several ways of
making them. The first way is to use the head of an old toy animal. Into
the center of this head cut a hole for the forefinger. Then attach this
head to a suitable sack or coat. The forepaws of the animal can be
fastened into the sleeves.
Another way is to carve the heads and paws out of soft wood. A third way
is to cut them out of suitable cloth. A fourth way is to make them out
of papier-mâché in the same way as the papier-mâché heads described on
page 67. This illustration will show you how the lower jaw is cut out
and then attached in such a way that the puppeteer can open and close
the mouth.
_Scale._ Before you begin to make your marionette, you must decide upon
the kind of stage you intend to use, for the size of the stage
determines the size of the marionette. It is the right relation of the
marionette to the stage that creates an illusion and makes your audience
feel that the little figures are life-size. For the semi-professional
stage, use a scale of 2½ inches or 3 inches to the foot. If you use a
scale of 2½ inches to a foot, it would make a 15-inch marionette
represent a 6-foot man. If you use a scale of 3 inches to a foot, your
6-foot hero would be represented by a marionette 18 inches high. Never
forget your scale of measurements. All properties and stage settings
must be worked out to the same scale you have fixed for your
marionettes.
TURNING DOLLS INTO MARIONETTES
A very simple kind of marionette can be made from a ten- or fifteen-cent
doll. Change the face as you did the Burattini face. Then take off the
arms and legs and separate the arms at the elbows and the legs at the
knees. Fasten the upper and lower arms together with tape. Do the same
thing with the upper and lower legs. Then fasten the arms and legs to
the body as in the illustration. The tape gives free movement at the
joints.
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
_Strings._ This type of marionette requires not more than seven strings:
two for the shoulders, two for the hands, two for the knees, and one for
the back. The shoulder string should be about 42 inches long. The other
strings are longer as you can see in the illustration. Waxed black linen
thread can be used for the strings.
_Controllers._ For this kind of marionette you can use either a
horizontal-bar controller or a cross-bar controller. The illustration
gives measurements and construction, and indicates the place for
attaching the strings.
[Illustration: [Controller]]
A _Horizontal-bar controller_
1. _Back string_
2. _Shoulder strings_
3. _Hand strings_
B _Cross-bar controller_
1. _Hand strings_
2. _Head strings_
3. _Shoulder strings_
4. _Back strings_
5. _Leather strap under which the hand slips_
C _Foot controller_
1. _Foot strings_
2. _Hole to slip over nail in controller B when not in use._
STOCKING MARIONETTE
Another kind of marionette is made from old stockings or any soft
material. The head and body are in one piece. Each arm is in one piece.
Each leg is in two pieces. Cut and sew according to directions. Stuff
the head very firmly with cotton. At the base of the neck leave a
quarter of an inch between the two rows of stitching. This will permit
the head to move. The body should be stuffed less firmly than the head,
especially at the waistline, so that the figure can bend easily.
[Illustration: [Pattern]]
A _Body pattern. Dotted line indicates stitching. Do not
stitch across the bottom until after the stuffing has been
inserted._
B _Arm pattern. Dotted line indicates stitching._
C _Front view of the leg stuffed, showing upper leg extending
over lower leg. This is to prevent a forward swing at the
knee._
D _Side view of C showing the fastening; the upper leg is
sewed to the lower leg at the back of the knee. Note the
downward slant of the foot._
E _A dancer’s leg showing the downward drop of the toe._
F _Lower leg showing round piece of wood to insure stiffness._
G _Back view of upper leg. Dotted line indicates the piece of
light-weight cardboard inserted to insure stiffness._
_Note: Pieces of lead or small shot are used to weight the feet and
hands. A lead dress weight may be sewed in the torso to give the body
weight. Cotton or soft rags are used for the stuffing._
_Staples._ Into each side of the head, where the ears would naturally
come, insert a staple. It requires a great deal of patience to insert
these staples into this kind of head but it can be done. Just where you
place these staples is very important. If you place them too far forward
the head will be drawn too far back when the strings are attached to the
staples. On the contrary, if the staples are inserted too far back, the
head will fall forward when suspended from the strings. If you wish to
make a pompous, strutting character, then place the staples forward. If
you wish to show a hunchback or bowed old age, then place the staples
quite far back. Between these two extremes is the normal place for your
staples.
_Modeling._ When the staples have been inserted, dip your fingers into
water and dampen the head and then cover it with some kind of modeling
clay that hardens when exposed to the air. The features of your
character can be modeled with your fingers and the help of an orange
stick or a toothpick. Do not cover the staples, for the head-strings
must be attached to them later. This kind of marionette head should be
painted with tempera colors or with oil paints. Paint the hands the same
color as the face. When the paint is dry, cover the head with glue and
attach the hair, which may be made from yarn, mercerized cotton, silk,
or lamb’s wool.
A marionette of this kind could be used on the semi-professional stage
if it is carefully constructed, made to scale, and appropriately
costumed. The strings are attached to the head staples, to the
shoulders, the hands, the back, and to the knees. For this type of
marionette use the cross-bar controller.
THE REAL MARIONETTE
The third type of marionette, which might be called the real marionette,
is somewhat more complicated, but it is better suited to the larger
stage and to more exacting plays. There is scarcely a thing that this
type of marionette cannot be made to do if skilfully constructed. Its
greater flexibility of neck, waist, wrist, and ankle makes it possible
for it to bow, kneel, sit down, turn its head, dance, play a musical
instrument, climb a wall, or perform any number of lively tricks.
CHARACTER
A marionette should be as individual as a human being, both in its
appearance and in its character. Before you make your marionette, you
must have clearly in mind the character you wish to portray. You should
aim to make its appearance indicate its character. Let us suppose that
you are about to make a marionette of Myles in _Men of Iron_. Let us
make a list of his characteristics: brave, strong, loyal, daring,
courageous. Now choose one of these traits which you think most fully
sums up the character of Myles. Probably you will choose the word
“courageous.” The problem now is to create a marionette whose appearance
will suggest the Myles who is brave, strong, loyal, daring, but, above
all things, courageous. Can you not see him, tall, broad of shoulder,
fearless of eye, as he stands before Sir James Lee? Strong of limb and
strong of will, he reflects the spirit of his time. You now have the
problem of creating out of a few bits of wood and cloth this daring,
headstrong young squire.
[Illustration: [Drawing]]
Begin by making a working drawing somewhat like the illustration. Now
make drawings of the face of Myles just as you imagine it, front view
and side view. Always consider the age of the character you wish to
model. Faces of the young are smooth and round, the brow unwrinkled;
those of the middle aged less smooth and round, with the jaw, chin, and
nose more clearly defined. In old age, sagging muscles produce lines and
hollows around the eyes, nose, and mouth. You must also consider the
structure of a face. This means giving attention to the shape of the
jaw, chin, nose, lips, and the eye sockets. In modeling the face of
Myles in _Men of Iron_, you would naturally give him a forceful chin and
nose, and a large, firm mouth. If you were modeling Lady Alice in the
same play, you would express her daintiness and lightness by giving her
a delicate nose, smiling lips, rounded cheeks and chin. Lastly, you
should study the expression of the face. Have you ever noticed what
happens to the muscles around the mouth when a person smiles or is sad
or angry? When we smile the muscles lift the corners of the mouth
upward; when we are sad the mouth droops at the corners; when we are
angry our lips become straight and firmly set. The brow is very
tell-tale and can show different moods. In surprise, the brows are
arched. Curiosity draws the brows together, anger draws them together
and downward. Sadness is shown by the drooping of both brows and mouth.
[Illustration: [Heads]]
If you are to become a successful puppet maker, keep a small sketch book
in your pocket and make numerous sketches of many different types of
faces and of human figures.
_Modeling._ With your drawings before you, take a lump of clay or
plasticine and model it into the general egg shape of the head. The
small end will represent the chin. The large end will represent the
crown of the head. Add the clay for the neck. Draw a light line on the
clay to locate the brow, the length of the nose, and the position of the
mouth. Now while you hold this egg-shaped head in your hands, place your
thumbs just below the line of the brow, and gently and firmly press the
clay down and out and up to form the eye sockets. Then build up the nose
and lips. It is unnecessary to model the ears. In the first stages of
your modeling, you cannot expect the head to resemble your ideal
character, because you will be striving for the general proportions of
the face. When once you have attained these proportions you can then
begin to work for a likeness. Besides your ten fingers, you may find an
orange stick or a sharpened match a valuable tool.
_Making a Mold._ After you have finished the head it is necessary to
make a plaster of Paris mold of it. One way to do this is to take a
small cardboard box that will hold the head and allow an inch of space
on all six sides. Grease the box on the inside with vaseline. At the
same time grease thoroughly and evenly with a brush the clay or
plasticine head. Now mix about one half pint of plaster of Paris with
enough water to give it the consistency of thick cream. This must be
done with quickness, for the hardening process cannot be stopped once it
has set in. Pour this mixture into the greased box until it is half
full. Then place the head, back down, into the plaster. Allow fifteen to
thirty minutes for the plaster of Paris to harden. Now grease the
exposed surface of the clay or plasticine head. Mix more plaster with
water and cover the face thoroughly. Allow this to stand overnight. The
next day, when you remove the box, the two halves of the plaster cast
can be separated. Out will fall the clay or plasticine head, which you
will no longer need because you now have the two molds for making the
papier-mâché head.
A simpler way to make the mold is this: Mark the clay as in the
illustration. Then insert pieces of tin or stiff paper, such as oak tag.
When the clay is dry, apply a coat of vaseline to it and to the tin or
paper. Then apply the plaster of Paris and keep applying it until you
think it is fully an inch thick. After the plaster hardens, proceed in
the same manner with the other side of the head. When both sides are
hard, separate them from the clay and you will have two molds.
[Illustration: [Heads]]
_Papier-mâché._ You are now ready to make the papier-mâché heads. Begin
by making a small quantity of flour paste. Take two heaping
tablespoonfuls of flour and mix with cold water to the consistency of
cream, add two cups of hot water, place over fire and stir constantly
until it comes to the boiling point and boil for two minutes. A few
drops of oil of cloves will keep the paste fresh in hot weather.
Now tear wrapping paper into small strips about five inches long. Soak
them in water for a few minutes, then wring out and dip into the flour
paste. Take a piece and rub it gently between the fingers until the
paper feels like wet chamois skin. Then press it into the back of the
mold for the head. Continue to cover the surface with piece after piece.
If necessary, you may tear the paper into smaller pieces. There must not
be a wrinkle, but the pieces should overlap slightly. In this way you
cover the entire surface with paper of one color. For the second layer
use paper of another color. For the third layer use the first color, and
so on, alternately, through the fifth layer. This alternation of colors
will help you to keep account of the layers, and insures uniform
thickness. Allow the edges of the paper to extend over the edges of the
mold.
Do the same thing with the mold for the face, but use much more care to
see that every depression is smoothly and evenly filled in order to
bring out the features properly. The paper should stay in the mold until
dry. The two halves of the head and neck can then easily be removed. The
edges should be trimmed off. The two halves can be held together and
fastened with strips of papier-mâché.
[Illustration: [Heads]]
When you have finished making the head, cut out the crown as you see in
the illustration. A round stick is now pushed down into the neck with
its lower end extending through the neck as you can see. This stick
should fit very closely. If it does not fit closely, a few tacks will
keep it from slipping. Now, take glue and rags, and fill them into the
small spaces between this stick and the upper part of the neck. Do not
spare the glue. The crown can now be fitted back onto the head and
fastened with a few strips of papier-mâché. The following day, when the
glue is thoroughly set, you can insert a screw eye into the base of the
neck. The head is then complete.
[Illustration: [Heads]]
A _Piece of wood to which the papier-mâché chin is glued_
B _Small blocks of wood to be glued to inside of cheeks_
C _Lead weight_
D _Lead weight_
E _String for operating the lower jaw_
F _Metal pivot_
It is possible to make marionettes which can open their mouths. This is
done by cutting out the lower lip and chin in one piece and then
fastening it to a rounded piece of wood, and inserting it through the
crown of the head. The illustration is a working drawing of the Duchess
in the _Adventures of Alice_ and shows the way the piece was weighted
and then fastened inside the head. This same principle can be used in
various ways in constructing the heads of marionette animals.
[Illustration: [Body]]
A _Top view of shoulder piece_
B _Side view of hip piece_
The body consists of the trunk, arms, and legs. For the trunk, you will
need two pieces of wood shaped as you see in the illustration. Here is a
table for approximate measurements for the shoulder and hip pieces for
the 15- and 18-inch marionette:
18-inch marionette man—shoulders 4 inches wide, hips 3 inches wide
16-inch marionette woman—shoulders 3 inches wide, hips 3 inches wide
15-inch marionette man—shoulders 3 inches wide, hips 2½ inches wide
13½-inch marionette woman—shoulders 2½ inches wide, hips 2½ inches
wide
Keep your character in mind. A warrior will have broad, heavy shoulders
and be deep of chest. A slender young woman will have a light frame.
Take the shoulders and hip piece, and place them on your working drawing
as in the illustration and then fasten them together with a strip of
cloth, tacked as indicated.
[Illustration: [Hands]]
A _Wire construction_
B _Finished hand sewed into lower arm, which is weighted with
small shot_
_Hands._ Arms, hands, legs, and feet are yet to be constructed. Let us
begin with the hand. Its length is that of the face from the chin to the
line of the hair. Into a piece of wood drive seven brads as in the
illustration. Take a piece of light-weight copper wire, such as a strand
of aërial wire, about thirty inches long, and attach one end to the
lower wrist brad. You then loop the wire around the brads loosely, in
the order indicated, beginning and ending with “A.” When you return to
“A,” lift the wire loops from the brads carefully, holding the wrist
loop. Now thread the loose end of the wire through these wrist loops in
order to fasten them together. With the loose end, you now begin the
tying of the two wires of the thumb together by going under and over as
the illustration indicates. From the thumb, go to the fingers, taking
each in turn. After tying the little finger, return to the wrist and
wrap it three or four times before cutting off the last bit of wire.
This wire frame corresponds to the bony structure of the hand. Small
pieces of plasticine or modeling wax are now applied, long narrow strips
to the fingers, heavier strips for the palm of the hand. A hand should
show character. Keep this in mind as you are shaping it. The last thing
to be done is the wrapping of the hand with quarter-inch white tape.
Begin at the wrist, then wrap the thumb, carry the tape back to the
wrist, then wrap the palm of the hand. When the hand has been carefully
wrapped, then take a needle and thread and close any openings, such as
those at the ends of the fingers or in the palms of the hands. The hand
can now be pressed into any number of lifelike positions.
_Arms._ The upper and lower arm are made in one piece from white
stockings or any other soft white material. The illustration indicates
fairly wide seams. Begin your sewing at the wrist and follow the arrow
around and back to the wrist. Now stuff the upper arm rather lightly
with cotton. When you reach the elbow, stop and sew twice across,
leaving one-fourth inch between the rows. This will make the arm
flexible at the elbow. Then stuff the lower arm until it is quite firm.
Into the open wrist insert and sew the hand. Attach a small piece of
tape to the top of the upper arm and then tack it to the shoulder piece
as in the illustration.
[Illustration: [Legs]]
A _Wire construction for foot._
B _Stocking leg and foot. Shows upright piece of wood and
piece of lead shaped to the bottom of the foot. This gives
the necessary weight for the lower leg._
C _Stocking barefoot leg. Use wire foot construction, lead to
weight the foot and upright piece of wood. Fill out foot
and leg with cotton and soft rags._
D _Wooden leg and foot. Strip of leather at the knee hinge._
_Legs and Feet._ The leg consists of an upper and lower part and a foot.
These three parts may be made of cloth or of wood. If made of cloth, cut
and sew and stuff according to the illustration. For a dancer a long
silk stocking should be drawn over the entire leg to conceal the
mechanics of the knee. This was done with the marionette dancers in the
ballet _Petrouchka_. It is sometimes necessary to have a barefoot
character, as in the play of _Tom Sawyer_. In that case the foot is made
in much the same way as the wire and tape hand was made, as you can see
in the illustration. If you prefer to carve the leg and foot out of
wood, there are several ways of doing this. A very simple way is shown
in the illustration. When forming the upper and lower leg, keep in mind
the fact that the marionette’s lower leg works just like your own, which
goes backward but never forward or sidewise. The attaching of the cloth
legs to the hip piece requires thought and judgment. Two tacks should be
used to fasten each leg securely. If these tacks are well placed, the
legs will hang evenly and the feet will point forward.
[Illustration: [Head]]
_Attaching the Head._ When the arms and legs are attached to the body,
take the head and place the screw eye in the hole that is in the center
of the shoulder piece. A brad driven through from front to back will
secure the head and allow free movement in any direction.
_Painting._ For this type of marionette you will have better results if
you paint the face and hands with oil paints, rather than with water
colors or tempera. Remember that there is a tinge of yellow-orange in
the white man’s skin, deep red and orange in the red man’s skin, brown
in that of the Negro, and yellow in that of the Oriental.
You might think that you were now ready to costume your marionette. Not
so. The reason for this is that if you costumed your marionette without
consulting the group, you might find that your marionette would not fit
into the stage picture at all. Therefore the next step is group
discussion of the background, and of the colors of the costumes seen on
the stage together.
_Backgrounds._ A background may be either light, medium, or dark. If the
background is light, the costumes which appear against it should be
somewhat darker. Likewise if the background is dark, the costumes which
appear against it should be lighter. You might think that a costume
could be seen quite easily if it were of a color unlike the background.
This is not true, if the costume and background are of the same color
value. If you experiment and observe your stage picture from a distance,
you will discover that you must use light-colored costumes against a
dark-colored background, or dark-colored costumes against a
light-colored background. This contrast between light and dark need not
be a strong one. However, there must be some contrast if the figures are
to be seen from a distance. Stage compositions build themselves about
the most important characters of the play. Therefore, the costumes of
these important characters must be outstanding. They must be in contrast
to the background and to the other costumes. The costumes of the less
important characters should not rival those of the principal characters.
With these suggestions in mind, you are ready to begin the costuming of
your marionette.
_Costuming._ In the family scrap bag you will probably find all the
materials you need: cotton, wool, silk, satin, velvet, ribbons, laces,
and braids. Your marionette may represent a character of a particular
period and country. If so, it must have a costume similar to the costume
worn in that country at that time. In your library, you can probably
find books of historic costumes from which you can make sketches or
tracings. It is well to sketch several of the costumes that seem best
suited to your character. In this way, you acquire, not only a knowledge
of the costumes, but of details such as headdresses, shoes, and
ornaments. Also make careful color notes. On the tree of the marionette,
you will find a gay company of little figures in historic costumes of
many lands. They are worth studying.
Suppose your character is an imaginary one, such as an elf, fairy, or
gnome. Then turn to the books illustrated by such artists as Dulac,
Rackham, Nielson, and Bilibin. They will inspire you to create and
costume your own elves, fairies, and gnomes. Remember to choose suitable
materials and appropriate colors. For example, thin, gauzy materials
would be appropriate for fairies, while coarse, dark materials would be
appropriate for gnomes. Try to express your conception of a character in
the colors you choose for its costume.
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
A _Body of controller: 9½ in. long; 1⅝ in. wide_
B _Cross bar: 7½ in. long; 1⅛ in. wide at center_
C _Shoulder controller: 6 in. long_
D _Foot controller: 8½ in. long; ⅞ in. wide_
E _Screw and nut for fastening cross bar to body of
controller_
F _Post for holding foot controller when latter is not in use_
G _Pivot (nail)_
1 _Back string_
2 _Head strings_
3 _Shoulder strings_
4 _Hand strings_
5 _Sword strings_
6 _Knee strings_
With your sketches and materials before you, cut out the costume in the
same way that you would cut out doll clothes. It might be wise to
experiment with paper patterns before you cut into your materials. Avoid
wide seams, as they make a garment clumsy. Both your mother and your
sewing teacher can give you valuable suggestions for both cutting and
making. When your marionette is costumed, drive a staple into each
shoulder for the shoulder strings. It is a fine art to costume a
marionette. It requires not only research and thought but it also
requires skill, taste, and subtle character appreciations.
_Controller._ Here is a sketch of a controller suitable for the true
marionette. The frame is made from wood, the loop is of leather. Follow
the measurements and directions as indicated.
_Strings._ Black and white woven fish line makes the very best strings
for your marionettes. It is strong, it does not tangle, and it is almost
invisible. Unfortunately it is expensive. A fifty-cent spool will string
but two marionettes. Strong gray linen thread may be used instead. If
you cannot get gray linen thread, then use white linen thread and gray
it by rubbing with a cloth that has been dipped in black paint or in
India ink. If you use black thread, gray it by rubbing with white chalk.
Strings should be made as nearly invisible as possible. If the linen
thread is rubbed with a little beeswax, it is less liable to break and
to become tangled.
_Cutting the Strings._ It is an exciting moment when you begin to cut
the strings, for the strings bring the puppet to life. The first to be
cut are the head strings. They should be at least forty-two inches long
and should be tied securely to the head staples. Next, measure and cut
the hand strings. These will be longer, since they are measured from the
palm of the hand as it hangs down. Allow three extra inches for arm
movements. The back string is measured from the small of the back. The
knee strings are measured from the knees. The shoulder string is not cut
at this time.
_Attaching the Strings._ The head strings are the first to be attached
to the controller. Next in order, attach the back string. Now you are
ready to measure and attach the shoulder string. It goes from one
shoulder up through the screw eyes in the swinging bar, and then down
again to the other shoulder. When the knee strings have been attached to
the separate horizontal bars, your marionette is complete.
ANIMAL MARIONETTES
It is possible to make a surprising number of different kinds of animal
marionettes. There are many plays in which they are indispensable. For
instance, in _Men of Iron_, the horses are indispensable, as there could
be no tournament scene without them. The bear and the doves are not
indispensable but they add a touch of humor and lively interest. When we
gave the play the making of these animals presented an interesting
problem. Two boys asked to be responsible for the horses in _Men of
Iron_. They went downtown and looked about in the toy departments of the
largest stores until they found two wooden toy horses exactly in scale
with the 15-inch marionettes which were to be used in this play. They
began by taking the horses off their wheeled platforms. These toy horses
were very stiff. In order to enable them to move their heads, necks, and
legs, it was first necessary to saw off the heads, necks, upper and
lower legs. The drawing shows the way these parts were again attached so
that great freedom of movement was possible.
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
For the bear marionette, a teddy bear was used. Since a teddy bear is
very stiff, it was necessary to remove all the stuffing from the head,
body, and legs. In order to make the head drop forward, the snout was
weighted with a small three-cornered sack of shot. The paws were also
weighted in order to make the bear stand naturally. The bear was very
lightly restuffed. The strings were attached to each side of the head,
to the shoulders, lower part of the back, and to each of the four paws.
The marionette was reweighted no less than four times, in order to get
the right balance to make its movements seem natural and bearlike.
A girl was responsible for the three doves used in the second scene of
_Men of Iron_. She decided upon the proper scale and then cut a pattern
for the body and another for the wings. The body she made from soft gray
silk and weighted it near the tail. The wings were wired along their
upper edges and then attached to the body. Each dove required three
strings, one for the center of the back and one for the tip of each
wing.
In the _Adventures of Alice_, it was necessary to have a caterpillar, a
frog footman, a Cheshire cat, a pig baby, a dormouse, and a March hare.
The Tenniel illustrations for _Alice in Wonderland_ and _Through the
Looking Glass_ were closely followed. The students who made these
animals tried to give to each one the character which it had in the
story. The heads of the caterpillar, the frog footman, and the March
hare were first modeled in clay. Molds were then made from these modeled
heads. Then papier-mâché heads were made in just the same way as the
papier-mâché heads of the true marionettes. To the papier-mâché head of
the caterpillar was attached a body. Nile-green silk was used for the
upper part and yellow-green silk for the under part. Half hoops of dress
cord were stitched to the under side of the back, in order to indicate
the segments. A rubber tube for smoke passed through the body from mouth
to tail. Because the caterpillar was almost human, he was given hands
and arms. The frog footman had a frog’s head, throat, and webbed hands,
and the body of a footman.
The March hare had the head and forepaws of a hare and the body of a
country gentleman. He was made to appear rather simple, credulous and
bland. He had great ears, side burns, and an engaging air, which belied
his occasional impatience. The white rabbit was brisk and dapper. He was
conscious of his shell-pink ears, fetching whiskers, and the large
elegant watch which he drew from his pocket with a flourish.
Marionette animals such as dogs, cats, and pigs may be made from cloth.
Even dragons may be made from cloth. Every animal marionette presents a
new problem for your ingenuity to solve.
The directions and suggestions which are given in this chapter are meant
to guide and to help you. However, it will be your own experiments and
inventions which will give you the greatest satisfaction and lead you on
to new achievements in the art of puppet-making.
[Illustration: [Scenery]]
CHAPTER VI
Making Your Scenery
The stage is made. The puppets have a floor to walk upon. Is anything
more required? You say, “Oh, yes, there must be scenery before it will
be a real stage.” Who shall plan and make this scenery? Shall this be
the work of one pupil or the work of the whole group? All will want a
share in it. This means that the large group should be divided into
smaller groups and that each group should be made responsible for a
scene.
Let us suppose you have dramatized Howard Pyle’s _Men of Iron_ and made
a play of four scenes. In order to give the same note of unity to the
scenery that you are trying to give to your play, every scene must be in
harmony with every other scene and with the whole idea of the play.
Three scenes of _Men of Iron_ are laid in Devlin Castle, England. What
do we know about castles and about English castles? When were castles
built? We go to the library and find books that give us both
illustrations and descriptions. In one of these, Quennell’s _History of
Everyday Things in England_, there are drawings and descriptions of
castles of the XIth, XIIth, XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth centuries. The story
of _Men of Iron_ is laid in the year 1509. Devlin Castle had probably
seen many generations of the Mackworth family come and go long before
this time. It probably was built in the XIIIth or early XIVth century.
Let us follow, therefore, the plan of a XIVth Century castle. On page
86, we find a ground plan and a picture of such a castle. Read the
description of its massive stone walls and towers, colorless and gray,
and of its courtyard and great hall. The first scene of the play is laid
in the courtyard. The second scene is laid in the ladies’ garden. The
third is laid in the great hall.
Your problem now is to give your audience a picture of this castle, and
the varied life of its courtyard, its ladies’ garden, and its great
hall. On a stage measuring 30 inches by 55 inches, how can this be done?
If the settings are wisely planned, the audience will have such a vivid
impression of the courtyard, the garden, and the castle, that they will
feel they are living in the time of the play.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
You may be interested in the way a group of boys and girls planned the
stage settings for this play. The first scene was laid in the courtyard.
Instead of trying to show every little incident and detail of the life
of the courtyard, every stable and blacksmith shop, every well and water
trough, they asked themselves what important things happened in this
first act and listed them as follows: First, Myles practised at the
pells. Second, the armorer worked in his shop. Third, Myles played with
the squire, and threw a ball over the wall. Then they took the
ground-floor plan of the XIVth century castle, as they found it in the
book, studied it carefully, and planned this setting. Every stage
setting must give the actors enough room to move about in. It must have
exits. It must be a well-composed picture. It must be related to the
scene that follows. You can readily see how this careful planning met
each of these requirements: First, it gave room for their puppets to do
what they were required to do. Second, it gave them the two necessary
exits, one into the castle, the other out to the drawbridge. Third, it
made, by the arrangement of wall, towers, and armorer’s shop, a
well-composed picture. Fourth, by this arrangement of the first scene,
they were able to carry the imagination of the audience, with Myles,
when he climbed over the wall, into the ladies’ garden, in the second
scene.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
Another group planned the second scene. They imagined themselves on the
inside of the garden, on the other side of the wall shown in the first
scene. They asked themselves, not what do we see, but what happens in
the garden during this scene.
First, Lady Anne plays a lute and Lady Alice dances.
Second, Myles tumbles over the wall.
Third, the Earl of Mackworth comes from the castle and returns into the
castle.
Here is the plan they made. You can see how they planned first to have
plenty of floor space for Lady Alice’s dance, and then, to keep the wall
away from the back drop so that Myles could climb over it. Second, it
provided the necessary exit. Third, through the arrangement of
ivy-covered towers, trellised wall, and garden bench, it made a charming
picture. Fourth, by means of the exit into the castle, the interest of
the audience was carried into the third scene.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
Still another group planned the third scene which is laid in the great
hall of the castle. Their purpose was to make the audience feel the
spaciousness of the great hall and of its galleries and corridors. Again
it was necessary to think of what happened in this scene. The first
difficulty to present itself was this: How can enough space be provided
for eleven puppets to be on the stage at the same time, to move about
freely and moreover keep the stage picture beautiful? A clever boy
thought of making a gallery at the side for Lady Anne and Lady Alice to
sit in. This gave them a place in the picture and enabled their
puppeteers to stand behind the wings of the bridge. Here they were out
of the way of the other nine puppeteers who stood on the bridge behind
the back drop. These illustrations will show you the floor plan and
elevations. Another boy ingeniously planned the doorway seen in the
elevation, for a rear exit. He made two back drops. In the rear drop he
made a stained-glass window. The forward drop he made in two parts. As
you can see in the illustration, he placed one section just a little in
front of the other. This provided space between the two parts, for the
passage of the strings of the king and all the other characters that
should enter from this doorway. To the eyes of the audience there
appeared to be no break in the wall above the doorway, neither did the
eyes of the audience detect the painting of the tiled floor on the rear
back drop, done in perspective, another bit of cleverness, which seemed
to give width to what otherwise would have appeared a very narrow
corridor. Whenever one sees a puppet going out through a door, or
passing by outside a window, he is interested, because it gives the
suggestion of life and activity beyond the stage.
You have a chance to show yourselves artists in the placing of doorways
and windows. Doorways that open upon courtyards, or that give glimpses
of distant landscapes, and windows that open out upon gardens, are
charming details when appropriately used. Avoid, if possible, painting
doors and windows on to your scenery.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
The group that made the tournament scene had the problem of providing
plenty of space for the puppet spectators. It was decided that a very
effective scene could be made by placing the royal box, for the king and
his court, at the rear of the stage. Directly in front of the box there
was space enough for the tournament. The entrances for this scene were
on the right and left, and were large enough to admit the horses and
their riders. On the back drop was painted a landscape of the
surrounding country, with hills, trees, and a distant castle. It usually
happens that certain members of a large group are more drawn to one
scene than to another. If there are too many in one group, some pupils,
realizing the importance of equalizing the size of the groups, will,
good-naturedly, turn to the assistance of the smaller groups. There
should be boys and girls in each group, and a chairman selected for
each, who will be responsible for his group. Each chairman meets with
his group to discuss the requirements, general arrangement, and the
color scheme.
Do not be in a hurry to begin. Have the impression you wish to convey to
your audience clearly in mind. Close your eyes. Can you see with your
mind’s eye the place where the scene is laid? Can you see its color, the
movements of your characters, and hear their voices? Does the picture
which comes to your mind’s eye put you into the mood which you felt when
you first read the story? If it does, you are ready to begin. Take a
sheet of paper about 14 by 17 inches. Let the rectangle you draw on this
be the same proportion as the proscenium arch. As you plan within this
rectangle, keep in mind the picture your audience is going to see when
your scene is presented.
When the plans for a scene have been submitted, choose the best one, or
put all the best ideas into a new plan. Remember, if you understand
proportion, everything is possible. You can show lofty cliffs that seem
to tower into the air. You can show level plains that seem to stretch
miles to the horizon.
When you have finished your plan for each scene, you are ready for your
tools and materials. Here is a list of the things usually required:
Tools
Rulers
Scissors
Hammers
Brushes
Saws, large and very small
Screw driver
Dye pans
Materials
Beaver board
Wood
Unbleached muslin
Burlap
Tacks, nails
Screws
Dyes
Gesso
Glue (flake and liquid)
Oil colors
Water colors by the pound
Suppose that you belong to the first group. Take your plan and place it
before you. For the back drop, wall, and wing, you may use beaver board,
heavy paper, canvas, or muslin stiffened by a thin coat of boiled
starch. Now go to your stage and measure the height and width of the
back drop and the wing frames. Then cut out the back drop and wing from
the material you have chosen. Place these in their positions on the
stage. Take a piece of charcoal, or soft lead pencil, and lightly sketch
your design onto the back drop and wing. Now step back, at least ten
feet, in order to see if your arrangement, perspective, and scale are
correct. You may find that your distant tower is too large or too small,
or that your trees are too small or too tall, or that your arrangement
is not according to your well-worked-out plan. Make your corrections.
Then take the back drop and wing from the stage, and lay them flat on
desks or tables. With your scenery in this position carefully complete
your sketch.
Now take a piece of white chalk and draw on the stage floor the ground
plan. If the tower nearest the front is made large, and the one farther
away slightly smaller, you will get the effect of distance. You will
observe that the larger tower is not round, although it appears so to
the audience. By making it flat at the back, you gain floor space for
the marionettes that may be waiting to go on the stage. The bases and
tops of these towers are of wood; the sides are of strips of wood which
serve as a foundation for the burlap cover. The armorer’s shop, too, may
be made of wood and beaver board. The effect of stone may be produced by
covering the surface of these towers, walls, and shop with a mixture of
sand and gesso.
_Colors._ When you are ready to paint the scenery, you can use ordinary
house paints, showcard colors, or water colors. House paints are ready
mixed. Water colors are practical and inexpensive when bought in powder
form, but when you use them you should add several tablespoonfuls of a
fixative made from flake glue dissolved in water. Various kinds of
showcard colors are clear and pure and very easy to use, but they are
comparatively expensive. If you cannot afford many colors buy red,
yellow, dark blue, and white. By combining them you can get a wide range
of colors. If you are not limited in the amount you can spend, add to
your list orange, light green, light blue, mauve, and magenta.
_Color Mixing._ You probably know something about color and the mixing
of colors. However, you may find the following directions helpful. First
let us experiment with yellow. If you add a very little bit of blue to
the yellow you can see the yellow turning to greenish-yellow. As you
gradually add more blue you can see the greenish-yellow turning to
yellow-green and finally to green.
Let us begin again with pure yellow. If you add a very little bit of red
to the yellow you can see the yellow turning to orange-yellow. As you
gradually add more red, you can see the orange-yellow turning to
yellow-orange and finally to orange.
Let us begin once more with pure yellow. If you add a very little bit of
blue and red to the yellow, you can see the yellow turning to a
grayish-yellow. As you gradually add more blue and red you can see the
grayish-yellow turning to yellowish-gray, and finally turning to a
neutral gray.
Let us experiment with red. If you add a little bit of yellow to the red
you can see the red turning to yellowish-red. As you gradually add more
you can see the yellowish-red turning to reddish-orange, and finally to
orange.
Let us begin again with pure red. If you add a very little bit of blue
to the red you can see the red turning to a bluish-red. As you gradually
add more blue you can see the bluish-red turning to reddish-purple and
finally to purple.
Let us begin once more with pure red. If you add a very little bit of
yellow and blue to the red you can see the red turning to a grayish-red.
As you gradually add more yellow and blue you can see the grayish-red
turning to reddish-gray and finally turning to a neutral gray.
Let us experiment with blue. If you add a little bit of yellow to the
blue you can see the blue turning to greenish-blue. As you gradually add
more yellow you can see the greenish-blue turning to bluish-green and
finally to green.
Let us begin again with pure blue. If you add a very little bit of red
to the blue you can see the blue turning to a reddish-blue. As you
gradually add more red you can see the reddish-blue turning to
bluish-purple and finally to purple.
Let us begin once more with pure blue. If you add a very little bit of
yellow and red to the blue you can see the blue turning to a
grayish-blue. As you gradually add more yellow and red you can see the
grayish-blue turning to bluish-gray and finally turning to a neutral
gray.
Brown, which is not a pure color, is made by adding a little blue to
orange. There are yellow-browns and red-browns, but some blue is used in
making every one of them.
_Value and Intensity._ What do these technical terms: “Color Value” and
“Color Intensity” mean to you? There is a certain satisfaction in
understanding their meanings and in being able to use them correctly.
Value refers to the amount of light reflected by a color. Light red is
lighter in value than dark red. A color is always made lighter in value
by the addition of white. Intensity refers to the strength or brilliancy
of a color. Pure red is intense. When a little yellow or blue is added
to it, it becomes a grayish-red, and consequently is less intense. If
white is added to pure red, its intensity is lessened.
_Brushes._ For the painting of the scenery you will need several brushes
of different sizes, varying in width from the small sable brush to the
inch or inch and a half bristle brush. Use large brushes whenever
possible. Work from left to right, using horizontal strokes or vertical
downward strokes. Brushes are expensive, and should be given excellent
care and thoroughly cleaned after using.
Let us suppose that you are ready to paint the scenery for _Men of
Iron_. Let us take Scene I: what is the time of year and what is the
hour of the day? You answer, “It is a day of sunshine, in early spring.”
Spring skies are clear and may be painted light blue; the trees may be
painted yellow-green with splashes of pure yellow to give an effect of
sunlight. The castle towers, wall, and armor shop, should be painted a
warm neutral gray. An occasional touch of darker gray at the top of
wall, windows, and tower suggests thickness and adds to the illusion you
are creating. The distant castle tower on the back drop should be
painted a lighter gray because it is far away.
In the second scene, the time of year is midsummer, and the time of day
is mid-afternoon. Therefore, the sky was painted a deeper blue than that
of the first scene. The trees were painted a richer green; the flowers
were painted in brilliant colors. The castle walls and towers were
painted a yellowish-gray, while the vines that clambered over them were
painted a rich green. In order to carry the imagination of the audience
into the castle, a circling stairway was painted on the right wing. The
audience caught a glimpse of this stairway at the right of the tower.
In the third scene, which is laid in the great hall, the back drop,
wings, and walls were painted a lighter gray than the outside walls.
Sand and gesso were mixed with the gray paint in order to give the
suggestion of rough stone. The great stone walls, as you know, made the
old castles cold and colorless. This coldness was relieved by
stained-glass windows, rich tapestries, hangings, and colorful costumes.
The boy who painted the tapestry for this scene went to books and to the
old tapestries in the art museum for his inspiration. He produced the
effect of rich tapestry by painting directly on the beaver board, with
thin vertical strokes of pure color. Another student produced the effect
of stained glass by making a design on tracing paper, painting it on
both sides with water colors, and then fastening it to the window
opening in the back drop. Manila, Haytol, or oak tag paper may be used
instead of tracing paper; you can make them translucent by brushing both
sides with a little linseed oil after the water colors are dry. A light
placed behind these stained-glass windows brings out their designs and
colors.
In the fourth act, which is the tournament scene, the time of year is
late summer, the time of day is late afternoon. On the back drop was
painted a landscape of the surrounding country, hills, trees, and a
distant castle. The sky was painted a pale gold to signify the success
of Myles in the combat. The royal box and fence were painted a dark
earth brown. The box was enriched with gold and colorful hangings.
These directions are not meant to be followed. They are merely offered
as suggestions, to assist you in meeting the problems your play may
present. Every boy and girl ought to feel free enough, in every phase of
his work, to express his own ideas. This should be equally true in
arranging or writing a play, in making a marionette, in planning and
constructing properties and scenery, and in experimenting with lighting.
Few pleasures in life compare with the pleasure of creating something.
In planning your scenery, much depends upon the plan and the type of
stage you have chosen. No matter what the play or what the stage, you
can make no mistake if you keep your backgrounds simple. Some of the
greatest artists use no scenery. They produce their effects simply by
means of curtains and lighting. Begin your experiment by using curtains.
A light gray curtain for a back drop and the sides of your stage can
give many charming effects, as you will discover when you begin
experimenting with colored lights.
[Illustration:
_Scenes from the Marionette play, "Men of Iron."_
]
Few things will show your judgment and good taste more than your
scenery, which must be first, last, and always, a background for the
marionettes. This means that it must be either lighter or darker than
the puppets, so that they can be seen against it. It must be so simple
that the eye can follow the marionette easily, and not be lost in the
detail of the background, which will happen if there are too many
colors, and the colors are not of the same value. The scenery should not
be an end in itself, but should be a beautiful setting for the
marionettes, and by its fitness give an added sense of the beauty of
your play.
[Illustration:
_How to pull your curtains. Attach central ring of one curtain at A
and the central ring of the other at B. Pulling string C closes the
curtains, while D opens them._
]
So far we have not thought of the frame for our stage, which is called
the proscenium, nor have we spoken of the stage curtains. These are
important because they are what might be called an introduction to the
play. If they strike the right note, they may even hold the thread of
interest between the acts. It is usual to have a contrast between the
proscenium and the curtains, and between the proscenium and the several
settings of the play. If your play has several brightly lighted scenes,
you will probably find that a gray proscenium with a very simple,
appropriate design looks much better than a brightly colored one with
elaborate designs. Use the same good taste in framing your stage picture
as you would in framing any other picture. Grays, yellows, and dull gold
are always pleasing. The best material to use for the curtains is
unbleached muslin. Because it takes dye so beautifully, it sometimes
comes to have the look of the richest old velvet. It should be
thoroughly soaked in hot water and then rubbed between the hands before
dipping in the dye bath. The selvedges should be gathered together and
then the entire piece should be wrung out. The dye bath should be ready.
If you wish a plain color you may dip the entire piece, usually four
yards, two for each curtain, at one time. If, however, you wish to have
the curtains darker at the bottom than at the top, you must allow the
lower part to remain longer in the dye bath. As you gain experience in
dyeing, you may wish to use two or even three different dyes for your
curtains. The curtains for _Sigurd, the Volsung_, kept the same color
symbolism as the costumes. The upper part was yellow to symbolize the
wisdom of Odin, running into orange to symbolize the home ties of the
Volsung line, and into deep red at the bottom, symbolizing the valor and
courage of the hero, Sigurd. The curtains for _Men of Iron_ were red at
the top to symbolize the valor of Myles, then purple to symbolize the
royal blood of the Mackworths, black at the bottom to symbolize the
deceit, overthrow, and death of the Earl of Alban. Until you have
acquired skill in dyeing it is best to hold to very simply colored
curtains. These may be either in harmony with or in contrast to the
color you have chosen for the proscenium. The curtains should never be
ironed. They should be smoothed out with the hands, when the muslin is
still very damp, then hung up to dry. Hem carefully at the top and
bottom, fold into pleats at the top. Small brass rings should then be
sewed on to every pleat for the curtain strings to pass through. To the
bottom of the curtain small dress weights should be fastened every five
or six inches just under each curtain ring. Crease the folds with your
hands. Your curtain may come to have its own way of looking just
right—of behaving properly when it has its part to do, and may add the
last note of craftsmanship and perfection to your scenery.
[Illustration: [Stage]]
[Illustration: [Marionette]]
CHAPTER VII
Making Your Properties
Puppets usually require a few well-chosen properties. These should be in
scale with the puppets, and serve some practical need. Properties should
be similar to the things used in the time of your play, in the country
of your play, and by the class or classes of people represented in your
play.
It is well to be familiar with the life, customs, and manners of the
people who lived at the time of your play. The library, historical
museum, and art museum are sources of information. First, there is the
library in which there are always books and pictures and a wealth of
information for your use. Take several pieces of tracing paper with you
when you go there, also several well-sharpened pencils, and your colored
crayons. When you find a suitable illustration, make a sketch or a
tracing of it and careful color notes.
Let us suppose that you are about to make the properties for _Men of
Iron._ Take the story and from it make a list of the properties that you
will need. You will probably make a list somewhat like this:
Act I—Courtyard. Properties required:
1. Bench for the squires to sit upon and later for Myles to
stand upon.
2. An upright post, or pell, to be used by Myles when he
practises with his sword.
3. An anvil to be placed in the armorer’s shop.
4. A ball for Myles.
Act II—Garden. Properties required:
1. Garden seat for Lady Anne to sit upon when she plays her
lute.
2. A lute for Lady Anne.
3. A ball for Myles.
Act III—Great Hall. Properties required:
1. Throne for the king to sit upon.
2. A dais for the throne to rest upon.
3. A seat for the minstrel.
4. A carved oak chest, such as was usually seen in the great
halls.
5. Royal carpet.
6. Hangings for the ladies’ gallery.
7. A lute for the minstrel.
Act IV—The tournament. Properties required:
1. A royal box.
2. A fence.
The bench in Scene I was made of wood and was a copy of a picture of an
English XVth Century bench.
Sometimes there are properties and effects that take special ingenuity
and skill. Many boys have unusual ability in solving these problems. In
the first scene of _Men of Iron_ an anvil was needed. One boy asked to
be responsible for the anvil. There was a miniature anvil in the
classroom that had been used the year before by the class that had given
_Sigurd, the Volsung_. Now, what did he do? First, he drilled two holes
into the top of the anvil and placed a strip of mica on the iron between
the holes. Then he attached a thin coil of wire, about the size of that
in an electric toaster, screwed it down into the holes, where it met the
charged wires which came up through the holes in the anvil. When the
current was turned on, the coil glowed red. This boy also made a hammer,
which he fastened in the hand of the puppet armorer. From the hammer a
long wire stretched upward to the controller, and then down behind the
scenes to the socket. When the armorer struck the anvil with his hammer,
brilliant sparks flew in every direction. Care was taken to strike the
broad surface of the anvil top and to avoid striking the coil of wire.
You will notice that he placed the mica and coil close to the edge, in
order to give the armorer plenty of room for the strokes of his hammer.
[Illustration: [Anvil]]
The garden bench in Act II was made by a pupil who had made a special
study of gardens. When one of the boys found that a lute was needed for
this scene, he went to the art museum where he had the good fortune to
find two lutes, a large one and a small one, both of Italian make. He
then went to the historical museum where he found pictures of similar
lutes used in England, in the time of his play. He now decided to use
the large lute in the museum as a model for the lute of his minstrel,
and the smaller one for Lady Alice. He then made careful drawings to
scale, proceeded to carve the instruments from wood, and to stain them,
and enrich them with gold. When they were finished, with the little
detail of strings, they were such an exquisite note of perfection that
they added much to the beauty of the scene, and gave a thrill of delight
to all who saw them.
In Act III, a Gothic throne and a Gothic chest were needed. The boy who
was responsible for these went to the art museum to look for Gothic
furniture. He found a Gothic chest, and adapted its proportions and
design to both the throne and the chest. He copied a XVth Century stool
for the minstrel to sit upon. The carpet and hangings for this scene
were made from large scraps of rich crimson velvet given by a generous
upholsterer.
In Act IV, the royal box was historically true, as it was made from
drawings of a royal box found in an old illuminated manuscript. It was
constructed from wood and beaver board. Tapestries hung from the front
of the box and pennants from tall poles at the corners.
Sometimes, when scenery has been especially well designed, it makes
properties almost unnecessary. For instance, in the throne room of King
Elf in _Sigurd, the Volsung_ the background is a dark, richly colored
tapestry. Against this was placed the throne on a raised dais. With this
single property the scene was a satisfying picture. When the three
fair-haired maidens, dressed in white and gold, with flowing veils of
pale rose, came to present the baby Sigurd to King Elf, it was a lovely
picture.
The materials used for making properties are usually wood, cardboard,
tacks, glue, ½-inch linen or cotton tape, papier-mâché, gesso, and
paints. The tools needed are hammer, coping saw, scissors, and a sharp
knife. Drawings should be kept before the worker for constant reference.
They are his guide for proportion, design, and scale.
Accidents are as likely to happen in puppet families and at puppet
parties as they are to happen in our homes and at our own parties. If
the chairs are unsteady and the tables too light, they may cause trouble
and embarrassment. Think what might have happened at Bob Kratchet’s
Christmas party in Charles Dickens’ _Christmas Carol_, when all the
puppets sat down to the well-laden table, if some thought had not been
given to making it secure. How do you imagine this was done? The table
and all the chairs were glued to a large piece of cardboard. When the
scene was set, this was placed on the stage. In the time of Bob
Kratchet, just as in our own time, houses contained many pieces of
furniture and other things of daily use. Imagine what would happen, if
we made all the properties that are mentioned in the story and then
tried to crowd them on to the stage. There would be no room for the
puppets to move about in. Our eyes would be confused with details and
the picture would be ruined. Here is a list of the properties that were
chosen by the group of children who gave _The Childhood of David
Copperfield_:
Act I. Sitting room in the Copperfield house
An armchair for Peggoty
A table for Peggoty and work basket
Stool for little David
Curtains for the windows