Marionettes, masks and shadows

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 Greec...

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...

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...

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:

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 _T...

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:

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....

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...

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...

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...

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 i...

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_ a...

Nearly all properties need some decoration. Some need color, others need merely stain. Occasionally it is necessary to give the effect of carved wood. This is necessary in plays...

Let us imagine that we are seated in a dimly lighted theater. The signal rings. The curtains open and what do we see? People. What makes them visible? Light. What makes the colo...

Overhead lights. Left (as seen from the audience) Right blue, white, white, white, blue Footlights Left Right blue, red, amber, white, red, blue Left strip blue, red, blue, blue...

The stage is set. The play has been chosen. The puppets are ready. Let us gather around the table to talk about our parts. There should be a copy of the play in the hands of eac...

nounous. Petrouchka runs in, chased by the Moor who stabs him. The people draw away and the Ballerina kneels beside him. The manager comes in, the Moor, the Ballerina, and all t...

The successful presenting of a play requires much planning and organization. It will be necessary to choose a property man, two assistants, a stage electrician, an inspector of...

From the map it is evident that masks have been worn in every part of the world. They are older than the idols which primitive man made for himself. Why he invented masks we do...

We all know the thrill of wearing a mask, but an entirely new and strange thrill awaits him who wears a mask of his own creation. Anyone who has imagination is apt to turn away...

Anyone who has ever tried to make masks, knows their fascination. A pillowcase with two holes cut in it for eyes may have been your first mask. A paper bag may have been your se...

Costume is a means of introducing characters, of telling time and place, and of creating dramatic mood. A costume should be different from ordinary clothes, and should have a ch...

The wearing of masks made it difficult for the Greek actors to speak their lines. Naturally they came to rely upon gestures quite as much as upon words to carry their meaning to...

The life of primitive man was full of peril. Out of the struggle to survive the dangers which threatened him on every side came fear and superstition. He developed a great regar...

It is not at all difficult to make a shadow play if one knows what the requirements are. The first requirement of either a cut-out shadow play or a human play is that its story...

When you were very young you probably were quite skilful in making shadow rabbits, ducks, and donkeys on the nursery walls. With a friend you may have cut out paper animals and...

These four scenes require twelve characters: Donkey, Dog, Cat, Cock, Four Robbers, Witch, Demon, Giant, and the fateful spirit. Each character must be analyzed, for both disposi...

If you ever took part in a shadow game, you discovered many surprising uses for your shadow. You may remember how you stretched a sheet in a doorway and played the game of guess...