Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/364

to pass between the light and the cloth, as the shadow of an immense hand upon the cloth would ruin the whole effect. All the puppets for each scene should be carefully selected before the curtain rises, and so placed that the operator can at once lay his hand upon the one wanted. There must be no talking behind the scenes, and the puppets should be kept moving in as life-like a manner as possible while their speeches are being read for them. Several rehearsals are necessary to make the show pass off successfully.

One would naturally suppose that with only a candle and a cloth screen for a stage, and some puppets cut out of card or pasteboard for actors, that the stage effects would be very limited, and consequently the plays stiff and uninteresting; this is, however, not true; any of the familiar old fairy tales may, with a little alteration, be arranged for a puppet-show and put upon the stage in such a manner as to amuse and interest an audience of young and old people. Jointed puppets, by the aid of movable lights, sticks, and strings, may be made to go through the most surprising contortions and manœuvres.

Boys that have a talent for drawing will find an unlimited amount of amusement in drawing and cutting out the puppets; but for those boys who have neither a talent nor a taste for the use of the pencil, original puppets are necessarily out of the question. All the characters of any play can be made by selecting appropriate figures of animals and men from illustrated books and papers, and enlarging or reducing them after the manner described in Chapter XXVI., page 250. In this manner the puppets given in this chapter may be enlarged to almost any required proportions.

At a Sunday-school entertainment, given in Brooklyn last winter, the following play of "Puss-in-Boots" was produced by