Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/365

pasteboard actors a foot high, to the great delight of a large and enthusiastic audience of mixed young and old folks.

Have one or two jointed figures appear and commence to dance, and while they are capering around, let another light be brought in; immediately there will be two figures for every one that first appeared upon the scene. Each light casts a shadow, and the shadows are all that is visible to the audience, so to them the puppets appear to fall into doubles in the most unaccountable manner. If the puppets are kept stationary, and the two lights moved backward and forward, the puppets will appear to move around, pass and repass each other; thus, with two or three lights moving behind the screen, two or three puppets can be transformed into a crowd that will be in constant motion.

Cut two duplicate pieces of pasteboard in the form of waves (see Fig. 211). Let each piece be a little longer than the

frame of the puppet-show stage. When the light throws the shadow of one of these pieces of pasteboard upon the muslin screen, it looks like a simple row of scallops; but when the two pieces are moved backward and forward, it gives motion to the shadows, and they have the appearance of rolling waves; a pasteboard ship rocking upon the waves will add to the effect. A lighthouse can be cut out of pasteboard and placed upon a pasteboard rock at one side; thunder may be imitated by roll-