The human performer (out of sight) works the figures over the back drapery, moving every joint, and throwing balls about gaily, as in [Fig. 1].
When Living Marionettes are introduced—as they sometimes are at public exhibitions—the effects are most comical. On a small stage an ordinary man’s head is apparently attached to a miniature body, and this latter walks, dances, and goes through many antics. The head, too, has eyes ‘in a fine frenzy rolling,’ and is gifted vocally, being able to talk and sing as well as many persons who fill a much larger space in the world.
Fig. 2.
This is managed by having two backgrounds, one the height of the performer’s chin, the other—a little farther back—extending to the top of the scene. Both of these are black, and at a little distance the break in them is not distinguishable. The performers walk on a platform at a lower level than the stage, the doll-bodies being fastened beneath their chins, hanging over the front drapery, and the doll’s feet resting on the platform in view of the audience. The performers also carry black curtains attached to them (not perceptible against the similar background), and through these wires, fixed to the arms and legs of the manikins, are pulled to give them motion. (See [Fig. 2].) We have also described ‘[Living Marionettes]’ in another part of this volume.
VII.—Model Wrestlers.
A good deal of amusement can be had out of a pair of model wrestlers. The way in which the dolls are fitted and worked is sufficiently shown in the accompanying [illustration]. The legs are in one piece, and the arms are joined so that each doll has only four working parts. The feet are loaded to keep the figures upright on the string, but it is not necessary that this should be done, as they can be kept firmly on the table without. The device is a very old one. Curiously enough, in the Hortus Deliciarum of Herrade de Lansberg, Abbess of Hohenburg—a manuscript over seven hundred years old, now in the Paris Library—a man and woman are represented playing with a couple of figures arranged very much on the same principle, the only difference being that the dolls are separate, and worked with two strings instead of one. The figures are knights in complete armour, with swords and shields. They are hung close together, so that the swords are crossed, and the heels are loaded to keep them upright. The strings are crossed, and held one in each hand by the man and woman. The cross comes between the figures, so that the string that is attached to the waist of one figure is fastened to the knee of the other, and any motion forward is balanced by one backward, and a most realistic encounter can be fought out almost automatically.
THE WRESTLING DOLLS
With the substitution of thin cap wire for the thread an excellent marionette or shadow show could be easily arranged, it being much easier to work horizontally than vertically in all cases where vigorous action is required to be simulated.