The performers in this concert, who should be of nearly the same size, take their places behind a sheet stretched across the room at the height of their chins. They then put stockings on their arms and boots on their hands (or this may be done before they come into the room), and stand looking over the sheet at the company, with their hands and arms carefully hidden. The concert begins by the singing of the first verse of a song. Immediately the verse is finished, the singers, stooping down so that their heads disappear from view, thrust up their arms and wave them about, the effect being that of a row of people standing on their heads. The chorus is thus sung. Then they pull down their arms and put up their heads again and sing the next verse.
The Dancing Dwarf
This is a very amusing illusion and easy to arrange. All the players but two are sent out of the room and these stand behind a table. One stands close to the table, his arms in front of him so that the fingers rest on the table. Boots, or stockings and shoes, are put on their arms and a long dark cloak is thrown over the shoulders of the first player covering the one behind him. The one behind furnishes the arms by thrusting his out in front. The little feet resting on the table show from the folds of the cloak and give the appearance of a dwarf. The players are then called back and the dwarf, whose face should be disguised, performs any feat that they ask for—he sings a song, or makes a speech or prophesies the future of any one who desires it, always ending with a wild dance performed by the arms and hands of the other person. The light should be turned down somewhat and the audience should be straight in front of the table to keep the illusion at its best.
The Dancing Dwarf
Charades
"Charades" can be written in advance and carefully rehearsed, but in this book we are concerned more nearly with those that are arranged a few minutes (the fewer the better) before they are performed. As a rule a word of two or three syllables is chosen, the syllables are first acted, then the whole word, and then the audience guess what it was. Sometimes the word is brought in, both in its complete form and in its syllables; and sometimes—and this is perhaps the better way—it is acted. Thus, if the word were "Treason," one way would be to make the acts themselves anything that occurred to you, merely saying "Tree" with some distinctness in the first; "Son" or "Sun" in the second; and "Treason" in the third. The other and more interesting way would be to make the first act relate to tree-felling or tree planting, or, say, a performance by Mr. Tree; the second to a son or the sun; and the third to some treasonable situation, such as, for example, the Gunpowder Plot. On account of the time which is occupied in preparing and acting it is better to choose two-syllabled words—which, with the whole word, make three scenes—than three- or four-syllabled ones; although there are certain four-syllabled words which split naturally into two halves of two syllables each. "Parsimony," for example, could be performed: Parsee, money, parsimony. As a general rule the charades that are arranged during the evening are better performed in dumb show, with plenty of action, than with any talking at all. Under the circumstances gestures are so much easier than words and not any less amusing.
Dumb Performances
Very good fun can be had also from impromptu pantomimes, where the performers enact some story which every one knows, such as "Aladdin" or "Red Riding Hood" or "Cinderella"; or a scene from history proper, or from village or family history. The contrast between the splendor of Cinderella's carriage in the story and the old perambulator which has to serve in the charade only adds to the fun. Every one, being dumb, acts to the utmost. It is sometimes more amusing if all the parts are turned upside down and a boy plays the heroine and a girl the hero. Where the scene is too tremendous for any representation to be given, it is best to meet the case frankly and use, as they did in Shakespeare's day, written labels, such as "This is Aladdin's Palace."