INSTRUCTIONS.
How to Perform the Puppets.
The Frame should be three feet long and two feet wide: there should be a space of 16 inches high, between the stage, on which the Puppets perform, and the top of the Frame, corresponding to the ceiling of a room, from which a little curtain hangs and in all particulars resembling a miniature theatre, with small wings on the sides, like the scenes in a large theatre, and a curtain in front to drop, or slide across the stage, at the end of each act, is necessary. Immediately above the stage is a small stick running across the top, from which a small fringe hangs, in the style of a curtain, between this fringe and the top of the stage, is a space of 16 inches, for the Puppets to perform.
The hight of the stage, or floor on which the Puppets move, from the ground upward, must be regulated by the hight of the person performing the Figures: the stage, therefore, should never exceed two inches higher than the head of the person who stands behind it, inside of the Frame. This will enable the performer to rest his hands on the back part of the stage without being seen by the audience. Without this relief for the hands to rest on, he could not be able to continue the movement of the Figures to any length of time.
On one end of the Frame (the stage part) is a small socket, in which the end of a movable gallows is fixed.
The whole of the Frame is covered outside with thick cloth, to conceal all that may be done on the inside.
Three bags hang in front of the performer—extending across the Frame; and on the right and left hand sides, are four more pockets—two on each side—making seven altogether; about six or eight inches deep.
In these pockets are placed the little Wooden Actors. Punch and the Doctor, occupy the same bunk. Judy, with her child, and the dog Toby have a bunk to themselves. The Constable and Jack Ketch, room together. The Negro and the Devil have separate berths.
The way to hold the Puppets in order to exhibit them to the public: