A girl was responsible for the three doves used in the second scene of Men of Iron. She decided upon the proper scale and then cut a pattern for the body and another for the wings. The body she made from soft gray silk and weighted it near the tail. The wings were wired along their upper edges and then attached to the body. Each dove required three strings, one for the center of the back and one for the tip of each wing.

In the Adventures of Alice, it was necessary to have a caterpillar, a frog footman, a Cheshire cat, a pig baby, a dormouse, and a March hare. The Tenniel illustrations for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were closely followed. The students who made these animals tried to give to each one the character which it had in the story. The heads of the caterpillar, the frog footman, and the March hare were first modeled in clay. Molds were then made from these modeled heads. Then papier-mâché heads were made in just the same way as the papier-mâché heads of the true marionettes. To the papier-mâché head of the caterpillar was attached a body. Nile-green silk was used for the upper part and yellow-green silk for the under part. Half hoops of dress cord were stitched to the under side of the back, in order to indicate the segments. A rubber tube for smoke passed through the body from mouth to tail. Because the caterpillar was almost human, he was given hands and arms. The frog footman had a frog’s head, throat, and webbed hands, and the body of a footman.

The March hare had the head and forepaws of a hare and the body of a country gentleman. He was made to appear rather simple, credulous and bland. He had great ears, side burns, and an engaging air, which belied his occasional impatience. The white rabbit was brisk and dapper. He was conscious of his shell-pink ears, fetching whiskers, and the large elegant watch which he drew from his pocket with a flourish.

Marionette animals such as dogs, cats, and pigs may be made from cloth. Even dragons may be made from cloth. Every animal marionette presents a new problem for your ingenuity to solve.

The directions and suggestions which are given in this chapter are meant to guide and to help you. However, it will be your own experiments and inventions which will give you the greatest satisfaction and lead you on to new achievements in the art of puppet-making.

CHAPTER VI
Making Your Scenery

The stage is made. The puppets have a floor to walk upon. Is anything more required? You say, “Oh, yes, there must be scenery before it will be a real stage.” Who shall plan and make this scenery? Shall this be the work of one pupil or the work of the whole group? All will want a share in it. This means that the large group should be divided into smaller groups and that each group should be made responsible for a scene.

Let us suppose you have dramatized Howard Pyle’s Men of Iron and made a play of four scenes. In order to give the same note of unity to the scenery that you are trying to give to your play, every scene must be in harmony with every other scene and with the whole idea of the play.

Three scenes of Men of Iron are laid in Devlin Castle, England. What do we know about castles and about English castles? When were castles built? We go to the library and find books that give us both illustrations and descriptions. In one of these, Quennell’s History of Everyday Things in England, there are drawings and descriptions of castles of the XIth, XIIth, XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth centuries. The story of Men of Iron is laid in the year 1509. Devlin Castle had probably seen many generations of the Mackworth family come and go long before this time. It probably was built in the XIIIth or early XIVth century. Let us follow, therefore, the plan of a XIVth Century castle. On page 86, we find a ground plan and a picture of such a castle. Read the description of its massive stone walls and towers, colorless and gray, and of its courtyard and great hall. The first scene of the play is laid in the courtyard. The second scene is laid in the ladies’ garden. The third is laid in the great hall.