398 



Popular Science Monthly 



a musical instrument. Some girls can 

 learn to operate the puppets in about two 

 weeks, while in other cases it takes months 

 to train them. The most difficult thing 

 for a puppeteer to do is to make a puppet 

 walk. The puppeteers are taught to 

 walk the puppets with their eyes shut be- 

 cause it is so very im- 

 portant to have the 

 puppet walk in a 

 natural manner, that 

 the puppeteer must 

 accomplish this auto- 

 matically. The feat 

 next in difficulty for 

 the puppeteer to learn 

 is to make the puppets 

 look at each other in 

 a natural manner. 

 The puppets can pick 

 up objects, throw 

 them down, and 

 mount and dismount 

 animals. In fact, 

 they can do practi- 

 cally everything a 

 person can do. It is 

 far - easier to make 

 them dance than it is 

 to make them stand 

 still. When they are 

 standing, they have a 

 tendency to sway. 

 The skillful puppeteer 

 can prevent this, but 

 it takes a great deal 

 of skill to hold a 

 puppet motionless on 

 the stage. 



The puppets have 

 their own miniature 

 stage with a miniature 

 lighting system which 

 is similar to th:it 

 used in Broadwu}. 

 productions, even 

 to the colored foot- 

 lights. In order to 

 prevent those of the 

 audience who are 

 sitting near the 

 stage from seeing 

 the strings, a frame 

 is arranged in front 

 of the stage, on 

 which the trout line 

 is stretched verti- 



Pulliiiti the Strings 

 '1 In; liili iiiiTiliant seated on his cushion<i enjoying 

 a BHioke. Tlie younK ladies above hi in are pulling 

 the HtrinKH wliicli make him and his fellow puppets 

 act. The pupiK-teers arc invisible to the audience 



cally. This screen of trout line effectually 

 conceals the movements of the strings 

 which are attached to the puppets. In 

 writing a play for puppets, the lines have 

 to be specially written to accommodate 

 their movements. There can be no short 

 speeches as there are in plays written for 

 living actors. 



Among the com- 

 pany of puppets are 

 dogs, rabbits, don- 

 keys, and horses. In 

 one of the plays a 

 skeleton comes on the 

 stage. It always 



amazes the audience 

 by its acting of the 

 supernatural. It is 

 so constructed that it 

 falls to pieces and 

 pulls itself together 

 again. This trick is 

 possible for the simple 

 reason that the skele- 

 ton has hollow bones 

 through which strings 

 are run. 



This system of man- 

 aging marionettes is, 

 of course, a refined 

 version of the old 

 time method. Pup- 

 pet shows in them- 

 selves are as old, 

 almost, as acting by 

 living persons. It will 

 be remembered that 

 Cervantes has an in- 

 cident in his immortal 

 satire, Don Quixote, 

 in which that cele- 

 brated and/;hivalrous 

 nobleman achieves 

 lasting fame by rout- 

 ing the 

 gang of 

 scurrilous 

 knaves 

 who were 

 abducting 

 the fair 

 damsel in 

 a puppet 

 show belonging to 

 a strolling player, 

 to the owner's 

 great disgust. 



