Pages from fist puppetry

FIST PUPPETRY DAVID FREDRICK MULLIGAN

Fist Puppetry is entertaining and easy to learn. This complete handbook tells now to make fist puppets, costumes, scenery and the puppet theatre. It explains how to adapt plays and includes the action for ten representative productions. W i t h this book you can organize your own theatre group and produce puppetry plays to the delight and enjoyment of all concerned.

#1.50

FIST PUPPETRY

by David Fredrick Milligan The art of puppetry is a logical in' troduction to drama and, fist pup' petry, because of its simplicity, has aroused the interest of play groups, schools and clubs everywhere. This new book tells how to make pup' pets, how much they cost, how to construct a theatre, how to adapt plays, and all other practical details necessary in the production of Fist Puppetry plays.

T H E CONTENTS Logical Places for Puppets The Fist Puppet and How it is Operated Selecting and Adapting a Play for Puppets Making the Head The Costume The Puppet Booth The Production of a Puppet Show Ten Puppet Plays Bibliography Index

A. S. Barnes and Company Publishers

New York

FIST PUPPETRY

PLATE

I. A scene from "Jack and the Beanstalk."

FIST PUPPETRY BY

David Fredrick Milligan

A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY INCORPORATED

New York

Copyright, 1938, A. S. Barnes & Company, Inc. THIS BOOK IS FULLY PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND NOTHING THAT APPEARS IN IT MAY BE REPRINTED OR REPRODUCED IN ANY MANNER, EITHER WHOLLY OR IN PART, FOR ANY USE WHATEVER, WITHOUT SPECIAL WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.

THIS IN

THE

ONE

EDITION

WAS

HUNDREDTH

OF A. S.

BARNES

PRINTED

ANNIVERSARY

AND

COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

YEAR

FOREWORD The scene was a crowded grade school auditorium at the close of an exciting puppet show.

One of the operators stepped from behind the puppet booth and asked the following question.

"How many of you children would like to make fist puppets?" Every hand went up quickly.

After the children had gone back to their classrooms, a group of teachers crowded around the puppet booth. "How can I find out how to make puppets?" "How much do they cost?"

"What are they made from?" There were many other questions of a similar nature from the assembled group.

Perhaps similar groups were asking similar questions 3000 years ago. Even then puppets were in evidence. Historians tell us in Egypt they were figures of the gods, and in Greece they were characters in religious dramas. After that, they traveled all over Europe, from the Courts of the Kings, to the corners of the curbs.

At the present time there is a revival of puppetry, not only in this country, but also in several countries in Europe. The world is becoming puppet-conscious again.

Undoubtedly one of the main reasons for the

vi

FOREWORD

interest shown in this country in puppets, other than the professional shows, is the recreation movement. People are being educated to not only a physical form of recreation, but also the cultural and craft side. Puppetry is stressed as a definite part of the recreation of children by our recreation departments and their experts.

The art of puppetry is undoubtedly the most logical introduction to the drama we have to ofifer our children today. Many community and civic theaters throughout the country have recognized this fact and have included puppet groups in their children's theater activities.

Many schools have found the same thing true with their club groups.

Because of the simplicity of their construction and operation for children, and because of the definite interest shown in them, this book deals entirely with fist puppets.

In the past, puppetry has been left, for the most part, to the professional puppeteer. Today, with the general public taking a definite interest in their possibilities as a cultural and craft aid to children, there is a need of instruction for the amateur. An attempt has been made here to foresee the questions and problems of those who are interested in making puppets, and to answer them in the simplest manner possible.

DAVID FREDRICK MILLIGAN

FIST PUPPETRY FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR

v

L I S T OF ILLUSTRATIONS

xi

CHAPTER I LOGICAL PLACES FOR P U P P E T S

i

THE SCHOOL

i

CLUB GROUPS

2

HOSPITALS

3

RECREATION

CENTERS

4

C O M M U N I T Y A N D CIVIC T H E A T E R S .

THE

.

.

4

HOME

5

CHAPTER II T H E FIST P U P P E T AND H O W I T IS OPERATED

7

CHAPTER III SELECTING AND ADAPTING A PLAY FOR P U P PETS PART

I

PART II

16

SELECTING THE PLAY

.

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ADAPTING THE PLAY vii

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.

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18

viii

FIST PUPPETRY CHAPTER IV

MAKING THE HEAD

25

CARVING T H E HEAD

25

P A I N T I N G T H E HEAD

33

HAIR FOR P U P P E T S

35

M A K I N G HANDS

35

MODELED HEADS

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CHAPTER V T H E COSTUME

40

P A T T E R N S AND DIRECTIONS FOR M A K I N G COSTUMES

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A N I M A L COSTUMES

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CHAPTER VI T H E P U P P E T BOOTH T H E DOORWAY P U P P E T T H E A T E R .

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T H E P E R M A N E N T BOOTH

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T H E COVERING

62

T H E PORTABLE BOOTH

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COVERING T H E P O R T A B L E BOOTH .

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.

67

T H E TOPPER

68

T H E STAGE

70

L I G H T I N G T H E STAGE

7I

T H E APRON

71

T H E OVERHEADS

75

THE CURTAIN

76

FIST PUPPETRY

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C H A P T E R VII S C E N E R Y FOR T H E P U P P E T P L A Y

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.

.

79

DROP SCENERY

8 I

SOLID S C E N E R Y

84

CHAPTER

VIII

T H E PRODUCTION OF A P U P P E T S H O W .

CHAPTER TEN

.

PUPPET

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IX

PLAYS

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S N O W W H I T E A N D ROSE RED

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.

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.

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J A C K AND T H E BEANSTALK

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.

.

.

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ST. GEORGE A N D T H E DRAGON

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.

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.

IOO

CINDERELLA

102

HIAWATHA'S WOOING

104

RIP VAN W I N K L E

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T H E YELLOW DWARF

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ALI BABA A N D T H E FORTY T H I E V E S

.

. I L L

T H E STORY O F J O S E P H T H E ELVES AND T H E SHOEMAKER. BIBLIOGRAPHY

OF STORIES AND PLAYS

C A N B E A D A P T E D FOR P U P P E T S INDEX

II4 .

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I I 8

THAT .

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