THE MAVONETTE5
THE RAGAMUFFIN MARIONETTES
BOOKS BY
FRANCES LESTER WARNER ENDICOTT AND I GROUPS AND COUPLES STEEL AND HOLLY SURPRISING THE FAMILY T H E UNINTENTIONAL CHARM OF M E N T o THE PEOPLE W E LIKE T H E RAGAMUFFIN MARIONETTES
(With Gertrude Warner) LIFE'S MINOR COLLISIONS
THE RAGAMUFFIN MARIONETTES Home-Made Puppets and How to Manage Them. Rainy-Day Fun for Children, with a Chapter for Helpful Parents and Three Marionette Plays BY
FRANCES LESTER WARNER
With Illustrations by MARGARET FREEMAN
Boston and New York HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY tEfje iRtbersibe $re0* Cambribge 1932
COPYRIGHT, 1932, BY FRANCES WARNER HERSEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
rsibe JJrtofi CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
FOR
Geoffrey, and David, and Richard, and Elizabeth, and George, and Charles, and Jean, and Robert, and ^4nne, and Henry, and Brownie, and Warren, and Jwfo'a Anne, and Tyler, and Patty, and Jo/m, and their parents if well-behaved — notwithstanding the fact that this particular copy is especially for
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1U &Sls>-*-A-Jr-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE Ragamuffin Marionettes make a low and grateful bow to certain of their more professional cousins who have taught them many things: to the Marionettes of Mr. Tony Sarg, who kindly showed them how to keep their waistlines supple, and how to attach themselves to a controller from above; to the Marionettes of Mrs. H. H. Joseph, who gave them the idea that it is possible to face life with two masters — one to work the strings, and another to read the lines; to the English lords and ladies, farmers, milkmaids, and wild foxes of Mr. William Simmons, who taught them that it is well to accompany puppet pantomime with antique music; and to Hawthorne's scarecrow, Feathertop, the earliest ragbag hero in the New England literary field, who assured them that a home-made costume may conceal a gallant soul.
CONTENTS PART I. PUPPETS WITHOUT STRINGS I. How II.
TO MAKE THEIR HEADS
3
How TO MAKE THEIR COATS AND THEIR B E LONGINGS
17
III.
How
TO MAKE THEIR STAGE
26
IV.
How
TO GIVE THEIR PLAY
32
'Little Mister Picklenose' A very easy play for mitten puppets V. T H E BEDSIDE THEATRE
44
PART II. MARIONETTES WITH STRINGS VI.
How
TO MAKE ONE
53
VII.
How
TO STRING ONE
74
VIII. IX.
T H E WINDOW-BOX THEATRE
86
T H E STRINGED MARIONETTES GIVE THEIR PLAYS
93
'The Scare-Crow who Wished for the Moon' 'The Holly Goblin's Christmas Eve' A CHAPTER FOR HELPFUL PARENTS
133