Marionette

“ Its greater flexibility of neck, waist, wrist, and ankle makes it possible for it to bow, kneel, sit down, turn its head, dance, play a musical instrument, climb a wall, or perform any number of lively tricks.
CHARACTER A marionette should be as individual as a human being, both in its appearance and in its character. Before you make your marionette, you must have clearly in mind the character you wish to portray. You should aim to make its appearance indicate its character. Let us suppose that you are about to make a marionette of Myles in Men of Iron. ”

“ “How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how happy I am, now that I have become a real boy!” ”

“ To scorn them is, somehow, to show too great disregard and lack of knowledge. And we, over here, who have not as youngsters laughed aloud at the drolleries of Guignol, who have not learned our folk-tales interspersed with the antics of some local Kasperle, who are not surprised by Punch and Judy at a familiar street corner, now and then, who have not been privileged to witness the spectacular faeries of Italian fantoccini, the exquisite shadows of the Chat Noir, the elaborate modern plays at the Munich art-theatre,—how can we really say what we think of the marionette? ”

“ I met a little girl not long ago, a wee little maiden about seven years old, and she told me all about her former life when she was a man. Her name was Maung Mon, she said, and she used to work the dolls in a travelling marionette show. It was through her knowledge and partiality for marionettes that it was first suspected, her parents told me, whom she had been in her former life. She could even as a sucking-child manipulate the strings of a marionette-doll. ”

“ If it were possible one 24would like to add the complete list of all those who are carrying on the great tradition of the marionette. The interest, already created, leads one to hope that America may take her place high up in the marionette tree. ”

“ Innumerable artists of the last few decades, however, esteem the marionette as an excellent medium of serious dramatic expression, possessing a poetic style and a conventionalized, impersonal symbolism.206 Ernst Ehlert, himself an actor as well as lover of puppets, writes thus of Pühony’s marionettes:
“The object of every work of art, the thing that makes it truly artistic, is the attainment of the greatest possible emotional effect with the simplest possible means. ”

“ In America, there is a growing list of friends of the marionette. Probably the name best known to you will be that of Tony Sarg, a charming artist who has taken his puppet plays to the largest cities in our country and delighted us with his Rip Van Winkle, Rose and the King, and Don Quixote. The manager of his marionettes, Mr. Matthew Searle, is also an artist of ingenuity and taste.
In Chicago, the splendid work of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Brown made new friends for the marionette. Mr. Perry Dilley introduced marionettes and guignol to the people of California. ”

“ But the little Marionette was not to be found.
"This is too bad of her!" said the little girl. "Our last time! And after she has promised not to be late!"
Tears rose to her eyes.
"I am very much disappointed," said she as she walked up and down the shop looking for her friend.
"I shall never find her.... Why, there she is!" she exclaimed suddenly.
And she hurried up to the little Marionette, who, half-concealed by a big Drum, lay on the ground beside a Puzzle.
"You are not very kind," remarked the little girl reproachfully. "I asked you to be early, and you never came at all." ”

“ This means that it must be either lighter or darker than the puppets, so that they can be seen against it. It must be so simple that the eye can follow the marionette easily, and not be lost in the detail of the background, which will happen if there are too many colors, and the colors are not of the same value. The scenery should not be an end in itself, but should be a beautiful setting for the marionettes, and by its fitness give an added sense of the beauty of your play.
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How to pull your curtains. ”

“ So great that it kept her silent.
“You seem rather surprised,” said the little Marionette. “Why?”
“Why, I never knew you could talk!” she exclaimed, recovering a little from her surprise. “Or any other toy, either,” she added.
“Life is full of surprises,” remarked the little Marionette; “especially in the toy-shop.” ”

“ I shall ask Auntie to give you to me, and you shall be my very own dolly!"
"Come with me, darling," she continued, hugging the little Marionette tightly, "and I will sing you to sleep in Auntie's big rocking-chair. I will make up a nice song all by myself and all about you. You will see then how much I love you, and you won't cry any more. When you wake up you will feel happier again."
And going into the room at the back of the shop, she drew a rocking-chair near the cheerful blaze of the bright fire and sat down, still clasping the little Marionette in her arms. ”

“ Scenes must be changed and properties moved almost noiselessly. If you have a high ideal of perfection for your play, two or three weeks of daily rehearsals will be necessary. This is especially true for any marionette ballet, such as Petrouchka, where it is necessary to memorize 138the music, because each puppeteer is dependent on the music for his cues. Before the curtains open all marionettes that are to be in the scene should be in their places on the stage. Hold your controller with a steady hand, so that your marionette is motionless. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In most Continental countries there may still be found traces and survivals of the old style puppet show and occasionally experiments with marionettes in the new manner. It is said that in Bohemia the marionette plays are the only form of drama now given in the native tongue. ”

“ The shadow play will supplement the theatre of living actors on one side as the marionette stage already does on the other, in Paul Brann’s very brilliant productions, for example. With shadows, the forcefulness of the verse and the emotional element is very much heightened in effect; with marionettes the significance of the action is intensified to a far greater degree than is attainable by human beings, a point to which H. V. Kleist has already drawn attention in praise of marionettes. ”

“ There is a long list of famous literary friends. Greatest of these is Shakespeare, who not only enjoyed marionettes, but wrote plays for them. Many people are surprised when they learn that Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Cæsar were written for marionettes. Shakespeare’s friend, Ben Jonson, wrote a marionette play, Every Man in His Humor. Another great literary friend was Cervantes. Some day you may wish to take his story of Don Quixote and turn some of its wonderful scenes into a play for marionettes. ”

“ When the arms and legs are attached to the body, take the head and place the screw eye in the hole that is in the center of the shoulder piece. A brad driven through from front to back will secure the head and allow free movement in any direction.
Painting. For this type of marionette you will have better results if you paint the face and hands with oil paints, rather than with water colors or tempera. Remember that there is a tinge of yellow-orange in the white man’s skin, deep red and orange in the red man’s skin, brown in that of the Negro, and yellow in that of the Oriental. ”

“ A marionette may carry a lantern. This marionette lantern may be made from any small tin or cardboard box. Find some pictures of old lanterns suitable for your play, and then make a lantern as much like the illustration as you can. A pattern of holes should be punched in the sides. A tiny electric bulb may be fastened inside the lantern and its wire carried up to the controller and from there to the battery.
Properties should be made in a craftsmanlike way. A craftsman respects his materials and his tools. ”

“ Thus the magic touch of genius has transformed naïve shadows into something altogether wonderful while crude pupazzi, animated with thumb and fingers of the artist, have grown gloriously sophisticated. The marionettes that are moved by wire or string also had their renaissance in the sympathetic, stimulating atmosphere of Paris. ”

“ Alack-a-day!”
107When the tale was ended the little girl took out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes.
“Come, this won’t do,” said the little Marionette. “I should not have told you the story if I had thought you were going to take it so much to heart.”
“I am very sorry for the poor Little Dancer,” she replied sadly; “I wish that the Bicycle-man had not been so unkind.”
“Well, well, it is all over now. Wipe your eyes; you can’t do any good by crying, and I don’t like seeing tears,” said her friend. ”

“ One must be quite unsophisticated to enjoy the marionettes, or quite sophisticated. Plain people, children and artists, seem to take pleasure in them. One must have something childlike, or artistic, in one’s nature, perhaps merely a little imagination in an unspoiled, vigorous condition. Of course the stiff little figures, the peculiar conventions of the puppet stage are strange to us in America. There are those who do not like puppets and those who do not can not, I suppose. ”

“ His head is enclosed behind this stage and his hands are thrust into the dresses of the dolls and manipulate them, a finger for each arm, and for the head. The dialogue is rough, realistic humor. When the act is over he places the puppets and sheath in his box and strolls on with the complete outfit under his arm.
In the large stationary marionette theatres a very different state of affairs exists. Here with expensive and elaborate scenery the puppets are capable of presenting highly spectacular faeries in the manner of the later Italian and French fantoccini. ”

“ And she smiled.
“Force of habit, I suppose, as she herself said,” she remarked after a pause. “We all have our little ways. Now what sort of story would you like to-morrow?”
The little girl thought deeply for a few73 moments. Then she said: “You have told me a story about a sailor, so I should like the next one to be about a soldier.”
“A soldier—a soldier—” the Marionette answered. “I don’t think I know one about a soldier—Yes, stay; there is the story of the Officer and the Elephant. That is about a soldier.”
“An Officer and an Elephant! How nice!” exclaimed the little girl eagerly. ”

“ The common-sense Doll looked even more practical than before.
“That is it, is it?” she said. “A morbid longing after a Dream. I begin to understand.164 Nerves,—indigestion,—too many sweet things,—I fear I cannot, then, be of much assistance. However, the General of the Tin Soldiers has a wonderful turn for doctoring, quite a natural gift. I will send him to you. He may be able to do you some good.”
So she went on her way, and the little Marionette was once more alone with her sorrow and regret. ”

“ Both the modelling of the faces and the costuming were the inspired creations of artists. The marionettes were moved on rails in grooves or slides, the arms and neck being wired and manipulated by pedals from underneath. The audience was seated low so that the mechanism was invisible. The public who103 patronized this marionette theatre, indeed, consisted of such interesting people as Jules Lemaître, Émile Faguet, Anatole France, Hugues Leroux, and they were unanimous in their approval. ”

“ His trade was that of a watchmaker, but he was a master showman of burattini, and the shows in his unpretentious castello are the true evidences70 of his devotion and deep understanding of the art of the marionette.
There are, it is claimed, over four hundred edifizi for marionettes, large and small, in Italy, to say nothing of the wandering booths of which there are two or three times as many. The large mechanical theatres compete with regular players.
The most modern maschere on the puppet stage has changed a little in appearance, if not in spirit from the ancient masks. ”

“ Miss Grace Treat, who made and dressed most of the marionettes, caught and embodied the artist’s ideal in strange, tall puppets, naïve but marvelously impressive. The construction of these puppets, although extremely simple, had to be planned and executed patiently. Often a marionette was taken apart and made over again until the right effect, or180 the proper gesture, was obtained. The puppets are somewhat like rag dolls, of a soft material, stuffed with cotton or scraps, weighted and carefully balanced with lead. Five and at most seven strings are used and the control is very primitive. ”

“ They will never wholly die out.
Through various stages of the Italian drama the marionettes have trailed gayly along, ever adopting the new without discarding the old. Their repertoire is all inclusive. They have enacted sacred dramas and legends of saints, Sansone e Dalila, Sante Tecla, Guida Iscaretta and innumerable others. They have made use of the scenarios of old Latin plays such as Amor non virtoso and Il Basilico di Berganasso. When the bombastic, elaborate plays were discarded by the actors they came into possession of the puppet showmen. ”

“ No one of late has done as much as he toward reviving the interest in puppets and stimulating curiosity concerning them. His collection of puppets and shadow figures forms a veritable museum of marionettes from all parts of the world. His many articles in The Mask and in a later publication called The Marionettes, both published in Florence at the Arena Goldoni, direct attention to the puppet;—more, it must be admitted, as a model or suggestion to the actor, than as a minor art-form in itself. ”