Puppet

“ THE PUPPET-SHOW The life of man to represent, And turn it all to ridicule, Wit did a puppet-show invent, Where the chief actor is a fool. The gods of old were logs of wood, And worship was to puppets paid ”

“ Because, my dear little Marmot, I am a puppet with no sense . . . and with no heart. Ah! if I had had the least heart I should never have left that good Fairy who loved me like a mamma, and who had done so much for me! . . . and I should be no longer a puppet . . . for I should by this time have become a little boy like so many others! But if I meet Candlewick, woe to him! He shall hear what I think of him! . . .'
And he turned to go out. But when he reached the door he remembered his donkey's ears, and feeling ashamed to show them in public, what do you think he did? ”

“ Pinocchio, mortified at being mistaken for a craw-fish, said in an angry voice:
'A craw-fish indeed! do you take me for a craw-fish? what treatment! Let me tell you that I am a puppet.'
'A puppet?' replied the fisherman. 'To tell the truth, a puppet is quite a new fish for me. All the better! I shall eat you with greater pleasure.'
'Eat me? but will you understand that I am not a fish? ”

“ After the princess's harangue, the showman, who had long dropped the other puppets in amazement, believing that none other than a fairy trod his stage, stood with his eyes and mouth wide open, knowing not what to do. The spectators were in ecstasies at so beautiful and so natural-looking a puppet, while the crowd increased ten-fold. ”

“ For although I am a puppet, possessing perhaps nearly all the faults in the world, there is one that I certainly will never be guilty of, that of making terms with and sharing in the gains of dishonest people!'
'Well said, my boy!' cried the peasant, slapping him on the shoulder. ”

“ Tormented by the desire of seeing his father and his little sister with blue hair again he ran and leapt like a greyhound, and as he ran he was splashed with mud from head to foot. And he said to himself as he went along: 'How many misfortunes have happened to me . . . and I deserved them! for I am an obstinate, passionate puppet. . . . I am always bent upon having my own way, without listening to those who wish me well, and who have a thousand times more sense than I have! ”

“ When Papa Geppetto had grown a little calmer he took his puppet in his arms and examined him carefully all over, shaking his head and drawing his lips tightly as if he wished to keep his sobs from bursting out again. He saw the artificial legs, the arm with its steel spring and the tweezers for hands; he saw the large silver plate which supported the breastbone—admired all this up-to-date mechanism, but was not in the least satisfied. The poor little old man preferred his wooden puppet all of wood to the marrow ... and he no longer recognized his old Pinocchio. ”

“ The little Marmot raised her right forepaw; and after having felt Pinocchio's pulse she said to him, sighing:
'My friend, I am grieved to be obliged to give you bad news! . . .'
'What is it?'
'You have got a very bad fever! . . .'
'What fever is it?'
'It is donkey fever.'
'That is a fever that I do not understand,' said the puppet, but he understood it only too well.
'Then I will explain it to you,' said the Marmot. 'You must know that in two or three hours you will be no longer a puppet, or a boy. . . ”

“ That is why a puppet play is not only more amusing but more artistic than a real one.” He continues: “Puppets, moreover, have style. They are cut out sharply to represent their particular characteristics, and those characteristics are pronounced. The manager of a puppet show has a free hand in the fashioning of such a company as best carries out his creative impulse. But with real actors it is impossible to make them other than they are, to subordinate them entirely to the manager’s will. I have been an actor, both in Germany and in Russia ... ”

“ Now that the puppet is on the stage, imagine what a shock it would be to your audience to see a great hand coming down below the proscenium arch. To prevent this, always keep your hand, even during rehearsals, close to your control.
While on the stage, every motion must have a reason behind it. Puppets cannot move aimlessly about the stage any more than real actors can. Every gesture, too, must mean something. ”

“ In a hundred small ways a puppet can show life. The point is, there should be no dead puppets on the stage.
132But there is a danger here. Puppets must not divert the attention of the audience from the main character. For example, in Men of Iron in the scene showing the great hall of Devlin Castle, the minstrel is singing before the king and his court. The jester, with his pranks and capers, could easily have taken too much of the attention of the audience to himself and away from the minstrel, but instead, he sat down on the floor near the minstrel and pretended to be playing a lute. ”

“ Puppet, pup′et, n. a small doll or image moved by wires in a show: a marionette: one who acts just as another tells him.—ns. Pupp′etry, finery, affectation: a puppet-show; Pupp′et-show, -play, a mock show or drama performed by puppets ”

“ The poor puppet, beside himself with joy, thanked the Fox and the Cat a thousand times, and promised them a beautiful present.
'We wish for no presents,' answered the two rascals. 'It is enough for us to have taught you the way to enrich yourself without undergoing hard work, and we are as happy as folk out for a holiday.'
Thus saying they took leave of Pinocchio, and wishing him a good harvest went about their business. ”

“ A lady was sitting by an open window, sewing. She was sitting so that Puppet could see only a bit of her left cheek, and her dark hair, just beginning to turn gray, and her right hand as she brought the needle up from her work. From what she did see, Puppet thought that she would give her something to eat, if she could but get her attention. Surely, she must be often hungry herself, or why should she have so many gray hairs?
Puppet, leaning against the tree, ran her fingers over the guitar frets in light harmonies ”

“ Behind the Scenes FOR THE FUN OF IT But why prate of benefit or pleasure to past or present audiences of the marionette when the best reason for the pupazzi, the true reason I do believe, for their continuance and longevity is the fun of puppet-playing? I confess it: nay, I proclaim it the foundation for my deep affection. And who shall find a firmer basis for any love than this,—interest, amusement, stimulation? Reverence or even understanding are far less vital, less compelling motives. ”

“ The beautiful Child with blue hair has the puppet taken down: has him put to bed and calls in three doctors to know if he is alive or dead.
Whilst poor Pinocchio, suspended to a branch of the Big Oak, was apparently more dead than alive, the beautiful Child with the blue hair came again to the window. When she saw the unhappy puppet hanging by his throat, and dancing up and down in the gusts of the north wind, she was moved by compassion. ”

“ Pinocchio hid his face beneath the clothes.
'That puppet there is a disobedient son who will make his poor father die of a broken heart! . . .'
At that instant a suffocated sound of sobs and crying was heard in the room. Imagine everybody's astonishment when, having raised the sheets a little, it was discovered that the sounds came from Pinocchio.
'When the dead person cries, it is a sign that he is on the road to get well,' said the Crow solemnly. ”

“ The poor puppet stood as if he had been bewitched, with his eyes fixed, his mouth open, and the egg-shell in his hand. Recovering, however, from his first stupefaction, he began to cry and scream, and to stamp his feet on the floor in desperation, and amidst his sobs he said:
"Ah, indeed, the Talking-Cricket was right. If I had not run away from home, and if my papa were here, I should not now be dying of hunger! Oh! what a dreadful illness hunger is!" ”

“ He returns to the Fairy's house. She promises him that the following day he shall cease to be a puppet and shall become a boy. Grand breakfast of coffee and milk to celebrate this great event.
Just as the fisherman was on the point of throwing Pinocchio into the frying-pan a large dog entered the cave, enticed there by the strong and savoury odour of fried fish. ”

“ The puppet was like a human being, except that it could not speak. The showman was vastly delighted, for now he had no longer any occasion to hold this puppet, who could dance of her own accord, which none of the others could do.
Late at night, when all the folks at the inn had gone to bed, somebody was heard to sigh so dreadfully deep, and so frequently, that the whole household got up, to see what could be the matter. The showman went to his little theater, for it was from thence the sighing proceeded. All the wooden puppets were lying in a heap ”

“ The hero of the famous puppet-show was chosen for the typical presiding genius and sponsor of the novel enterprise. And there is no neater piece of allegorical writing in our language than the introductory article of the first number, wherein is exquisitely shadowed forth "the moral" of the work, "Punch,"—suggestive of that "graver puppetry," the "visual and oral cheats," "by which mankind are cajoled." ”

“ At his unexpected appearance there was a profound silence: no one dared to breathe. A fly might have been heard in the stillness. The poor puppets of both sexes trembled like so many leaves.
'Why have you come to raise a disturbance in my theatre?' asked the showman of Pinocchio, in the gruff voice of a hobgoblin suffering from a severe cold in the head. ”

“ Pinocchio sells his Spelling-book that he may go and see a puppet-show.
As soon as it had done snowing Pinocchio set out for school with his fine Spelling-book under his arm. As he went along he began to imagine a thousand things in his little brain, and to build a thousand castles in the air, one more beautiful than the other. ”

“ The roars of laughter recommenced: but the little man, instead of laughing, felt such affection for the restive ass that he kissed him again, and as he did so he bit half of his other ear clean off. He then said to the puppet:
'Mount him now without fear. ”

“ .'
'Are you not afraid of death?'
'I am not in the least afraid! . . . I would rather die than drink that bitter medicine.'
At that moment the door of the room flew open, and four rabbits as black as ink entered carrying on their shoulders a little bier.
'What do you want with me?' cried Pinocchio, sitting up in bed in a great fright.
'We are come to take you,' said the biggest rabbit.
'To take me? . . . But I am not yet dead! . . .'
'No, not yet: but you have only a few minutes to live, as you have refused the medicine that would have cured you of the fever.'
'Oh, Fairy, Fairy!' the puppet then began to scream, 'give me the tumbler at once . ”

“ One may see a puppet make a variety of motions and gesticulations, which strike much at first view; but when it is accurately observed, and taken to pieces, our admiration ceases; we comprehend the whole art of the maker. ”

“ Professor Pischel agrees that the puppet play is the favorite child of the people and merely the step-child of the cultured because it owes its origin to the common people and is a clearer mirror of their thoughts and feelings than any more finished poetry. ”

“ He has even ventured to give plays as elaborate as 'Around the World in Eighty Days.' But it may be doubted whether this vaulting ambition has not overleaped itself, and whether a puppet-show does not gain rather than lose by restricting its efforts within narrower limits. After all, nothing so delights us at a puppet-show as the feats which are most characteristic and least difficult of accomplishment. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As soon as the play was over the showman went into the kitchen where a fine sheep, preparing for his supper, was turning slowly on the spit in front of the fire. As there was not enough wood to finish roasting and browning it, he called Harlequin and Punchinello, and said to them:
'Bring that puppet here: you will find him hanging on a nail. ”

“ But imagine his astonishment when upon awakening he discovered that he was no longer a wooden puppet, but that he had become instead a boy, like all other boys. ”

“ In front of a puppet-show exists an equality of all classes, who fraternize for the moment to enjoy the liberty which puppets alone in the peninsula appear to possess. These imitate nature with such perfection as to confer on their constructors the name of artists. In the regular puppet-theatre, where none but wooden actors appear on the stage, [221] the scenery and accessories are in such due proportion with the performers, that the eye yields ready consent to the illusion. Burlettas, sparkling extravaganzas, melodramas, and even grand operas are represented. ”

“ Puppet-shows are delightful because they are easily made and quite convincing. Very good ones have been improvised even by tiny children, with a pasteboard suit-box opening to the front, a slit at the top to let down paper-doll actors on a thread, a bit of scenery, outdoors or in, drawn as background, and a showman to talk for all the characters. ”

“ The puppet, guileless and trusting, proceeds to enjoy its freedom, when lo! down on its head descends the thunder-bolt, that it may know free will must not be exercised except in such manner as is accordant with the purposes of the giver. ”

“ Ah, if you but knew what a pleasure it is for an old man like me to have a finger in the game time plays! To meddle with affairs, directly or indirectly! Kingdoms are but judy shows, kings and queens but puppets; but we who pull the strings—Ah, that is it! ”