Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/413

 pieces of leather, which are so arranged that the pup- pet is able to imitate the natural movement of the hip. The knees and ankles both have ball-and- socket joints, but in the case of the ankles the movement is restricted so that it is impossible for the puppet to lose control of its feet. The puppets are controlled by a number of fine strings which are attached to a little wooden device which looks a good deal like an air- plane and which is called the control- ler. The number of strings necessary to control the puppet runs from fourteen to twenty. The string has to be very strong, yet fine because it would never do for the audience to see it. After many experiments, Mr. Sarg found that Japan- ese trout line is the most satisfactory material for the purpose. The line is very fine, not as coarse as the thread ordinarily used for sewing on shoe buttons,

��Popular Science Monthly

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���yet it will support a weight < J

of forty pounds. Although

all colors and combina- tions of colors have been

tried, black is the color

which is least visible to the

audience. Experiments

were even made in camou- flaging the string after the

manner of camouflaging

submarine periscopes. But

black has been found to

have the lowest visibility.

Two bridges are built over the stage on which the puppets appear. The puppeteers control the puppets from these bridges. Each puppet has an ac- tor who reads the lines. As the puppet moves across the stage, the actor fol- lows it on the bridge. In this way the audience hears the voice always corrlng from the part of the stage on which the puppet is located.

It is very difficult to train people to be good puppeteers. The new puppets are controlled by girls. Learning to control a puppet is a good deal like learning to play

���The Stage Director and the Alwajs Pleasant Actors

A scene in one of the plays. Look at the stage director who is speaking to the puppeteers on the bridge above and you will get an idea of the size of the puppets. When seen alone they appear life-size, so cleverly are the furniture and the stage settings designed. The fearsome skeleton is arranged to fall to pieces on request

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