First make the poster, to be hung in a conspicuous place in hall or parlor. Print it in large black letters on a good-sized sheet of wrapping paper:
There Will be To-night
An Exhibition of
The World-Renowned
Moving Pictures
Taken by Madam Moselle at Great Risk of Life and Property.
No Expense or Effort Being Spared to Obtain the
Real Characters and Settings
of a
Puritan Thanksgiving
And Other Scenes from the Life
of Our Forefathers.
Make the picture screen by stretching a large white sheet on the back wall of the room where the performance is to be held, as you would for a magic lantern exhibition. Then get your costumes ready. These may be made up very quickly from materials at hand.
The Puritan Woman’s Dress
as well as that of the man must be entirely of black and white, and to carry out the effect of black and white pictures their faces and hands should be made perfectly white with chalk, their eyebrows blackened and black wigs made of fringed tissue paper. Only a little of the woman’s hair will show but the man’s should be long and hang down to his shoulders. A tight black waist and skirt nearly to her ankles; a long white apron, white kerchief and cuffs (cut from old muslin) and a tightly fitting little black cap with a turned over edge of white form the costume of the woman. With these should be worn low black shoes and white stockings. For the
Puritan Man’s Costume
have short, full, black trousers, long black or white coat with wide white collar and cuffs, a high-crowned, broad-brimmed black hat and low shoes with black stockings. A black leather trunk strap buckled across one shoulder may be added, also a long black cloak and staff. Cut the man’s collar and cuffs like Figs. 98 and 99, and the woman’s cuffs like Fig. 99. Fig. 100 shows how the Puritan hat is made of stiff brown paper over an ordinary straw hat. Fig. 101 is the brim, Fig. 102 the crown, which must be pinned together along its straight edges.
The Properties
for the Thanksgiving dinner scene are a long, narrow table spread for dinners, and chairs enough for the actors, six or eight taking part.
Before showing her pictures Madam Moselle should stand in front of the screen and say a few words extolling the pictures she is about to present.
The girl who represents Madam Moselle should deliver an amusing little speech, giving a foreigner’s idea of our first Thanksgiving, and it can be made absurdly funny with its many ludicrous mistakes.
At the close of her address the lights must be put out and the scene quickly arranged close to the screen, all the actors except two being seated at the table. Thus remain two empty chairs.
As quickly as possible the light should be turned on and at the same time the actors must begin
A Pantomime
of eating, drinking and talking.
They should express anxiety for the safety of the tardy guests, some of them leaving the table to appear to look out of a door or window.
All the while (this is the great point) the actors must shake and quiver in imitation of the queer trembling and quivering always seen in the moving pictures; and their movements must be very rapid.
Soon the missing couple should appear, coming in hurriedly and by gestures telling of an encounter with the Indians.
Their clothes should be pierced with arrows, and the Puritan’s hat must be bristling with them.
All this will be very laughable if the acting is good, and absurd little by-plays introduced; but the whole thing will be spoiled unless the constant quivering and shaking is kept up by all of the actors.
The picture can be “flashed off” the screen by simply turning out the light, and others may be shown giving various incidents in Puritan life or the early history of our country.
To make the design, fold through the centre a square piece of paper measuring five and one-half inches along each edge. Fold this oblong crosswise through its centre, and you will make a small square of four layers of paper. On one side of this square mark the outline of a heart, allowing the corner of the small four-folded square, which is also the centre of the large square of paper before it is folded, to form the point of the heart (Fig. 105). Cut out the top of the heart through all four layers of paper, also the curves of the sides of the heart; cut these only part way down as shown by A and A (Fig. 105). The dotted lines in Fig. 104 represent creases.
Answers to the invitations might read:
“My dear Miss Darling and Miss Love, too,
I’ve opened your heart and will come to you
On the day you’ve appointed, the pleasure is mine,
And I hope you’ll accept me as your Valentine.”
Make as many valentines as there are guests, that all may be sure of receiving at least one. Address each of the girls’ valentines “To My Sweetheart,” and each of the boys’ valentines, “To My Valentine.”
Let either a girl or a boy be selected to run
The Post-Office
which you can make of a clothes-horse draped with sheets. Place a table inside across the opening, and on the table, resting on a pile of large books, stand an empty wooden box minus top and bottom. Set it up on one end to serve as the post-office window. The table and space on each side of the window should be screened with sheets. Across the outside top of the window fasten a pasteboard sign marked in large letters:
ST. VALENTINE’S POST-OFFICE
and decorate the white sheets covering the clothes-horse with red paper hearts of various sizes fastened on singly, doubly and in festoons. On the table at the right-hand side of the window place the girls’ valentines and on the left-hand side of the window the boys’ valentines.
Ask all the girls to form in line and march around the room to the post-office, while some one plays a suitable lively air on the piano. Each girl in turn must stop at the post-office window, where a box of St. Valentine’s stamps is set before her with one of the boys’ valentines. She must close her eyes and take one stamp from the box, then open her eyes, read the stamp and on it sign her name at the right-hand corner, then fasten the stamp on the valentine with paste given her by the postmaster, and move onward to give place to the next girl in line.
When all the boys’ valentines have been stamped, the girls take their seats and the boys form in line and stamp the girls’ valentines in the same manner.
The Valentine Stamps
should be previously prepared. They are made uniform in size of small squares of white writing paper, on which is written any kind of a wish which may add to the fun, such as:
When entering the room each guest is given a card. On one card is written,
“When the Bell Rings
once go to the post-office”; on another, “When the bell rings twice go to the post-office,” and so on, each card designating a specified number of rings. The postmaster sounds the bell at intervals, giving a different number of taps at each ring, until every girl and boy is supplied with a valentine; then each boy seeks the girl who has signed the stamp on his valentine and she asks that the wish be fulfilled. The request is, of course, laughingly and courteously granted. The valentines being sealed with St. Valentine’s stamps, the mystery of the sentiment enclosed cannot be revealed until the wish on the stamp is granted, and neither the girls nor the boys are aware of the contents of the valentines they stamp. Later in the evening the girls find the boys who have signed their stamps, and then, entering into the spirit of the fun, they grant the boys’ wishes as written on their stamps.
The guests may bring extra valentines made especially for and directed to either hostess or guests. These are not sent through St. Valentine’s post-office. The hostess keeps one door of the parlor closed for the benefit of those desiring to send special valentines. A sign posted upon it reads:
CUPID’S DOOR
and quantities of paper flowers with gilded pasteboard hearts, bows and arrows adorn it, giving it a very festive appearance. Each guest is at liberty at any time during the evening to slip from the company, make her way through the hall to Cupid’s door, slide her valentine under the door, give a quick knock and scamper off before she is caught. Only the hostess has the privilege of opening Cupid’s door, and to her belongs the pleasure of delivering these valentines to the various guests for whom they are intended.
There are many styles of valentines which you can make. Fig. 106 is effective and requires only a few moments to manufacture. For
The Heart Valentine
use a plain white card about four and one-half inches long and three and one-half inches wide for the foundation. Make four hearts graduated in size, the largest of red paper, the next gold, then green, and the smallest of blue paper. Cut a small slit in each heart a short distance from the top centre (Fig. 106). String the hearts on a narrow ribbon and tie one end of the ribbon through two slits cut in the lower left-hand corner of the card, and run the other end of the ribbon through two slits in the upper right-hand corner, then tie. Write across the top of the card, “Make your choice.”
Beneath it write this verse:
The World Valentine
is another design. For this use a circular piece of white paper about four inches in diameter. Shade it around the edge a little to give an idea of roundness (Fig. 107), then with ink draw on the disk the outlines of North and South America to represent the world (Fig. 108). Paint the continent a light yellow. Put the lettering on in bright colors, placing an awl drawn in outline (Fig. 109) and a figure 2 in the position shown in Fig. 110. Paint the awl red.
This message is a rebus and reads: “You are all the world to your Valentine.”
Next Comes the Daisy Valentine
(Fig. 111). On a piece of paper six inches long and three and a half inches wide draw a circle near the top, making it not quite three inches in diameter. Paint the circle bright green as a background for the white daisy. Make the daisy of three or four layers of white tissue paper folded like Fig. 112 and cut along the scalloped outline shown in Fig. 112. Unfold the petals and they will be like Fig. 113; but as the number should be odd, you must cut off one of the petals. Sew the centre of the daisy to the centre of the green circle, then paste a small yellow paper disk (Fig. 114) over the stitches. Paint a small red heart at each upper corner of the valentine and paint a narrow blue ribbon tied to each heart and looped between, as in Fig. 111. If the valentine is intended for a girl write under the green circle in red letters:
When the valentine is for a boy substitute the pronoun She in place of He.
Love’s Palette,
the last valentine (Fig. 115), is to be made of light cardboard cut in the shape of a palette. The palette should be about six inches high and four and one-half inches wide at the broadest part. Beginning near the top, cut short slits in pairs in the palette, placing the pairs one inch and a half apart (Fig. 116). Get a quarter of a yard each of narrow blue, red, white, yellow, pink and green ribbon, and slipping the ends through the slits in the palette tie them in bows as shown in Fig. 115. In the centre write in red ink, “Love’s Palette,” and on the back the following lines:
But did it ever occur to you that the show could come to you—that is, you might organize a show of your own and arrange things to suit yourself? If you want the Wild West Show first and a circus after you can have them. Should you prefer both shows at the same time they are yours, for you can make the entire affair—horses, riders, Indians, wild animals and tent. You may do even more—you can cause all the performers actually to move, and that by the mere turn of your wrist, because your show will be in reality the moving pictures of
A Panorama
Get a common old house-broom (Fig. 117) and saw the broom part off evenly from the handle at the dotted line A; then saw two pieces of equal length from the handle at dotted lines B and C, making each piece fourteen inches long. These we will call the rollers.
Find or make a wooden box about twelve inches high, eighteen inches wide and eight inches deep; carefully pry off one of the eighteen-inch sides and cut two round holes through the top of the box, one at each end, two inches from the front and one and one-fourth inch from the end; then turn the box over and cut corresponding holes through the bottom; reverse the box again, bringing the right side up (Fig. 118). The holes on the bottom must be exactly under those on the top and all four holes must be only large enough to allow the roller to slip in, and while in, to turn easily (see Fig. 119). Remove the rollers and nail a strip of wood two inches thick across each end of the bottom of the box (Fig. 120). Then hammer two strong staple-tacks on each roller two and one-half inches from the top, or smaller end, and on opposite sides of the stick; guide the tacks so they will incline very slightly upward while being hammered in (Fig. 121).
Fit an empty spool on one end of a piece of wood, one inch wide, three inches long and not less than one-fourth of an inch thick. Slide a large-headed screw in the hole of the spool until the screw rests on the block of wood; then screw it down tight, fastening the spool securely on the wood (Fig. 122); screw a second spool on another piece of wood of the same size as the first (Fig. 123, D and E). Fit the free end of the block of wood over the top of the roller and mark off the space on the block occupied by the end of the roller; with a gimlet bore a hole through the centre of this space, and also in the centre of the top of the roller; place the block of wood over the top of the roller, bringing one hole on top of the other, and fasten the roller and block together with a screw. In like manner screw the other block to the top of the second roller; these blocks and spools form the crank-handles for turning the rollers (Fig. 124).
Unscrew the blocks from the rollers and carefully remove the staple-tacks, in order that
A Strip of Cloth
may be tacked to the rollers and the rollers replaced in the box.
Purchase two yards of low-priced white cambric dress skirt lining; fold the cambric lengthwise into three equal divisions; then cut the folds apart, making three lengths each two yards long and about eight and one-fourth inches wide; sew the pieces together along the end edges, lapping one over the other that the seam may be as thin and flat as possible (Fig. 125). This will give you a strip almost six yards long for the panorama. Do not hem either the top or bottom. Allow a blank space of white cloth, sixteen and one-half inches long, at the beginning of the panorama; then commence
Pasting Pictures
on the strip. Colored newspaper pictures are best, because the paper is thin and easily pasted on the cambric. Almost all leading newspapers publish in their issues from time to time colored pictures of wild animals, rough riders, Indians and circus performers.
When you have a collection of the pictures you want, cut each one out neatly. When all are ready, sort them over, selecting the one you wish to come first on the panorama; then the second picture and so on. Have them all in order so you need waste no time hunting for a print while pasting the pictures on the cambric.
Make a good paste of flour and water, allowing it to boil well before using. A drop or two of oil of cloves mixed with the paste after it has cooked will keep it fresh a long time.
Select an attractive, comical picture for the first design on the panorama; but save the best and most startling picture for the very last.
You should arrange
The Performers
in your panorama in much the same way as a story is written or a play put on the stage. Always begin with something which will cause the audience to want to see more; then paste on various pictures, but toward the last lead up to the best and most exciting design; the last picture stands for the climax in a story or a play.
When placing the pictures on the strip of cambric, remember not to have them close together; keep them apart, allowing a little blank space between each successive object, so your audience will have an opportunity of enjoying every one of the performers and wild animals as it first appears peeping from behind the roll at one side of the tent, showing only its head, then coming in full view and passing slowly before them until it finally disappears around the roll at the other side (Fig. 123).
When the Pictures Are All Pasted
on the strip, turn over and crease down half an inch of cambric along the edge of the first end of the panorama; tack this end on one of the rollers. If the thickness of the top of your box is one-half an inch, tack the end of your panorama fully four and one-half inches below the top or smaller end of the stick. Should the thickness of the lid be one inch, the cambric strip must be tacked on still lower—about five inches from the top.
You cannot be too particular about having the edge of the cambric perfectly even and straight on the roller, so the strip will lie at a true right angle to the roller when laid out flat (Fig. 126).
Having tacked the cambric on, gradually roll it around the stick, keeping the strip running over, not under the stick, so the roller will stand behind the cambric; have the cloth perfectly even as it winds around and around. When the end of the cloth is reached, turn in one-half an inch of the end edge and tack the cambric to the second roller as you tacked the beginning on the first roller (Fig. 127).
Use the same precaution and wind in the same manner but in an opposite direction when rolling the cambric on the second stick. With a strong hammer strike the top or lid of the box along the edges from underneath until it loosens and can be removed; take it off and slide the rollers with the attached panorama into the holes on the bottom of the box (Fig. 123).
Replace the lid of the box, passing the top ends of the rollers through the holes, and nail the lid down to the sides of the box; then refit the staple-tacks in their respective places and see that they are in tight; restore the crank-handles on top of the rollers and rescrew them in position (Fig. 124). Now the panorama is ready to go into
A Tent
Cut a stiff piece of pasteboard box like the tent design (Fig. 128) with an opening to fit the strip of muslin, spanning the space between the two rollers; the edges of the opening must cover both top and bottom edges of the cambric. Cover the pasteboard with white muslin cut into four pieces—one piece for the top, one for the bottom and one for each side. Cut the bottom piece into a strip to fit, slashed on all edges (Fig. 129, A). Paste this on the tent (Fig. 128) first, turning the slashed portion over and fastening it on the back of the pasteboard; then fasten a curtain on each side (Fig. 130) and paste the top piece of the tent on last; scallop this along the bottom edge and paste it only along the two slanting slashed top lines; turn the slashes over on the wrong side of the pasteboard and paste. When dry, fit the tent over the front of the box and tack it firmly in place. Make three little flags of gay paper, paste on sticks and glue the sticks to the top peak and sides of the tent (Fig. 130); paste strips of paper over and across the flag handle to the pasteboard to hold the flag more securely on the tent (Fig. 131). Your show will then appear to be moving inside of a white circus tent.
Set the box upon a table with the entire panorama wound on the second roller, leaving only the blank portion of the cloth visible, and while the audience is seated in front, begin slowly turning the crank-handle of the first roller; at the same time telling in clear, well enunciated words all about your Wild West Show. Do not try to have your remarks sound as though learned from a book; that would be stiff and unnatural. Talk in an every-day way, exactly as though you were speaking only to your most intimate friend, and wanted to tell her all about the strange sights and queer people, and the funny bears who are not afraid of any man woman or child.
If you have been to a real Wild West Show, that will give you ideas, or if you have traveled way out West and seen the actual Wild West life it will be an inspiration for your show. Even to have read about the life with its daring riders, wild horses, buffaloes, hazardous stage coach drives, Indians and their war dances will be an immense help in aiding you to enter into the spirit of the show.
Sunflowers
can be fashioned rapidly by cutting orange-colored tissue paper into strips twenty-five inches long and six inches wide, pointing the strips into petals three inches deep and two and a half inches wide at the base (Fig. 132), ten petals to each strip; then creasing each petal lengthwise through its centre to give stiffness (Fig. 133), and gathering each strip separately along its straight edge with needle and thread (Fig. 134); in this way forming the two strips into two pointed circles (Fig. 135). These circles, together with a brown centre, make one sunflower.
Cut a strip of brown tissue paper nine inches long and two inches wide for the centre, gather the paper tightly along one lengthwise edge and tie it close up under and against the head of a slender nail (Fig. 136). Around the nail under the brown centre, slide on first one, then the other, circle of gathered yellow petals, taking care to have the petal points of the lower circle lie between and not over those of the top circle. Finish by driving the nail which runs through the sunflower, into one side of a stick or broom-handle, with the lower end sharpened (Fig. 137).