When I began working with puppets in London many years ago, Gordon Craig wrote me a letter. Puppets had come to be regarded as rather his field, and there was a note of protection toward them in his warning to me not to take them lightly. I call on Heaven to witness that I have not taken them lightly. I d have heard him, too. But in my effort to give an impetus that will start American boys and girls on marionette performances in their homes, I am not going to pass on Gordon Craig s solemn charge.
Children always take their plays with a beautiful earnestness.
And now I m going to plunge right in the with directions for simple puppet-making and the domesticating of an ancient art. The first requisite is a table a table with no qualifications but sufficient size and strength to accommodate the operators, who must stand upon it. It should be at least three feet wide, and a foot and a half is a good depth. Before it there must be a frame set up to form a proscenium arch. If there is no discarded frame at hand, a sheet of cardboard will serve the purpose, with an opening cut in it, say, two feet wide by on and one-half high.