Article December 30, 1944 Issue

A Lesson from Puppets

[Of Special Interest to Children]

LESLIE LELAND

Marcia delighted in drawing and painting. As soon as she was old enough to ride on the bus alone she regularly attended the special Saturday art classes at the Museum of Art. She learned to weave and to model clay, to paint and to sketch, and she was especially happy one day when the teacher brought an array of puppets to class and promised each child an opportunity to make a puppet of his very own.

For many Saturdays Marcia worked painstakingly, carving bits of wood for the arms and legs and body of her puppet. She inserted screw eyes to ensure flexible elbows and knees. She attached leaden feet. She modeled clay hands. She fashioned a clay head and painted blue eyes and rosy cheeks. With her mother's help she dressed the limp figure in bits of silk and spangled finery befitting a puppet princess. Most important of all, she attached six fine strings to guide the motions of her gay little marionette.

While Marcia learned to manipulate the strings, not too easy a task, Marcia's father built a miniature theater with velvet curtains on pulleys and a brightly painted backdrop. The puppet princess tripped across the stage, curtsied, sat down on the royal bench, and conversed with the prince, who was handled by one of Marcia's classmates.

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