Hand And Mouf Hand Puppet, Puppets On Tv
93.HAND AND MOUF HAND PUPPET
This luminous hand and mouth float before a black
background, pantomiming to Al Jolson recordings. The mouth is a doughnut-shaped roll of
white cloth sewed to the ends of the fingers of a black glove attached to a black sleeve.
The hand is a white garden or dress glove attached to a black sleeve. Black velvet is best
for sleeves and background, as it absorbs light well and sets off the white objects. Hand
and Mouf have been used successfully on TV.
Puppets on TV
Television offers many technical advantages that are not found in
live puppet theater. For instance, there is an electronic process called "blanking down"
which increases the light contrast in the TV picture so that Hand and Mouf can be made to
float in darkness with absolutely no sign of human aid. TV offers all the advantages of
movies: the opportunity to change from scene to scene instantaneously, close-up pictures
of the puppets, electronic double images, etc. Puppets need not be large for television,
as the camera can get close enough to make them loom big as life.
A TV Stage
The television puppet stage can be as long as wished, because the
picture can be quickly changed from a camera at one end of the stage to a camera at the
other. The only limitation is the puppeteer's ability to gallop from scene to scene.
Monitor sets should be positioned back stage, so that the operator can see exactly what
kind of a picture of his puppets is being shown. When doing a show for TV, get as much
practice as you can with the use of these monitor sets. It takes time to get used to the
fact that you are seeing your puppet backwards; that is, the puppet on your left hand is
on the right of the TV screen.
Black Light
The fluorescent paints and
cloth and special lamps of theatrical "black light" are expensive, but can be very
effective in live puppet presentations. There are special cloth materials from which Hand
and Mouf can be made. There are colored liquid and spray paints with which puppet costumes
and faces can be made to glow in the dark.