Claudie Wells's Puppet Theater

Since my last posting, I've been dabbling with several ideas and tossing them around, gathering information and trying new things.  It is often very difficult once I complete one project to begin another, especially if it's in a completely different direction. I have to think differently, pull from the past all I've done and learned, then try to incorporate new processes or materials to stretch myself a bit.  This doesn't always happen, but regardless, I do learn something new.  

Sometimes I'll make something, promise myself to blog on it, but when I know there is more to be explored with it, or if there's a special project I have in mind for using the new skill, I will wait.  And I've been busy doing just that.  However, sometimes I'll change directions again completely when an inspiration strikes.

With Easter having come and gone, and Spring clearly present in all the new bloom, I've also been redressing some of my dolls.  Poor little Claudie Wells needed a change of costume, so I dressed her in her yellow pajamas and reread the tri-fold card that came with the pajamas.  Inspiration hit.

I'd been up in the air about bonding with the latest historical doll by American Girl, that debuted in August of 2022.  Having loved Addy and Cecile, I was hopeful for enjoying another African American historical doll.  I bought everything there was for her except the bed and her father's bakery.  I have one shelf, and a small one at that, where she can live, and absolutely no room to store large furniture any longer.  In fact, I have to rotate dolls with this one shelf which means storing the others.  

I was looking forward to reading her book and learning about Claudie but couldn't get through it.  Perhaps it's just me, but over time, the stories and the illustrations have steadily been lacking the luster that Pleasant Company brought to these dolls. I wasn't even sure I was going to keep the doll and after having spent so much money on the collection, was a bit miffed.  However, I've come to realize that I can change my mind.  Sometimes it's just a matter of where my head is at the time.  Then I find myself, later, enjoying the doll and her story for a reason maybe others haven't even thought of.  

Claudie Wells's story is that of a child growing up in 1922 during the Harlem Renaissance.  This was a time when artists and poets, musicians and actors of color, gravitated to Harlem from the South and other areas to form a movement, a community of talent and change.  It was an exciting and embolding time for people of color and Claudie is trying to find her own talent and purpose. American Girl was so excited about Claudie that they even

published, and sell, a hard back version of her story through Amazon.  I just purchased it and will try the story again.  Perhaps now the time is right.  One of the things that impresses me most are the back pages in these books that detail the history of the character, and this is where I discovered something called The Brownies' Book.  As a collector of antiquarian children's books, this greatly appealed to me.  There is very little information on the publication, and of what there is, it is all repetition.  

A man named W.E.B. Du Bois found a need to create a magazine just for children of color, to help them understand their past and enjoy who they are and what they could become, validating their 

interests.  There as a mix of stories, advice, poems, and messages of self-respect and pride in one's appearance.  It also featured current and past celebrities of color, and African folk tales.  It ran for only 24 issues from 1920 - 1922, until it was no longer financially viable.  Finding a copy of one of these magazines is next to impossible.  But I'll bet the New York Public Library has them.

It was during my research on The Brownies' Book that I found this adorable cover for Easter 1920.  This pushed my latest project to completion so that I could post about it in April.

Back to dressing Claudie in her yellow pajamas, I had reread the tri-fold pamphlet that came with it and was dismayed that the entire pamphlet was about Claudie's puppet theater, and there was no puppet theater to be purchased!  What?!  Why didn't they make her one?  Perhaps they will in time, but until that time, Claudie needed her toy. I scanned the pamphlet for you to read and included it in the images below.

Each night Claudie would perform with her puppets for her little brother, Jody, to make him smile.  Miss Amelia, who runs the boarding house where they live, made the puppets for Claudie, and her father built her a theater from a cardboard box.  This was right up my alley.

So, I fashioned a theater out of cardboard with a red velvet curtain.  "Claudie props the stage on her bed and hides behind it.  Soon Jody is giggling to the antics of the story Claudie makes up."  Now given that description, a special design for the theater would have to be constructed.  How does one prop a theater up on a bed and use hand puppets?  That was the challenge.  It could not have a bottom because hand puppets come up, unlike marionettes that dangle down to the stage.  So, I fashioned a backless and bottomless theater for her to hide behind the curtain and use the hand puppets from beneath.  "Are you listening American Girl?  I just designed it for you!"

Each puppet has its own name and personality.  There's Domino the cat, a pig named Miss Pink, and a duck named Puddles.  

After studying the illustration, I realized this was out of my skill set and did my best with wool felt.  For those who've been following my work all along, you know that I love puppets, puppet theaters, and have made both marionettes and hand puppets.  The challenge was in making them look as close to the illustration as possible.

I never take myself too seriously and have to laugh because when I saw Domino, I thought "black cat".  But then saw that the interior of his ears was black,

a darker color than his fur.  So, I used the darkest charcoal wool felt I had.  

After making The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, I understood a bit about sculpting tiny pieces onto flat surfaces, so I was able to give Miss Pink a snout, and Puddles, a beak.  Oh, silly me!  I forgot to add whiskers to Domino!  I am not redoing this post just for that, but I do have fishing line that I use for such a thing and will take care of that when I'm done writing!  (big sigh)

When the theater and puppets were done, I made little fold over copies of two of The Brownies' Book magazines.  American Girl really needs to make one of these as well.

That's two things I hope they do for Claudie.  

After I bought her and was trying to set up a display, I purchased Rebecca's settee and costume trunk for Claudie.  Claudie's selection of outfits included four Flapper style costumes to dance and perform in.  A trunk was needed to store them in. Rebecca's furniture was perfect for a boarding house in 1922 since her story only took place a few years earlier.  I suppose at some point I'll purchase the bed because it's so pretty, but it will take up the entire shelf space.  Dizzy Dot, the dog belonging to Miss Amelia can sit on it along with the puppet theater.  

I'm a doll accessorist.  That came first before designing and sewing, so accessories are everything to me.  They bring the doll to life.  Put a toy in a doll's arms and she has a story to be told.  Because people sell parts to collections on Ebay, I purchased her father's bakery's money box, some money for it, and some pastries and fruit to nosh on while she reads The Brownies' Book.  

So, maybe I'm bonding with her after all.  

I should mention a bit more about The Brownies' Book since I found the information interesting.  The book derived its name from two popular items during that time.  The Brownie camera and Palmer Fox's wildly popular Brownies, fairy-folk characters.  Cool, huh?!

I'm tickled that I found an image of the Easter issue this month while I made the theater.  It just seems like a little bit of magic.

I might also add that in designing the theater as well as making prints of The Brownies' Book, it was pure guesswork concerning scale.  Scale has always been extremely important to me.  Since magazines tended to be very large back then, I made them 3.7".  The theater was scaled based on how big the hand puppets were.  And yes, Claudie can put them on her hands.

I hope you'll enjoy the assorted images below from American Girl and my resources on The Brownies' Book.  Trust me, if I had a copy of one, I'd be miniaturizing the entire thing.  I did that before with The Ladies' Home Journals featuring Daisy.  Never kept copies for myself, but there you go.  Back then spending so much time on something I'd actually keep, and not sell, seemed a waste. 

If you wish to read the pamphlet, just click on it.

Now to get some whiskers on Domino!

C'est la vie!  Melissa