UNIQUE SHOW

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 78, 29 September 1938, Page 18

UNIQUE SHOW

MISS HARVEY'S "CHILDREN"

PUPPET MANNEQUINS

"My 58 children weigh 31b,each and all of-them, at this moment, are way down in.the hold of the Wanganella," said Miss Marie Harvey to a representative of the "Evening Post." Miss Harvey arrived from Australia yesterday morning and the "children" to, whom she referred are life-size marionettes which are accompanying^her on a world tour.

- For two years Miss Harvey and her little iJjuppet mannequins have been giving'dress shows in "all .-the-big stores throughout England. Describing the performance Miss Harvey said: "We dance, swing,, and skate. We are naughty little people in the nursery. We have squabbles at a party and we wave to; the children in the audience arid they wave tp us. . Arid all the time the mothers and: chfldren are not only

being entertained but they are getting all the latest ideas about what children should wear at all hours of the day." ,i Miss Harvey said that as far as she knows it is the only show of its kind in the world and it was entirely her own idea. The story of how she came to think of it is interesting.

She was born and spent her early years in India but later her family returned to England and her education was completed at the Cheltenham Ladies' College., She was interested in literature and obtained a position as secretary on the "Royal" magazine. From there she went to a big. London store. She was made buyer for the children's department and in that way saw a great deal of Europe and obtained a specialist's knowledge of children's clothes. One day when a Punch and Judy show was being held at the store with the object of attracting attention to the children's department Miss Harvey had her great idea. Knowing that the law prevented very small children from appearing iri a mannequin parade, she decided to see about having life-size puppets rriade to .take i their place, and the results are her 58 "children" who can dP everything but talk. Miss Harvey does the talking for them, describing their clothes, and so on, and two assistants, who travel with her, work the "strings." Little theatres are constructed in each of the shops where they give their performThe 58 little marionettes cost £300 and a life insurance policy has "been taken out for them with Lloyd's. Each of the "children" has a name and' Miss I Harvey and her assistants, Miss S. Lochery and Miss M. Houseman, take great delight in their performances. All three are young and charming, and very enthusiastic about their work. They intend visiting all the centres throughout New Zealand, and tomorrow' will commence a season at the DJ.C.

"Don't for a moment think that children are not clothes conscious," said Miss Harvey. "Little girls are as j fond of pretty and unUsual things as their mothers. It's not only the antics of the riiarionettes they'll be interested in." ENGLISH PEOPLE PREPARED. Over the tea-cups Miss Harvey forgot her work and spoke about the European crisis. People in England, she said, had laughed and joked about the air-raid shelters, the gasmasks, .and all the other precautions, but for all that they had quite seriously expected something to happen quite soon. It was this ability to make light of such things that wPuld defeat the enemy's j plan if London were bombed. The object of bombing, as everyone knew,] was to undermine the morale of the people but that of the English people would be hard to undermine. At the worst moments they were able to laugh \ and an air attack, no matter how dam- j aging, would only serve to strengthen their determination to win.

Miss Harvey spoke of a girl friend who had married a German. She had returned to England a while ago to see if she could obtain jobs for her husband and herself, and had told them of how unhappy they were under the present regime in Germany. Although people in Germany were too frightened to say such a thing even to their best friends, she said she was certain there were many who felt as she and her husband did. She had been unable to obtain work for her husband in England and had returned to Germany. Since then she had written to relatives in England asking them to send any fats they could and also onions, as they would keep and it was difficult to obtain vegetables in Germany. Miss Harvey expressed it as her opinion that Hitler was well aware of the dissatisfaction among his people and preferred war to revolution.