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.
