Hoskins and Spenalzo Are Dead

About 6 weeks ago, I went to the local Theatre Guild's prop/costume sale. I came away with a couple vintage aprons and some costume jewelry. They got my phone number. A couple weeks later, I got a phone call from Denise Plantenburg, their resident superhero. Could I make a dead body?

They are doing Arsenic and Old Lace, one of my favorite movies that was a Broadway smash before it hit the big screen. 

After a lot of Googling, I ended up with the proposal of wrapping a live body in duct tape, then stuffing it with rags, newspaper, and kitty litter for weight. Denise herself was my model, and a very good sport as I alternately suffocated her and mauled her extremities with a pair of dull scissors in a desperate attempt to get the mess off of her before she toppled over. 

What then did I have? What looked like a pair of out-size frog legs and a very stiff coat. 

I stuffed the shell (necropants?) with some rags, bags of kitty litter in the feet, and newspaper in the joints. The arms and legs were stiffened with wooden dowels sawn to the length of the appropriate bones. For hands, my husband donned a pair of latex gloves and patiently waited while I gave him the duct-tape treatment. Fortunately, being an EMT, he had a pair of scissors specifically meant for cutting things off of people, so I got his gloves off without giving him a new life line on his palm.

This is what greeted my husband in a dimly lit room when he came home from a hard day's work. 

Somewhat...shaken, he suggested I take that out in the dead of night and put it in the trunk of my car. I instead asked him to take it out for me and strap it into the passenger seat, it being rather like a baby by now. I created it! and I was now calling him "Mr. Boddy", the name being of the "Clue" movie origin. 

So, I drive him up to his new home at MTG, and there we proceed to give him a head. 

The head, as you can see, was an old styrofoam wig head, chosen primarily for its weather-beaten appearance--I'd rather no one minded if the head got slammed in the window seat lid. I painted the head and hands and mottled them to give a distinctly un-healthy appearance.

Mr. Boddy, or as he was known in this production, Mr. Hoskins/Mr. Spenalzo, was most disgracefully treated. He was manhandled, tossed about, dumped on the ground, legs flopped, arms slammed, and wigs were fastened to his head by manner of large steel pins through the temples. Before the shows started in earnest, Denise reattached his head and I re-taped his hands. It turns out acrylic doesn't adhere well to duct tape, so I bought a couple rolls of paper bandage tape and fixed him up again. Denise, with her expertise in stage makeup, gave him some facial hair-looking paint, and fixed his eyes and mouth to be more prominent. 

                 

And, here he is, in all his glory and roles: my baby, Mr. Boddy!

             

Mr. Hoskins (single, elderly, Methodist, very dead) is on the left, while Mr. Spenalzo (foreigner, learned not to pick up hitchhikers a little too late) is on the right.

We finished two weeks of shows today, and while we're all tired and happy for it to be over, we'll all recall with fond feelings the memories we made while making Arsenic and Old Lace.

PS: After breaking set, I was informed that Mr. Spenalzo has taken residence in an upstairs room at MTG, where he will be visible by passers-by. Happy Halloween!