Cut and Assemble!
Scene no 28: Knights and Landsknechts in a
variety of action poses, including plenty of accessories. One-sided paper soldiers
from the back cover of the Greek boys’ comic magazine AGORI (BOY, nine issues:
no 111 – no 119, summer of 1979).
« ... because a united Europe, for which they strove, was the only – perhaps the last – possibility of survival for a marvelous old continent, a haven of human joy and fervor, but mangled and mutilated to the point of death.
A day will come, perhaps, when people will regret the defeat in 1945 of
the defenders and builders of Europe.
While awaiting that day, let us tell truthfully their epic tale – how
they fought, what trials they suffered, how they gave their hearts to the
struggle.»
Scene no 27: Waffen SS soldiers in front of the ruins of their world (King and Country toys).
The Text: From THE EASTERN FRONT: Memoirs of a Waffen SS Volunteer 1941-1945, by Leon Degrelle.
Palamedes concocted the game, to relieve his boredom during the ten years of the siege of Troy.
Scene no 26: All the different Romanesque chess figures (plastic pawns given as a prize inside Mr. Chips cereals, in Greece in the 70s) in a four colors battle formation.
Scene no 25: Milou enthroned (Herge - Moulinsart toys, Coffret scene plastique) in the middle of the lions (Britains toys, Zoo), and small shrubs all around (W. Germany / Jean toys).
The comic book pictures: From the Adventures of Tintin (Tintin in the Congo).
«They’ve got the Guts – GIVE ’EM MORE FIREPOWER»
«Responsibility and Character – U. S. ARMY»
Scene no 24: Attacking American
soldiers (Britains deetail Toys, metal based models, 7340 U.S. Infantry and
7334 U.S. Recoilless Rifle & Crew), supported by armored battle chariot (Masudaya
Modern Toys, M-120 battery operated tin Tank).
The Text: Quotes from World War II propaganda posters. For the minds and hearts of the American citizenry.
«The man before him was the embodiment of physical perfection and giant strength; yet it was not upon these he depended in his battle with the great cat, for mighty as were his muscles, they were as nothing by comparison with Numa’s.
To his agility, to his brain and to his long keen knife he owed his supremacy.»
Scene no
23: Tarzan with knife (Heinerle Manurba toys) against the attacking Lion (Lineol
composition toys). Victorious Tarzan (Heinerle Manurba toys) next to the
defeated Lion (Paper stuck on wood animal figure). At the back of the stage, a
cluster of African trees (Heinerle Manurba toys).
The Text: From the novel Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The overriding desire of most children is to get and see the soul of their toys, some at the end of a period of use, others straightaway. It is on the more or less swift invasion of this desire that depends the length of life of a toy.
I don’t find it in me to blame this infantile mania; it is a first metaphysical tendency.
Scene no 22: Orchestra
of happy monkeys (Clockwork toys - made in Greece by Fino).
The Text: From the essay Morale du joujou, by Charles Baudelaire.
