“Firstly, Madam Carman Coiffure of millinery and make-up. Me-wow, what a gal! During the day she is Mavis the common brown mallard, paddling in puddles, dabbling in duckweed and even up-ending in the shallows of Pluckerslea Lake. But as shadows fall and night draws in, she waddles up the bank and in through the lakeside entrance to our Moggyinsky Underground Complex.
Madam Carman Coiffure
“Following a quick visit to the mysterious changing room, the duck emerges. Mavis the mallard is transformed into the elegant, eccentric Madam Carman Coiffure, make-up artist and hat and wig maker to the company.
“If Madam Carman ever had a dream, and she dreams a lot, it was to have been born an ostrich. Her own special motto which hangs above her door is: ‘Passionate about Plumes’.
‘Oh, for plumes, for ostrich plumes!’ she cries, while burying her beak in a feather boa. For consolation, Madam Carman’s salon is filled with exotic feathers, peacocks’ tails, swansdown, marabou and plumes, plumes and yet more plumes.
‘Darn suffocating!’ muttered Connaught Caterkins, during fittings for his magnificent, plumefilled head-dress as the King’s Herald in our forthcoming production of The Sleeping Beauty.”
Marmie, executing a hurried demi plié, pirouettes onto the next picture.
“Now we have Mrs Bilda Smudge our wardrobe mistress. She is the kindest, most motherly dog I know and that’s certainly saying something coming from me – a cat! Old Smudge truly has a heart of gold beating beneath that flowered overall.
“Everyone who comes to her ever-open sewing room door gets a warm, welcoming wag of her tail and she’s always ready with an understanding ear and a strong doggy shoulder to cry on when things go wrong.
Mrs Bilda Smudge
“Born the same day as the Honourable Freddy Pluckers, small son and heir to the Pluckerslea Estate, black Labrador Smudge is the little boy’s constant and faithful companion, but not quite, for when dusk falls she slips secretly away. Smudge has important business of her own.
“As soon as the moon is up, come wind or rain, Smudge leaves her bed of blankets in the boot room of Dower House, to join friends Eric and Daisy May from Charlie the head gardener’s cottage. Together the three dogs trot swiftly along the drive to be swallowed up in the deep dark shadows of Pluckerslea Hall.
“Minutes after entering the mysterious changing room, Smudge the Labrador, in comfortable carpet slippers and an overall, steps out as Mrs Bilda Smudge, our ballet company’s wardrobe mistress.
“Collecting her three assistants, the chickens Twiggy, Bo and Wattles, from Willamena Wallaby’s canteen, where they like to gather to gossip over hot mash, she leads the way to the sewing room. Here, every inch of space is packed tight with rolls of satin, sequins and tulle, for this is where all the beautiful ballet costumes for the company are made.
“Another remarkable transformation which takes place in the mysterious changing room is that of Mrs Bilda Smudge’s special friend, Daisy May the border terrier. She becomes Miss Daisy May, company pianist. With an armful of music books and reading glasses suspended on a chain around her furry neck, she scurries off to the rehearsal rooms for the first practice class of the evening.”
Miss Daisy May