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The Man Who Came to Dinner’s Mummy Case

The Man Who Came to Dinner’s Mummy Case

Mummy Case Made for "The Man Who Came to Dinner"
Mummy Case Made for “The Man Who Came to Dinner”

This lovely gem is a prop that I made back about ’76 or ’77 for The Man Who Came to Dinner at Illinois State University. For those of you do not know the play, this prop is integral to the later parts of the play. The show is about a bossy and rather self-absorbed New York theatre critic, Sheridan Whiteside, who is laid up in a home in Ohio because of an injury that is, in fact, not real. Sheridan has a range of visitors, some of them thoroughly goofy, who come and go. The entire household ends up in a total uproar.

One of the visitors is a famous actress who, to shorten the story, embarks on a blackmail scheme. Just as all heck is about to break loose, Lorraine Sheldon (the famous actress) is thwarted in her scheme by an even wilder character, Banjo. Banjo and Sherry manage to convince Lorraine to get into the mummy case. The instant she does, Banjo slams the door shut and locks it. He then ships Lorraine to Nova Scotia.

This mummy case was a matter of complete “over production”. I made it a bit larger than was actually needed, but that made for better comic effect. To be honest, I did measure the actress playing Lorraine so we could be assured that she would fit without trauma.

The mummy case here was originally fitted with wheels on the back and handles. All Banjo had to do was tip the case back and roll it off stage like a giant hand truck. Charming, and convenient, too.

The case was made of plywood, 1″ stock, and foam, mostly. The back and bottom were made from 3/4″ CDX plywood. The lid was, too, I think. The sides and top were 1/4″ plywood framed by 1×3 stock lumber. The shape was slightly coffin-like with wider “shoulders”.

The door, sides, and top were covered with polyurethane foam. That foam was carved and sanded to shape. I was not a good sculpture, so I had one of my associates in the the shop carve the face. The “hair” was rolled cheese cloth dipped in white glue and then applied so as to curve around the face.

One of the things I had learned at PLU was that polyurethane is very delicate unless it is protected. Foam for scenery was a relatively new thing and I had kept up on my reading about the topic. I found out that the pro shops were covering their foam in cloth. Once the shaping of the foam and cheese cloth “hair” was all done, I covered all the surfaces with cheese cloth and smoothed it out using white glue. In fact, I coated the mummy case three times with white glue. This resulted in a stunningly tough surface. You could hit it as hard as you wanted with your fist and nothing would happen. Well, nothing would happen to the mummy case, that is!

The prop was painted using standard scenery paint. I don’t remember which brand we uses, but I know it was casein. I believe we also finished it with a clear glaze.

Oh, and why is this thing in a “domestic setting”? Well, as it turned out, the props shop didn’t have room to keep it. After several months of bumping into it they decided to toss it out. I asked them if I could have it, which seemed to be better than sending it to the trash. I used it for several years as a coat closet/telephone booth.