Mary Poppins' Plates Falling/Restoration Prop

This Instructable describes my design for the "Mary Poppins" musical's kitchen scene where plates and shelves fall, then magically restore themselves. The shelves and dishes are controlled with strings, by a crew member behind the dining hutch.

The first movie, above, is of the initial feasibility prototype, and the other movies are the plates and shelves falling, and the plates and shelves restoring their positions.

• Dining Hutch, or build one
• Plate Hangers (e.g., https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-Medium-Plate-Picture-Hanger-with-Tips/3044751)
• Nylon String
• Eye Bolts
• Plates, e.g., Plastic, or Corelle.

• Start with an existing dining hutch, or build your own.
• Remove the shelves and the shelf supports.
• Put two hinges on the bottom of each shelf.
• If necessary, trim the shelf width to prevent binding when the shelf pivots down.
• Install the hinged shelves, making sure they are level.
• Leave them hanging down for now.

• Follow the pictures to add eye bolts to guide the shelf control string.
• Attach the strings to the shelves with knots through holes in the shelves.
• Feed the other end of the string through a hole in the back of the hutch.
• Raise the shelves and then partially screw in screws to the hutch sides to allow the shelves to rest on the protruding screws at an angle, as shown in the picture, above.

• If the back of the hutch is not strong, attach 1"x3" boards to the back of the hutch behind the plates. This will support the plate control strings.
• Drill holes in the 1x3 boards for the strings to go through. Make sure the holes are smooth to allow the strings to glide smoothly.
• Attach a plate holder to each plate.
• Attach a string to the plate holder.
• Feed other end of string into a hole in 1x3 board.
• Hinge the each plate to the shelf with heavy-duty tape such as duct tape, or gaffer tape.

Behind the dining hutch,

• Tie all of the strings that control the shelves together, and onto a dowel handle (or similar).
• Tie all of the strings that control the plates together, and onto a dowel handle (or similar).
• Secure both control handles so that the plates and shelves are in their restored position.
• On cue, the crew member holds the strings to control the fall of the shelves and plates.
• On cue, the crew member pulls the strings for the plates first, then the shelves, to restore their positions.

The "Mary Poppins" Falling/Restoring Plates Prop was a fun project. The prop was robust (i.e., always works), and easy to operate.

Lessons learned:

• Allocate time for building prototypes, and iterating designs.
• It may be easier, and more robust, to control a prop by people than to automate it.

If you built this prop using my Instructable, or have your own design, please write about it in the comments; I'd love to hear about it.

Have fun,

Barry