The blue sweater. The white dog. The hair swoosh. This could only be Tintin, one of the most iconic European comic book characters of the 20th century. We celebrated his globe-trotting adventures with the Princeton Garden Theatre, our local non-profit movie house extraordinaire. In 2016, we collaborated with the Garden on another book-to-film event, How to Train Your Dragon. It was so much fun, we decided to head back for another round!
Families entering the theater were greeted by a table covered with postcards (I found a pack of 92 vintage postcards at the thrift store for for $4 woot!) and a big world map.
Kids were invited to select a postcard and write their name and address on it. Then, they put the postcard in the red mailbox for a chance to win a stuffed animal of Snowy, Tintin’s faithful canine companion. Katie modeled the mailbox after the ones she saw in Brussels (birthplace of Tintin!). Isn’t it awesome? It has pom-pom feet!
The stuffed Snowy drawing happened at the event. But after the event, those same postcards were mailed to the kids with a special message from Tintin (and a paw stamp from Snowy).
Next to the postcard table was a big map (50″ x 32″) mounted on foam board:
Katie selected some cool Tintin location images from the various volumes and attached them to the map. A line and a flag showed the actual location on the map.
During the event, kids were invited to add pushpin flags on locations they had traveled to. As it turns out, our crowd was pretty well traveled! Iceland, Australia, India, Thailand, Costa Rica, China, Hawaii, South Korea, Europe…
Around the corner from the postcard and map table were 2 additional activities: A Tintin head band with the iconic hair flip, and a pull-along box Snowy. The box Snowy was a 2″ x 4″ x 4″ craft box with a Snowy template taped to both sides. Add a clear elastic beading cord pull string and the Snowy followed you around the theater!
The headband was very simple…orange paper with a pre-cut hair flip to added to the front. Here’s an excited trio with the heads bands and a Snowy!
Notice the little Captain Haddock key chains they’re holding up? Those were part of a trivia contest we were running. Our Tintin expert had a couple key chains on hand to give to kids who correctly guessed Snowy’s original name in the comics (which were first published in French).
In honor of Snowy, we also had a very, very special performance. A live dog show provided by William Berloni Theatrical Animals, an amazing organization that trains rescue animals for movies, television, and theater!
Bill Berloni is a Tony-Award winner with decades of experience training animals. In fact, he trained the very first Sandy for the original production of Annie. He and his apprentice, Andy, brought 3 dogs – Marti, who plays Sandy in Annie (and this was the Sandy from the 2014 movie!), Nessa, who plays Toto in The Wizard of Oz, and Bowdie, who plays Winn-Dixie in Because of Winn-Dixie. Above is Bowdie. Below is Marti, waiting with Andy to go on stage:
And here’s Nessa, the cutest, most enthusiastic Toto ever, racing down the aisle:
Bill shared a little of his history, his training techniques, and the rescue stories of each of the dogs. There were plenty of demonstrations too, both on and off the leash. The thing that shone through the most however? How happy the dogs are, how much they love working with Bill, and what a tremendous advocate he is for rescue animals. He’s truly amazing. He’s also an author! After the event, he gave me a copy of his heart-warming book, Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescue Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars (Lyons Press, 2008), which has a foreword by Bernadette Peters.
Once the dog show ended, we rolled Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film The Adventures of Tintin, which he did in collaboration with Peter Jackson’s production company. Lots of thrills, chases, and fantastic loading dock crane battle. Yes!
Original poster image source: Imp Awards
As I was cleaning up after the event, I found a Tintin box a young fan had fashioned from 2 of our craft projects. The likeness is amazing…and it’s so cute…why didn’t I think of that?!?
Original image source: Tintin Wiki
Many thanks to the Princeton Garden Theatre for being such awesome hosts, and to William Berloni Theatrical Animals for sharing your amazing canine actors with us!
Vikings and Dragon Riders! Don your horned helmets, grab your shields, and get ready for the ultimate How To Train Your Dragon theater experience, complete with real reptiles!
After watching How to Train Your Dragon with my kids, I was delighted to learn that the movie was based on the book series by 
You’ll need:
It never hurts to thrown in a little history, so we included informational table signs at all the hands-on activity tables. Here’s the 
Next, loop 2 strips of poster board loosely around your forearm. Stapled them closed. Punch a hole in each loop, then thread the prongs of the brass fasteners through each hole. The back of your shield will now look like this:
If you’re worried about scratched forearms, put tape over the prongs of the fasteners. Here’s the 
Not far from the helmet and shield tables was the very talented 
The final activity table was a replica of a Viking game. It was WAY popular. Marissa found it in Hands On America Volume 1: Art Activities About Viking, Woodland Indians, and Early Colonists by Yvonne Y. Merrill (Kits Publishing, 2001). It’s a snap to put together.
The game pieces are little birds (about 2″ long), made with air dry clay.
To play the game, toss the clay birds onto the game board.
The other prize was a chance to win a cardboard Toothless standee (purchased on Amazon for $30). Kids automatically got a chance to win when they first entered the theater, but at the Viking game table, 1 point equaled 1 extra chance to win. So 3 points equaled 3 more chances to win. The kids really liked that!
Finally, it was time for the film. Having only seen it on my laptop, I can say I was completely blown away watching it on the big screen. The flying! The fire! The CLOUDS!
