Packing Up the Show
When the Punch and Judy Show has to be packed away, it is merely necessary to unhook the front cloth, take out the platform, and fold the framework up as though it were a screen or a clothes’ horse.
But before this trial “pack up” is attempted, there are one or two small but important additions to be made.
First of all, the top of the opening at which Punch presents his cheery countenance must be decorated. This is easily done. Two small nails are driven perpendicularly into the top of the front uprights, and a stout piece of wire stretched between them. A frieze of cambric is then hemmed round the wire ([Fig. 5]). The wire should be simply hooked on the nails, so that it can easily be detached when the show is folded up.
A similar frieze must also be tacked along the edge of the platform.
With regard to the scenery! Mr. Punch is very modest in this direction, for he requires only two wings with which to garnish his abode. These generally take the form of a scene of the top window of a house, and the front of a shop or a portico.
The front and back of one of these wings are shown in [Figs. 6] and [6a] respectively.
It consists merely of a framework of wood, 11⁄2 feet long by 9 inches wide, over which a piece of white cardboard is nailed or glued. The desired scene is then executed on the cardboard in either oil paint, water color, or crayon.
The window itself should be cut completely out and hinged back again with a strip of linen, so that Punch and the other characters may poke their heads through ([Fig. 6a]).
The complete wings must then be hinged one on each side of the show, as seen in [Fig. 7]. In this diagram the wings are illustrated as seen from the inside.
Fig. 6.—Exterior view of window.
Fig. 6a.—Back of wing.
Fig. 7.—Swing-doors opening inwards.