MR. PUNCH'S PANTOMIME ANALYSIS.
Now that the Pantomime season is drawing to a close and the intelligent student of this branch of Drama is tempted to pass it in review, it may be useful to him to have a list of possible Pantomimes drawn up in a tabulated form according to genus and species, that their finer distinctions, so easily overlooked, may be the better apprehended. Mr. Punch has no hesitation in placing his nice erudition at the disposal of his readers.
Pantomimes may be divided into those of a distinctly Oriental origin and milieu and those which are either associated with Occidental localities or with none in particular. For convenience we may divide them broadly and loosely into Oriental and Non-Oriental Pantomimes. Very well, then.
I.—Oriental.
A. With a ship (Sinbad the Sailor).
B. Without a ship.
(a) With a cave.
(1) Password to cave, "Open Sesame" (The Forty Thieves).
(2) Password to cave, "Abracadabra" (Aladdin).
(b) Without a cave (Bluebeard).
II.—Non-Oriental.
A. With a ship.
(a) With a cat (Dick Whittington).
(b) Without a cat (Robinson Crusoe).
B. Without a ship.
(a) With a giant.
(1) With a cat (Puss-in-Boots).
(2) Without a cat.
(i.) With a bean-stalk (Jack and the Beanstalk).
(ii.) Without a beanstalk (Jack the Giant-Killer).
(b) Without a giant:
(1) With animals: sheep (Bo-Peep);
wolf (Little Red Riding-Hood);
goose (Mother Goose);
uncertain (Beauty and the Beast);
two children (The Babes in the Wood).
(2) Without animals.
(i.) With footgear: shoes (Goody Two-Shoes);
slippers (Cinderella).
(ii.) No particular footgear.
(a) With a "Jack" (Jack and
Jill, Little Jack Horner, The House that Jack Built).
(b) Without a "Jack" (The Sleeping Beauty).
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