OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS NOT BY MR. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
| PAGE. | |
| The Performance of the Tragedy | [Title.] |
| The new Water Scene, and the Sinking Ship | [17] |
| Side view of a large Punch and Judy Theatre | [17] |
| The Spirit of Fun gives the Baby back to Judy | [29] |
| Mrs. Barrisnobe and the Dutchman | [38] |
| The Dutchman and Mary struggle for the bed | [47] |
| The Dutchman sees a Ship | [63] |
| Trial Scene by the Black Judge | [65] |
| The Snake swallows Mr. Punch | [69] |
| The Ventriloquial Champions | [72] |
| The Royal Marionettes | [79] |
[CONTENTS.]
| PAGE. | ||
| Introduction, | [9] | |
| Chapter I.— | Origin of Punch in Italy, | [11] |
| II.— | Origin and Progress of Puppet-Plays in England, | [12] |
| III.— | Antiquity of Punch in America, | [14] |
| IV.— | On the Construction of the Theatre and the Acting of thePuppets—on the Choice and Selection of PerformingFigures—on the Management of the Punch Squeaker, | [16] |
THE TRAGICAL ACTS, OR COMICAL TRAGEDIES OF PUNCH AND JUDY. | ||
| Punch and his Dog Toby, | [25] | |
| Scaramouch with Punch and his Horse, | [28] | |
| Punch, Judy and the Baby, | [29] | |
| Punch sees a Ghost, | [34] | |
| Punch and the Doctor, | [34] | |
| Punch kills Scaramouch, | [36] | |
| The Irishman tells Punch a little story, | [36] | |
| Punch and the Opera Singer, | [37] | |
| Clown troubles Mr. Punch, | [37] | |
| The Persecuted Dutchman in Mrs. Barrisnobe’s Hotel, | [38] | |
| Schmidt is waited on by Teddy, Pretty Polly and Mrs. Barrisnobe; heretires to rest, but is disturbed all through the night by strange anduninvited visitors—first by Teddy, who gives him a clubbing, followedby a Clown, Irishman, the Doctor, Adelina, Captain Blowhard,Police Officer, a Lawyer, a Ghost, Mrs. Barrisnobe, with a finalstruggle betwixt Mary and the Dutchman, who attempts to carry offthe bed, | [39] | |
| Scaramouch and his Fiddle, | [49] | |
| Punch and his Pretty Polly, | [50] | |
| Servant orders Punch to Stop his Music, | [52] | |
| Punch and the Blind Man, | [54] | |
| Punch and the Constable, | [55] | |
| Punch hangs the Hangman, | [57] | |
| Joey and Punch bury Jack Ketch, | [59] | |
| Punch Alarmed at the Appearance of the Demon, | [60] | |
| Gradually becoming bolder, he fights His Majesty, | [61] | |
| Punch Victorious, | [61] | |
| The Sinking Ship and Storm at Sea, | [62] | |
| The Black Judge, | [65] | |
| Punch in his famous $25,000 Box Act, | [69] | |
| Dialogue for a pair of Ventriloquial Champions, | [73] | |
| A Young Lady’s Conversation, | [77] | |
| Price List of Punch and Judy Properties, | [78] | |
| The Royal Marionettes, | [79] | |
[INTRODUCTION.]
With the assistance of information that we have gained, being a practical performer of acknowledged ability, we are about to fill up a hiatus in theatrical history.
It is singular that, to the present day, save by one author of a valuable work, now out of print, no other attempt has been made to illustrate the origin, biography and character of a person so distinguished and notorious as Mr. Punch. His name and his performances are familiar to all ranks and ages; yet none have hitherto taken the trouble, in this country or abroad, to make any inquiries regarding himself, his family or connections. The “studious Bayle” is recorded to have repeatedly sallied from his retreat, at the sound of the cracked trumpet, announcing his arrival in Rotterdam; and we ourselves, who have often hunted our favorite performer from street to street, saw the late Mr. Windham, then one of the Secretaries of State, on his way from Downing Street to the House of Commons, on a night of important debate, pause like a truant boy until the whole performance was concluded, to enjoy a hearty laugh at the whimsicalities of “the motley hero.” But it is needless to particularize. Punch has
“made our youth to laugh,
Until they scarcely could look out for tears;”
while the old have stood by, “delighted with delight” of others, and themselves, too, enjoying the ludicrous representation. Why the interest has hitherto been limited to the period of representation, and whether it has not in part arisen from inability to satisfy it, is not for us to explain. We confine ourselves to an endeavor, in some degree, to supply the deficiency.
The contrast between the neglect Mr. Punch has experienced, and the industry employed in collecting particulars relating to other performers of far less reputation, is remarkable. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that his fame has spread “without his stirring” over all the kingdoms of the civilized world. To use the wordy periphrasis of Dr. Johnson,
“Let observation, with extensive view,
Survey mankind from China to Peru,”
if it can, and it will everywhere behold Punch dispensing “the luxury of a laugh.” It is literally true that some years ago he found his way to Canton; and that since the South American Revolution he has been seen even on the western side of the Andes. He is, perhaps, himself in part to blame for the neglect we have noticed. Several of the principal supporters of our theatres, in our own day, have given their memoirs to the world, either by writing them with their own hands, or by furnishing the materials to others; and the works of this kind by dead actors, “the forgotten of the stage,” consist of many volumes. Whether it has arisen from an absence of that vanity (may we call it?) which has at times influenced his histrionic rivals, or from a somewhat haughty reluctance on his part to gratify public curiosity, we know not.
[CHAPTER I.]
ORIGIN OF PUNCH IN ITALY.
Mr. Punch (whose original family name was probably Pulcinella) first came into existence at Acerra, an ancient city at a short distance from Naples. The date of this event is differently stated by authors who have incidentally mentioned him, Riccoboni fixing it before the year 1600, and Gimma and Signorelli after the commencement of the seventeenth century. The words of Gimma are very precise, and as he enters into particulars, it seems safe to rely upon his authority for this important fact.
The performances, in which the actor was left to his own talents and discretion in furnishing the dialogue, were once extremely popular throughout Italy; but from the very nature of the representation, it unluckily happens that not a single specimen has been handed down to our time.
However, to pursue this topic would lead us away from the object of our present inquiry. We take it for granted that Silvio Fiorillo invented Pulcinella, and first introduced him as a variety in the list of buffoons required to represent the impromptu comedies of Naples: but, although he may date his separate existence from about the year 1600, it is a matter of much doubt whether he was not, in fact, only a branch of a family of far greater antiquity. The discovery, in the year 1727, of a bronze statue of a mime, called by the Romans Maccus, has indeed led some antiquaries to the conclusion that he was, in fact, Pulcinella under a different name, but with the same attributes, and among them a hump-back and a large nose.
The dress, too, corresponds very much with the motley or parti-colored habit of the clowns of our old dramatic poets. It is true that the different hues have been arranged with greater regularity, and the patches are of smaller size. The ordinary habiliments of Punch at the present day, preserved by ancient usage, with his pointed fool’s-cap, bear a much nearer resemblance; and this is one circumstance that evidences the strong family likeness between the Vice, Harlequin and Pulcinella. Riccoboni represents the ancient Harlequin in a dress composed of patches, as if his ragged clothes had been often mended, and Goldoni speaks of him as originally a poor, foolish dolt.
According to Quadrio, in his “Storia d’ogni Poesia,” the name of our hero has relation to the length of his nose: he would spell it Pullicinello from Pulliceno, which Mr. D’Israeli translates “turkey-cock,” an allusion to the beak of that bird. Baretti has it Pulcinella, because that word in Italian means a hen-chicken, whose cry the voice of Punch is said to resemble. Pollicenello, as it has also been written, in its etymology from pollice, “the thumb,” goes upon the mistaken presumption that his size was always diminutive, like that of our English worthy, of cow-swallowing memory. The French Ponche has been fancifully derived from no less a personage than Pontius Pilate of the old Mysteries, whom, in barbarous times, the Christians wished to abuse and ridicule. If we cannot settle the disputed point, it is very evident that, in future, ingenuity and learning will be thrown away in attempting further elucidation.
[CHAPTER II.]
ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PUPPET-PLAYS IN ENGLAND.
Before we proceed farther, it will be necessary to consider, briefly, the antiquity and nature of puppet-plays in the old country. It is the more proper to do so, because they form a branch of our drama which has never been examined by the historians of our stage with as much interest and industry as the subject deserves. When we mention that no less a man than Dr. Johnson was of opinion that puppets were so capable of representing even the plays of Shakspeare, that Macbeth might be performed by them as well as by living actors, it will be evident from such a fact only, that the inquiry is far from unimportant. In connection with this opinion, and confirmatory of it, we may add, that a person of the name of Henry Rowe, shortly before the year 1797, did actually, by wooden figures, for a series of years, go through the action of the whole of that tragedy, while he himself repeated the dialogue which belongs to each of the characters.
Puppet-plays are of very ancient date in England; and, if they were not contemporary with our Mysteries, they probably immediately succeeded them.
The formidable rivalship of puppet-plays to the regular drama is established by the fact that the proprietors of the theatres in Drury Lane, and near Lincoln’s Inn Fields, formerly petitioned Charles II. that a puppet-show stationed on the present site of Cecil Street in the Strand, might not be allowed to exhibit, or might be removed to a greater distance, as its attractiveness materially interfered with the prosperity of their concerns. It is not unlikely that burlesque and ridicule were sometimes aimed at the productions of the regular stage by the exhibitors of “motions.”
Powell’s show was set up in Covent Garden, opposite to St. Paul’s Church; and the “Spectator” (No. 14) contains the letter of the sexton, who complained that the performances of Punch thinned the congregation in the church, and that, as Powell exhibited during the time of prayers, the tolling of the bell was taken, by all who heard it, for notice of the intended commencement of the exhibition. The writer of the paper then proceeds, in another epistle, to establish that the puppet-show was much superior to the opera of “Rinaldo and Armida,” represented at the Haymarket, and to observe that “too much encouragement could not be given to Mr. Powell’s skill in motions.” A regular parallel is drawn between the two, which ends most decidedly in favor of Powell in every respect but the inferior point of the moral.
From these sources we collect, most distinctly, that the popularity of Punch was completely established, and that he triumphed over all his rivals, materially lessening the receipts at least at the Opera, if not at the regular national theatres, and accomplishing at that period, by his greater attractiveness, what Dennis, by his “Essay on Operas after the Italian manner,” and other critiques de profession, had been unable to effect. He could hardly have taken such firm possession of the public mind if he had only recently emigrated from his native country.
The late Mr. Joseph Strutt, in his “Sports and Pastimes of the People of England,” thus speaks of the puppet-shows in his time: “In my memory these shows consisted of a wretched display of wooden figures, barbarously formed and decorated, without the least degree of taste or propriety: the wires that communicated the motion to them appeared at the top of their heads, and the manner in which they were made to move evinced the ignorance and inattention of the managers. The dialogues were mere jumbles of absurdities and nonsense, intermixed with low, immoral discourses, passing between Punch and the fiddler, for the orchestra rarely admitted of more than one minstrel; and these flashes of merriment were made offensive to decency by the actions of the puppet.”
From whatever cause the change may have arisen, certain it is that at present, in the ordinary exhibitions of “Punch and Judy,” the breaches of decorum complained of by Mr. Strutt are rare and slight.
We have never seen less than two men concerned in these ambulatory exhibitions: one to carry the theatre and use Punch’s tin whistle, and the other to bear the box of puppets and blow the trumpet. During the performance the money is collected from the bystanders, and far from agreeing with Mr. Strutt that the contributions are “very trifling,” we have seen, for we have taken the pains to ascertain it, three, four and five shillings obtained at each repetition; so that, supposing only ten performances take place in a summer’s day, the reward to the two men, on an average, might be about a sovereign each. On one occasion we remember to have seen three different spectators give sixpence, besides the pennies elsewhere contributed, on which the collector went back to the theatre and whispered the exhibitor, who immediately made Punch thus address the crowd: “Ladies and gentlemen, I never yet played for sevenpence halfpenny, and I never will; so good-morning.” He then “struck his tent” and departed, pocketing nearly two shillings, and excusing himself from going through the performance, under pretence that all the contributions he had received only amounted to sevenpence halfpenny.
[CHAPTER III.]
ANTIQUITY OF PUNCH IN AMERICA.
In the preceding chapters we have spoken of the origin, progress and high esteem held for Punch and puppet-plays throughout the countries of Italy and England; and judging from our own personal experience and actual knowledge, in still greater favor may Punch be said to hold for himself amongst the fun-loving Americans. What children’s party is brought to a perfect state of merriment unless with the greetings and comicalities of Mr. Punch?
Though for a while the tracing of the adventures and travels of Mr. Punch throughout this land is lost, yet we have before us sufficient to show that his family are of good antiquity, the New York Gazette of Feb. 20th, 1739, having the following announcement:
“To-morrow will be performed, in Mr. Holt’s long room, the new pantomime entertainment, in grotesque characters, called ‘The Adventures of Harlequin and Scaramouch; or, The Spaniard Trick’d,’ to which will be added an Optick, wherein will be represented in perspective several of the most noted cities and remarkable places in Europe and America, with a new Prologue and Epilogue addressed to the town. To begin precisely at six o’clock. Tickets to be had at Mr. Holt’s, at five shillings each.”
Ireland’s history of the New York stage preserves the next earliest record of mechanical puppets performed in this country. It refers to the New York Gazette of August, 1747:
“To be seen at the house of Mr. Hamilton Hewetson, at the sign of the Spread Eagle, near White Hall slip, Punch’s opera, ‘Bateman; or, The Unhappy Marriage,’ with a fine dialogue between Punch and his wife, Joan, acted by a set of lively figures.”
In August, 1749, the play of “Whittington and his Cat” was announced to be acted in New York city by Punch’s company of comedians, and in the following year the same company, supposed to be mechanical figures, were to have performed the “Norfolk Tragedy; or, The Babes in the Wood,” along with “Entertainments of Men and Women.”
Passing on to the time within the memory of the present generation, we find that Mr. Punch came into special favor about the year 1866, as may be gathered from the reports in the English newspapers of that time, Manvers and others of England’s best Punch and Judy players having left its shores to try their fortunes in America’s more favored channels.
In 1874 the demand for puppets was so great that it became difficult to meet the wants of the many professors that had decided to become performers. Notwithstanding the growing number of actors, in the fall of 1876 not one unemployed Punch and Judy performer could be found in New York city.
As to the puppet-show of “Punch and Judy,” it never is looked at by our people but as a mere joke; and a most effective part of that joke is the ultimate triumph of the hero; without it the representation would be not only “flat and stale,” but “unprofitable.” We have seen it so, for we remember a showman on one occasion not merely receiving little or no money, but getting lamentably pelted with mud, because, from some scruple or other, he refused to allow the victory over the Devil to Punch. Besides, it may surely deserve consideration, whether, wicked as Punch unquestionably is, the Devil is not the worse offender of the two, and, consequently, the more deserving of punishment. If so, poetical justice is satisfied.
Recently an American showman has introduced a very famous popular piece as a closing act to the comical tragedies of Mr. Punch, in which our hero, after having gained a victory over the demon, is eventually himself swallowed up by a great snake. (See the Act for Punch and his great $25,000 Box Trick.)
[CHAPTER IV.]
ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE AND THE ACTING OF THE PUPPETS.
Having dwelt at some length on the antiquity and high popularity of Mr. Punch, we will devote the whole of this chapter in explaining to the reader how he may successfully arrange and work the figures, with a description of the frames or Punch and Judy houses in which the performer operates his troupe of puppets.
Portable frames, complete, ready for use, are advertised by the author in the last pages of this work; yet the reader, if a genius, may save half its cost by constructing for himself the little house. Obtain four pieces of pine, eight feet long, two inches in diameter; let them be planed on the four sides; divide each piece in the centre, and fix thereon an hinge, with a bolt on the opposite side; thus the four eight-feet pillars may be made to fold up to fit into any box or trunk four feet in length. Next cut six cross-pieces, 31 inches long, for the sides, two to be used for the centre, and four for the ends; next get ready five lengths, 36 inches long, to make the cross-pieces for the back and front of the frame, four to be fitted on the four ends, the remaining one to form the cross-piece on which you screw a flat piece of wood, six inches wide, to form the stage, which we advise to be fixed up about 59 inches from the ground, the whole to be clamped firmly together with twenty-two ordinary iron bolts and nuts. If each joint is mortised, the skeleton structure will have a wonderful degree of strength. To finish, cut a shelf from a ten-inch board, full 36 inches long; mortise two of the corners to fit or catch into the two front pillars; this you lay on the two centre cross-pieces, which forms you a snug interior shelf on which you lay all the figures that you use in the performance. A proscenium, cut out of thick cardboard, and tastefully decorated or painted, should be hung in front of the stage. This, with the calico covering that you wrap around the frame, completes the structure, illustrations of which may be seen on our title-page and next succeeding engraving.
It is generally known that the writer of this book owns the largest and most complicated Punch and Judy theatre in the world, with its six changes of scenery; and, although its plan of construction has been kept secret, we think that to the readers of this work we ought to convey some idea of its specialties. We therefore not only give a description, but have caused our artist to make engravings of two of its most important parts of construction. The theatre is near ten feet in height, over six feet frontage, and the same distance in its depth to back of stage. Below we give a description of the engraving.
J, K is a side view of the little theatre; M forms a front view of an interior water scene, which is located towards the back of the stage; the flies, five in number, are painted green, with splashes of white to represent sea-foam; each fly is attached to two small green cords through the holes at N, N; there are two cross-pieces above, that traverse from the stage, front to back; on these are ten hooks; the green cords are strung on to these hooks; the five flies are then swung into motion, which, to the audience, represents a storm at sea. The ship sails along once the whole length; but on its second or third journey it is wrecked; the sails ruffle up, and it gradually sinks beneath the waves. When there are two performers concealed in this theatre, the ship is made to meet another vessel (a steamer); the two to collide; one is wrecked, the other sails away safely. These ships are so constructed that they mechanically wreck at the will of the performer. L, L are two of the pillars of the theatre; K is the upper cross-beam, with four wooden pegs projecting out; J is a grooved board about five inches in diameter, with holes bored to correspond with the pegs to fit secure on the cross-beam K; A, B, C, D and E are half-circles, cut out to receive rollers containing the drop scenery; F, F, F, F, F are grooves cut to receive the wings that are placed in front of the drop scenery; H is the pulley; I shows section of pulley; G shows pulley and cord fitted on to the roller at A. The five pulleys should not be more than four inches in diameter. A should be the scene of a prison, B an hotel scene, C the forest, D the Black Hills, and E the background. A front drop scene can also be added, which does not stand located in the engraving. The remaining portion of this theatre is made and bolted together after the plan advised for the smaller frame. The theatre once properly built, each timber must be legibly marked before taken apart, so that the performer may speedily rebuild the same when wanted.
Having thus fully explained how to construct a Punch’s theatre, we will now proceed to treat on