Sivori Coquelin Cadet Pierrot Guitariste
Puppets of Lemercier de Neuville, Erotikon theatron de la rue de la Santé
[Reproduced from Ernest Maindron’s Marionettes et Guignols]
In the shadow play, as well as in the play of pupazzi, French artists have attained great successes. The first Ombres Chinoises, so called, of importance started simply enough about 1770 when Dominique Seraphin, a young man of twenty-three, established his little show in Versailles. In the beginning for the amusement of children, little comical dialogues such as The Broken Bridge, or The Imaginary Invalid (from Molière), were presented by silhouette figures with articulated limbs. In 1774 after a few years of unusual success, Seraphin moved to Paris where, under royal protection, his little shadows became very well established. Although they had been ensconced in the Palais Royal by favor of the king yet they managed through the cleverness of Seraphin to sustain themselves in popular favor after the overthrow of royalty. Indeed they were said to be the first to avail themselves of advertisements in the form of posted placards.
The advertisement was rather charming:
“Venez, garçon, venez fillette,
Voir Momus à la silhouette.
Qui, chez Seraphin, venez voir
La belle humeur en habit noir.