CHAPTER XV
PANTOMIME IN THE PAST AND PRESENT
Some people still living (but they must be very aged people by now) may be able to remember the pantomime which was one of the great features of the Christmas holidays in early nineteenth century England, and may be looked upon as the legitimate successor of the ancient “masque.” The word pantomime comes from two Greek words meaning “all mimicry.” It is a play in which the actors say never a word but perform their parts in dumb show, that is, by signs and gestures. Being almost unknown in America this word of explanation may be necessary.
England borrowed the pantomime from Italy, where it has survived from the masked frolics of the Roman Saturnalia. Pantaloon, Harlequin and the Fairy Columbine were the principal actors in all the Italian pantomimes and all of them wore masks.
A famous player named Rich, who was known on the stage as Lun, was the first to introduce pantomime into England. In the year 1717 he produced a play of this sort called Harlequin Executed, in which he himself performed the part of Harlequin. It is said that he “could describe to the audience by his signs and gestures as intelligibly as others could express by words.”[5]
David Garrick, perhaps the greatest of all English actors, was a younger contemporary of Rich and after his friend’s death he celebrated the silent but powerful language of Rich in these lines:
When Lun appeared, with matchless grace and ishm,
He gave the power of speech to every limb,
Though masked and mute, conveyed his quick intent,
And told in frolic gestures all he meant;
But now the motley coat and sword of wood