Magic lantern - Punch and Judy part 1

	PUNCH AND JUDY part 1
(image above) A square glass magic lantern slide measuring 8.2 x 8.2 cm. Maybe it is an advertising slide for a Punch and Judy Show.
Punch and Judy are the hero and heroine of a comical puppet show which originated in the wandering Italian Commedia dell' Arte troupes of the 14th century. Pulcinella, a hook-nosed, cowardly buffoon, was a popular character in the comic plays of these actors. The comedy spread to France and England in the 17th century. There the Pulcinella character merged with British glove puppet traditions to become Punchinello, or Mr. Punch. At the end of the 18th century, lots of local puppet heroes displaced the descendants of Pulcinella throughout Europe. In France it was Guignol, in Germany Kasperl, in the Netherlands Jan Klaassen, in Spain Christovita, in Romania Valicke and so on. Punch acquired a wife, Judy (originally known as Joan); the Dutch call her Katrijn. All these characters are glove puppets; many speak through a squeaker in the mouth of the performer that gives a piercing and inhuman timbre to their voices.

		Punch: "Do you want to hear a story?"
Children: "Yeah!"
		Punch: "I said: Do-you-want-to-hear-a-story?"
Children: "Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!"
		Punch: "I can't hear you! I said: DO YOU WANT TO HEAR A STORY?!!!!"
Children: "YEEEEEEAAAA AAHHHHHHHH!!!"
A complete set of 12 Magic Lantern slides featuring the Punch and Judy story. Standard size 3¼ inch square (8.3 cm). Left the original box, containing 12 superior English made Lantern Slides 3¼" x 3¼". Right the accompanying reading. The manufacturer is Theobald & Co., England. Hand painted slipping slide in a wooden frame. The slide measures 7" wide by 4" high (18 x 10 cm).
		Two long magic lantern slides from a set of three, showing the same images. The same series is also produced as a set of four glass strips, each measuring 15.3 cm by 4.5 cm with three pictures on each strip.
One slide from another set of four long magic lantern slides, each containing three pictures.
The Story of Punch and Judy A second set of 12 square magic lantern slides with a story of Punch and Judy. The manufacturer of this set is unknown. The slides broadly follow the story of the slides of the Theobald series above. We even see here on slide 3 Punch throwing their baby out of the window, as described in the reading above for slide no 7.




		Two large Punch and Judy magic lantern slides, British, c. 1860. These wooden framed glass magic lantern slides measure 12 by 3 inches (30.5 x 8 cm) and are hand painted. A Punch and Judy show. The owner of the theatre collects the entrance fee from the incoming public.


Marvellous hand-painted magic lantern slide depicting a man with a drum attracting attention to his Punch-and-Judy show.	A rare hand painted slide in a mahogany frame measuring 7" by 5 ½ " (18 x 14 cm), c. 1860. The slide is entitled 'Punch'.


This British glass mechanic magic lantern slide measures 7 by 4 inches (18 x 10 cm). Mr Punch's nose grows as you pull the slipping glass. Right: A projection of this humorous slide on the cover of a catalogue of the Museum of Cinema in Girona, Spain, edited in 1998. The booklet measures 8 1/2" x 10" (21 x 25 cm), 24 pages. The moving lantern slide on which the nose of Mr. Punch becomes longer knows many different versions. Sometimes his pipe-smoking dog Toby appears at the end, sometimes his family members, sometimes some fellow players and sometimes nothing at all.



More moving magic lanternslides.


JOY & SORROW. A wonderful vintage pair of dissolving views marked '52- JOY' and '52-b SORROW', c. 1880. Great views of a little girl with a nice Punch puppet, and a Punch puppet with his nose broken! Each wooden frame measures 7" x 4" (18 x 10 cm).

	Two beautiful lithophanes showing the same scene as on the lantern slides above with the images of a girl who is happy with her Punch doll and later sad when the doll's nose is broken off. Joy and Sorrow. These images are based on the original paintings of the artist Thomas Francis Dicksee (1861).
Single lever slide showing a scene of a Punch-and-Judy show. Slide is mounted in a wooden frame and size is c. 18 x 10 cm.	Judy rocks the baby up and down.
	More Punch and Judy....

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Last update: 14-03-2024.