[ Back to Index page ]   By Stephen Langdale   I think one of my earliest career ambitions, after reading Pinocchio, was to be a toy maker. I seem to recall that one part of the attraction was the joymaking of toymaking and the other the prospect of wearing brass rimmed glasses on the end of my nose, it's strange how things like that come true! Growing up in a puppet making family was probably the next best thing in the days before I got my brass rimmed specs. When the school was bombed in about 1942 my mother took on my education until temporary class rooms (ex broiler houses) were erected three months later. What did I learn? Strange but very relevant things; like how to make an Elizabethan Ruff from muslin and lace - our Punch could never appear in anything less! I wonder how many primary school boys could do that today? I learned to smock, and some of you will recall that my floor-show puppet of (Lord) Bernard Miles wears an intricate gardeners smock to relate his Hertfordshire yarns mimicked from watching his music hall performances from the wings in the late forties.

So what could I do this year? Something different that I could prepare early in the year and dispense all round when we flew back to UK on December 12th. The Gallanty show seemed a possibility. This, in simple terms was a 19th century shadow puppet version of toy theatre (I'll duck while all the experts correct my naive explanation!)

About a year ago I did a toy theatre version by special request, of Punch and Judy. This involved much heart searching on my part and lengthy explanations to my client that it was not possible. I write this with great awareness of our dear old friend Percy Press II converting in his latter years.

My objections came from my background. The Punch tradition in our family was that the REAL show was about glove puppets doing things glove puppets cannot do! This together with the rather rococo style of our dolls has, done much to support for me the family legend that - no matter what *** says .... ours is the real show!

What do I mean? Punch sitting on the play board crossing and uncrossing his legs; three and four puppets up simultaneously with one operator - and NOT just laying on the play board being counted! Pretty Polly - with a waistline like a film star - and before my time or my dad's the puppet that took off and doffed his hat with one hand and then with the other. I argued that translation of all this to toy theatre devalued the REAL show and was not translatable into a different medium.

However, I did do the toy theatre version and when I wrote to Roy Adams about my gallantly thoughts what should come back but a shadow version of Punch and Judy! Previously I'd only come across such classics as TheBroken Bridge etc. They all conform to two generalisations: the characters are large headed caricatures in style and any child who managed to cut them out successfully probably needed a degree in micro surgery to wield the knife with sufficient dexterity.

The outcome of any completed show was probably a house fire since the production instructions involve displaying the figures in front of a candle inside a cardboard box!

The conclusion to all this is that (don't tell them!) all our distant siblings will get a Gallanty show of Giovanni Piccini's Punch show this Christmas. The front is a recreation of the old boy's booth complete with Pike kitted-out with pan pipes, drum and bottle.

For my part I have had a lovely time creating energetic images of those original scenes in George Cruickshank's drawings. I still have hopes that all these assorted children began brain surgery classes in nursery school to prepare them for cutting out. I may also include a large packet of sticking plasters with each kit! The images, for those with great patience, could be enhanced with coloured tissue or cellophane toffee wrappers but it's passing on the concepts that counts! The script will be a commentary by the bottler to keep it short and comprehensible. The light source will NOT be a candle inside a cardboard box!

I'll leave you this year with two thoughts, selfishly, I have had enormous pleasure creating a gallanty show, why not try it? Also I commend the idea of this kind of gift - we often hear tales of these youngsters putting on shows in the garden to amuse all the local kids during the summer holidays - this is a worthy way of perpetuating our crafts.

Postscript : I have searched widely for a copy of Henry Mayhew's interview of a Gallanty man in 1880 (London Labour & London Poor). If anyone can send me a copy I'd be eternally grateful. Equally I'd love a script for Skelts (Martin) Harlequin and Old Dame Trot - in both cases photocopies would be superb.