Punch And Judy Coming To Otaki

Chronicle (Levin), 6 March 1948, Page 2

Punch And Judy Coming To Otaki

* Puppots have returned to the New- Zealand entertainment field. Punch and Judy, two • famous c.haracters, are with us again in opening^ at the Civic Theatre, Otaki, on Wednesday next. The story of puppets is lost in the mists of antiquity. The antics of marionettes apparently coihmenced in Europe when Punch's ancestor, ' Punchinello, fought on the miniature stage with allegorical figures as well as with his wife Judy and the police. He was, at times -on intimats tsrms with the Patriarchs and the Seven Chammons of Christendom: he sat on the lap of .the Queen of Sheba; he had Kings and Dukes for companions. By the deft manipulation of the operator, the funny little wooden man carried religious. messages to tnose who could not reaci, axxu. was even used by the Church for that .purpose. Somewhere 'in the 17th Century, Punchinello of European fame appeared in England as Punch. At first he was a jollv; bluot§"ing petticoa't hunter, but , gradually developcd new character-rti-s r-pres-ntelivs of the English , fo'k hurriour --f the times. I. Today Punch with Judy is an inst tution His antics -are still as funny, still as unpredicfable as ever. .Always . he discovers that r.rimo d^cs n^t pay: always he is d^.r to the hearfcs of children of all . ages,. froni 7 to 70.