around the world with mr. punch

(May 9, 2012; London; midnight)
 

Welcome to the Around the World With Mr. Punch, the official members-only journal of The Worldwide Friends of Punch and Judy. This lively periodical has been a source of information and inspiration for Punch professionals and amateur enthusiasts since 1993. Your Editors, Glyn Edwards (UK) and Professor Freshwater (aka Diane Rains) (USA), are pleased now to bring you our signature, one-of-a-kind publication in a bold new format. Here in our Around the World With Mr. Punch blog you will find a wealth of articles, media, and special features devoted to The Punch and Judy Show tradition. New articles will be posted immediately after receipt and editing; no waiting between issues! Fresh content may show up at any time, so check back often. Or subscribe to our RSS feed so you won't miss a single delicious morsel! Just click on the "live feed" button above to activate your RSS subscription.

For even more excitement, take full advantage of this blog's interactive content! Read the "Submissions, please!" item for details.

That's the way to do it!

~ Professor Freshwater
 

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One of the benefits of this new, blog-based Around the World With Mr. Punch is the ease with which readers can contribute to the journal's content. We have always welcomed submissions from our Worldwide Friends of Punch and Judy members; indeed our journal depends on your help! You can participate in several ways:

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This is a continuation of the tale begun in an earlier posting (Jan 28th) about Mr. Punch and the bureaucracy in Brighton. An official decision was handed down 'declining the offer' of Mr. Punch performing on the seafront. A wonderful piece of council gibberish in a town with an official busker-friendly policy and to whom no 'offer' had been made - purely an attempt to negotiate their labyrinth of obfuscation and obstruction. I responded to the Seafront Development Officer who had signed the email and asked to be told the grounds upon which the decision had been made and said that I would be seeking to have the decision reviewed. I copied the correspondence to an elected councillor who had told me on a previous occasion to contact her if I had difficulties. I told her that now was the time to take her up on the offer. Accordingly - a week later - I was informed that a Councillor X (the name has been with-held to protect him from public scorn) wished to see my show in order to 'inform the decision making process'. Presumably he is the elected councillor who in days gone by would have been Chair of Local Censorship Committee - except that we no longer have them. He was also a councillor I had emailed almost a year ago and who had not deigned to reply. I responded that as I'd been privileged to escort Mr. Punch to - amongst other places - the British Embassy in Moscow, then popping him along to Brighton Town Hall would not be a problem. It would require the said Councillor to act as an honorary seven year old for the duration of the performance (or to have supplied some genuine seven year olds) if the performance were not to be lacking the appropriate atmosphere. Alternatively I could supply a DVD of my performance filmed on the Prom at a different resort. I also supplied some archive photos showing Punch & Judy on the contested seafront and taken from 1909 onwards. Tune in next week for further developments (as they say).
 

I've been playing around updating my own website since becoming a mac person instead of a PC person. The iWeb templates may constrict true layout creativity - but they are still a zillion miles ahead of what a non-techie, non-designer like me can do thudding around in Dreamweaver and the enormous upside is the ability to stick all kinds of media in the site as easy as breathing. So that's what I've been up to recently. (Santa gave me an iPhone for Xmas which is what sold me on stuff that 'just works'.) Now all I have to do is sort out the other Punch and puppetry sites I look after!
 

I'm chronicling this unfolding tale to get it out of my system. It will take you into the labyrinth of UK local authority officialdom where the spirit of Bumble the Beadle is to be found alive and well in the 21st Century. Indeed, the overlapping multi-tiered, multi-directorate, Policy,Strategy and Directive driven empires that thrive inside a Civic Centre have created an ecological niche in which bumbledom thrives, flourishes and mutates into bizarre new forms. The pens of Dickens and Lewis Carroll in tandem are needed to pin these New Bumbles down in their absurdities. This blog can only point you to the inkwell into which the satirists could dip their pens. Mr. Punch is at the heart of my story, and the tale starts here.

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This is the title of Mr. Punch's 350th Birthday project being organised by The 350 Committee. It's a network of projects across the UK in 2012 with a very special Big Birthday Bash in Covent Garden in May of that year, including overseas performers, a giant birthday cake, a world record attempt and some Punch & Judy Olympics. It's not an exclusive affair - all Punch enthusiasts anywhere are welcome to run with the ball and get something going during the year on their patch. The 350 Committee hope to get funding for a fun kit of activities and information which can be widely distributed and help bring all events under the one big banner of The Big Grin. A dedicated website will be up and running in due course, but information will be spread through existing networks in the meantime. Check back with this site for any developments. The 350 Committee is an updated version of the 325 Committee which organised the celebrations nearly a quarter of a century ago in Covent Garden. This time round it will have a wider spread. Already nearly a dozen museums across the UK are signed up to join the fun, along with half a dozen local authorities, several puppet festivals and a couple of university departments. 2012 is, of course, London Olympics year and Mr. Punch will have to work hard not to be overwhelmed by festivities other than his own. But lets face it, he's been around longer than the modern Olympics and - if the roots of his family tree roots are as deep as some historians suggest - his spiritual ancestry even predates the original Olympics. Let the fun and the games commence!


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Bombadier beer has got a cracking new 'Positively English' ad campaign based on the official icons of Englishness promoted via the government's Icons Online initiative. They've got sponsorship from English Heritage (a normally aloof and snooty mob so far as this blogger can tell) to be their 'official beer' and have worked up various icons into fake coats of arms. If you're outside the UK they'll not all be familiar - but they resonate a lot with Brits. On this version (there are three in all) you can spot Punch and Judy - and they look even better on the large street posters. So what's stopping you? Buy a beer and drink to Mr. Punch's health.
 

The trippers have gone now and the beach is pretty empty. In fact it's often empty when we set up and the leisurely process of putting the booth up is all part of the warm-up: alerting people to the fact that Mr. Punch will be here today. It only takes one person to start an audience. The trick is to keep them amused and attract more. It's a bit like lighting a fire with one match. Our final day coincided with Pier Day - when the local voluntary arts groups showcase their skills and celebrate the Pier. It was an event formerly run by the Council but now handed over to volunteers. From Mr. Punch's perspective it brought a few more people to the seafront than the late September weather would have done by itself. The crowds were big enough to block the walkway on several occasions - so Mr. Punch ended his season on a high note. Not a show stopper - but a Prom stopper. The council have sent their official feedback questionnaire to all beach concessions now. Paperwork is everywhere. We'll see what they make of Mr. Punch's comments.
 

This is the view of our pitch from the side road opposite which leads to the Town Square where we had to pitch on Birdman Day (see posting of Sept 1st). The fact that we are clearly visible (and audible) to the shoppers and pedestrians there was a key factor in choosing our pitch. There aren't many people about at this end of the season and the Prom is chilly even though sunny. The 'bottle' contains only a tiny percentage of copper coins compared to the silver and upwards, however, so that's good. The last holiday makers are in a good mood and the shows are a pleasure to perform to them. The Pavillion Theatre on the pier hosted a Craft Market today where there was a nostalgia postcard stall. I bought a black and white one showing the audience of Prof Manley in the 1930s and also a colour card dated (I guess) somewhere between the 1950s and 1970s. Next weekend is official Pier Day and I think that will be our final seafront date of the season.