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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You can now search for Punch and Judy references across one million pages of text from 19th century British publications. Searchable text from 46 regional newspapers from around the UK, dating back to 1800 has been put online as part of a British Library project to digitise its journals. The British Library Newspapers website, launched in partnership with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC),is a treasure trove for Punch historians. You can find it here.

Having figured (no pun intended) that the current financial crisis was a good time for Mr. Punch to get his own back on a banker, it seemed all too logical to adapt the classic 'body counting' routine to one which involved counting money. I've been performing it this year when the audience seemed right for it (including at the May Fayre). In the current UK climate it could work just as well played as if the banker were an MP with experience in counting expenses. It also works if you're playing exclusively for children (for whom the banker becomes a 'helper') as cheating-at-counting routines are perennially popular. In such circumstances a throwaway reference to banking still lets the adults share the joke and the payoff. I'm posting the routine in case anyone else wants to use it.

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So said an editorial in The Daily Telegraph just before the paper turned its guns on the UK's elected representatives with their devastating MPs expenses story. The paper had reported an alleged upturn in British seaside holidays due to the economic situation curbing holidays abroad. This - in turn - led to pundits wondering where Mr. Punch was these days. It's all good news for Old Red Nose and a sure sign that the PC fundamentalists have failed to gain the upper hand in suppressing a surprisingly irrepressible tradition.
You can see the brief item on their website here.

At the Covent Garden May Fayre this year (picture courtesy of Chris Gasper) the first 'Search For the Most Promising Prof' of the 21st Century was launched. The event was run every few years by the Punch & Judy College of Professors during the 1980s and 90's and former 'Most Promising Young Profs' include Mark Poulton seen meeting Queen Elizabeth in the posting of June 11th. The search is not an 'X Factor' style talent contest, but an opportunity to turn the spotlight on young performers. At the launch were a six year old, a ten year old and a seventeen year old. Other young performers will be sought during the year and the actual event will take place at next year's May Fayre. It's not restricted to UK performers- so should there be a young Prof from anywhere at all who wishes to be part of all this, then the judging can include video clips. This IS the 21st C after all.

Current plans for celebrating Mr. Punch's 350th birthday in the UK are being co-ordinated by the 350 Committee (a legacy of the 325 Committee who arranged the events marking the 325th birthday in 1987). It's open to anyone wishing to celebrate Old Red Nose in a very special year and your involvement is welcomed. The official 'start the ball rolling' plan is here. Read More »

The Punch and Judy College of Professors met for a College Jolly in Paignton prior to the Summer season. Meetings of more than a few members at a time are rare as most business is transacted informally via email. This meeting was to approve the idea of working jointly on projects with The Punch and Judy Fellowship in the run up to Punch's 350th birthday, to talk with academic Martin Reeve about his research into the contemporary tradition, to discuss plans for 2012 and (let's face it) to have a damn good time. After a jolly lunch College Councillors took to the beach at the location where Punch performer and historian Michael Byrom had last performed twenty years previously and were caught on camera in a moment of exuberance. (Photo Mary Edwards).

News that Old Red Nose is still under Royal Patronage comes from Mark Poulton, Weymouth's Punch and Judy man and a Councillor of the Punch & Judy College of Professors, who was presented to Queen Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh today upon the occasion of their royal visit to Weymouth and to the Sailing Academy that will host activities in the 2012 Olympics. Mark was formally presented along with the operators of the beach donkey rides and swing-boats and later made sure that Punch and Judy were on duty in their theatre whilst the royal couple met local children. Said Mark "It's the 20th anniversary of my being a full time professional Punch and Judy performer, so this is certainly an anniversary I'll cherish". Mr. Punch, of course, will be 350 years old in 2012 and hopes to bring his special brand of merrymaking (perfected throughout the reigns of sixteen English monarchs in all) to Olympic year - especially in Weymouth with Mark. The picture above is courtesy of the Dorset Echo newspaper who carry the story on their site here.

A request from The Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts:

The Worcester Art Museum is in the process of writing a catalogue raisonné on the publications of Brooke Alexander. Brooke published Robert Israel’s book of set and costume designs for the 1967 opera version of Punch and Judy. In order to complete the book we are in need of a complete set of all seven prints to photograph and document.

We have been in contact with Mr. Israel who says that he doesn’t have a copy of those pieces anymore. Neither does Brooke. We subsequently found one woman in New York who does have the prints but won’t let us use them.

I’m hoping that as an authority on all things Punch and Judy, you may know a person with the Robert Israel Punch and Judy prints, or may even have them yourself.

I have been trying to track these prints down for over six months and any help you could provide would be extremely appreciated.

~ Nancy Burns, Curatorial Assistant
Worcester Art Museum