Punch (72.1877)

24

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [January 20, 1877.

WHAT'S DOING AT THE THEATRES?

F all the hits in the
Drury Lane Pantomime
this Christmas the hit
has undoubtedly been
the Donkey. _ The
talented person inside
the asinine frame will
be hereafter as distin-
guished a character as
was the clever repre-
sentative of the Turtle,
in Babil and Bijou,
who received the sobri-
quet of "Turtle
Jones," to distinguish
him from every other
Jones.

At Covent Garden
Robinson Crusoe is a
bright spectacle, with
plenty of practical
comic business between
Robinson, Friday, Fri-
day's father, and the
highly-trained animals
.n the hut. The musical
portion is good throughout. Capital Pantomime for children ; and
this, after all, is the great point. They don't care how long it is.

But the hit of the day—literally of the day, for it is only per-
formed in the afternoon—is the Pantomimeat the Adelphi, played
by children. The Pantaloon seems to be a very old man for his
age, which, we believe, is something under twelve.

The glittering, gorgeousness, and zoological variety of the grand
"Conference Scene" in Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver rolled into
one by the Messrs. Sangers, surpasses all previous efforts of that
enterprising management.

Then at the Crystal Palace, among much else that is pretty and
ingenious in Sinbad the Sailor, there is a Harem Scene, with the
most graceful bit of ballet—a dance of Odalisques draped from head
to foot in snowy muslin—that Punch has seen for a long time. It
shows how much more charming ladies of the ballet look in long
clothes than in short ones. The Transformation Scene here, on the
classic fable of Narcissus and Echo, is a masterpiece of mechanical
ingenuity as well as scenic effect.

The Extravaganza-burlesque at the Globe gives us a mixture of
old and new styles, being a revival of Mr. Planche's graceful
Invisible Prince, with modern tunes. The chorus to the old air,
" Hark ! His the Indian Drum ! " is most effectively rendered, and
deservedly encored. Miss Jenny Lee, as the Invisible Prince, is
quite a Prince Charming, and being invisible, ought to be seen to
be appreciated. She is ably seconded by Miss Rachel Sanger and
Mr. George Barrett.

How they pack that crowd into the pit and gallery of the
Strand, is a marvel! and what shouts from every part of the
house at Mr. John S. Clarke's inimitable drunken scene in
The Toodles, which, it is worth knowing, comes on about nine
o'clock. His " business" with the pipe and the candle is im-
mense. As for the Burlesque, the scene of The Lying Dutchman
is where Mr. Marius and Mr. Taylor go through an acrobatic
performance on a trapeze. Miss Lottie Venn and Mr. Harry Cox
are invaluable in burlesque, and they make the most of what they
have to do. Mr. Hall's Scenery in both pieces, especially the old
country town in The Toodles, and the view of Margate in the Bur-
lesque, are two of the most effective "sets" we have seen for a
long time. The scenery of late at the Strand has been unusually
good, notably in the late lamented Princess Toto.

Of the Danischeffs at the St. James's, William Tell at the Gaiety,
Jocko at the Princess's, and a few other novelties, we are in a
position to speak with the strictest impartiality, not having yet seen
any one of them. Of course it will be a Christmastide duty to visit
Mr. Conquest at the Grecian.

Some years ago we had the pleasure of seeing a piece at the
Vaudeville, played by Messrs. James and Thorne, entitled Our
Boys. These Boys—wonderful life preservers—are still floating, as
buoyantly as ever. They will become one of our National Institu-
tions, and friends from the country will come up to Town to see St.
Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Madame Tussaud's, Gog and Magog,
and Our Boys. Temple Bar will be a thing of the past, new streets
will have been built, the Iloyal Family will be residing in a palace
built on the site of the old Westminster Aquarium (so as to be near
the Abbey for service on Sunday),Turkey will have been reformed, the
Thames embanked from one end to the other, and our grandchildren
will be enjoying Our Boys, then at the height of its popularity.

PUNCH'S PATENT MEDICINE COLUMN.

JJEALTH WITHOUT PHYSIC !

pUNCH'S DELICIOUS SEVENTY-FIRST VOLUME.

T

HIRTY-SIX YEARS' CONTINUED SUCCESS!

SAVES Fifty Times its Cost in Tonics. Revives Appetite ; rehardens
Softening Brains ; supplies the feeblest Joker with stamina ; ami
restores the most inveterate Punster to reason.

pUNCH'S CHARIVARENTA BRITANNICA.

{Being a few out of many Millions of Similar Testimonials.)
Dear Sir,

Twenty-five years' gradual softening of the brain, first
caught from my poor husband—whose own mental decay was
brought on by his abandonment of himself to the destructive
practice of playing upon words—had almost reduced my faculties
to the level of his, when a valued friend recommended me to take in
Punch. I did so, and have since lived chiefly on your invigorating
weekly issue. The effect on myself was so marked and immediate,
that i induced my unfortunate husband to try the same remedy.
In a week the fits of punning, from incessant, became intermittent,
and after a month's use of your elixir, ceased altogether. He has
not since that time had any return of the attacks, while I am my-
self quite restored to my former vigour of body and mind.

I remain, Mr. Punch, yours, gratefully,

Chaffyng-Abbas, Herts. Clementina Jolly.

Sir,

Under the fearful monotony of a perpetual curacy in one
of the dampest districts of Lincolnshire, where I thought the living
would have been the death of me, what with alternate attacks of
mental stagnation and bodily " shakes "—as the ague is locally called
—I had entirely lost my spirits as well as my temper. At last I had
lost the power of even smiling at my churchwarden's standing joke
about a cure of souls " when he called on me at my lodgings over
the shoemaker's—the glebe-house being under water during the six
winter and autumn months, and uninhabitable, from damp, during
the rest of the year. I had gradually dropped all intercourse with
the neighbouring county family—a bachelor with a liability to
delirium tremens. I was rapidly following his lead, and becoming a
victim to the habit of mixing gin with the water of the locality,
when, by an accident I cannot but call providential, I invested in
a complete edition of Punch, and for three months, when not
employed in parochial duty, was busy in reading, marking, and
digesting its invigorating contents. I am now a new man. I have
given up my gin. I sleep well at nights. My congregation, on the
other hand, never so much as wink during the whole of my sermon,
though six months ago you could not have seen an open eye in the
church after the first five minutes. Such are the marvellous effects
of your life-giving food upon a grateful fen-parson,

The Rev. Grimstone Grudbe.
Frog-in-the-Hole, Holland, Lincolnshire.

Cure No. 155,050, Punch"''s Charivarenta Britannica.

Lady Maria Merryweatiier is glad to be able to inform
Mr. Punch that since one of her great-nephews the other day sent
her his Seventy-First Volume, the Lady M. M. has found herself
able.to snap her fingers in the face of her principal creditor, Old
Time, and to laugh to scorn the fourscore and eight years she owes
him. Her figure has regained much of its youthful spring, and only
the other night she was almost taking part in one of the pas de
Vokes with two of her grandchildren, after their return from the
Drury Lane Pantomime. She even caught herself last week making
eyes at that absurd old General Methusalem, with whom she used
to dance at Bath in 1810, before he went out to the Peninsula, when,
at Lady M. M.'s last " small and early," he asked her to join him in
"The days when we went gipsying, a long time ago." In short,
Lady M. M. wishes to inform Mr. Punch that she is as fresh as a
four-year-old—that she subscribes to the World_ and does as the
world does, is up to all the political gossip and social scandal of the
day, and is quite in request for five o'clock teas !
The Evergreens, OakHeld, Hants.

"Nothing New under the Sun."—The vaunted block system
has been in vogue in London streets for half a century.

Incidents of Taxation.—Collectors and Summonses.