"Punch and Judy" Visits A Yorkshire Town

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17607, 24 October 1931, Page 13

"Punch and Judy" Visits A Yorkshire Town

MR. Walter Wilkinson has travelled q England .with a “Punch and Judy.'.', .shew. He has manipulated tfeeu.puppets. ,of one of the oldest *of dramas in all parts of England, and in.the course,of doing so. ho has learned a great deal about the life of the Ep|li?ih . ~cpu|itryside of English lished he has told the fascinating sipry- *of His adventures in 1 , {He' Sputh of England, and notv in “Puppets 'in Yorkshire, ts}]s. ojfhis experiences in the north*; Mr. Wilkinson's new Jjpok; like, the earlier ones, hah a'great fascination.- *; Like Borrow he can combine the life of a wanderer with ,eye, for hunufn nature, and of (lie .beauties he sees!* The story of his adventures is romantic, picturesque and yet realistic, aiuf the ‘following l passage" is' typical ,of .the zest for, life Whbly' isfmust/ arriving in a Yorkshire' countryside town, and the spell-is"-such that the 1 reader’ is "present. Mr. Wilkinson writes: — “It not lonp; before I wandered into and.ifhfrif' j’.unch and Judy' 'showing reaches perfection,'? writes ifr. Wilkinson. ’““You pull into the rqd-brick place in the early evening,, wander.’ over cobbles between, the ancient houses. The narrow. ptrpet t JJirng an{|| twists, surprising 'you - with a aged mansion,, a, sudden “glimpse of an antiqiie. irfh', or' it is old ‘ shop's with bow windows and, smallj ( squai;c panes of glass,'-“and th'cnthe’ little square and the sqddcif'heaqty of "the very ancient church, whose grey towers and carved stones risp ) wit;h ) pustcrc dignity from the wqrh-p.-dfiy lio.ijses. Tiny Corner of the Old England.

“ Yotr ate charmed' “ with the' old houses and the shops full of homemade bread, appetising ■ tarts aud luscious pies, but the church, all pure aestheticism and ethereal with age, drives such trivial things from your mind and you look out from this commercial ago into a tiny corner of the old England when every man was an artist craftsman. “The town is strangely deserted; all the inhabitants must be within doors, feeding. Or is it a dream town, a decayed, melancholy place whose people are as old as the buildings and asleep, for ever. Y,ou see a solitary dog, some smoke wanders from a chimney, and then you see a small, lone infant playing in a doorway. A man appears, a rough-spoking customer, with a choker round his neck, but voii him jW.hepp.'ypu,, can sgt up tb& show. 1 , ‘ “,He gives you minute, enthusiastic instructions, pd then says he will show yhe way and yog set H 9if\tprough more wiping streets and cpme into the marketplace with a mouldering ( sross in its centre, and jat end ,al;e the ruips r of the old Abbey,' . elegant, skeleton arches, museum " objects standing naked • in’ the open street. Your conductor leads the way down a narrow alley, and next door to the tinsmith you discover the market manager gossiping •with a neighhjp to Pay” tot' up> v a ‘ * Punch and Judy" in t' market, and welcome,' says the tollman, ‘but ther'll be summat to pay,' he adds ominously. ‘Come along wi' mo, and we’ll ask t’ secretary.' “He locks his shop ctoor, and you ■ are conducted back to the market to laid the watchmaker. He is out, but acting on instructions from his wife, • you look round a bit and he is discovered in another street, gossiping too. He listens gravely to your affair, smiles, says ‘it will be nobbut a.bob,’ which you pay, and after listening to everybody’s advice as to the best pitch for the show you go off and please yourself. “You begin to build up the show under the Cross, putting your bclongingings stpjjs. A. boy appears, then a girl! They ask wha't it • is gajpg to j be; ,theiy. shout to another tqrphih, 'and very' so'on there is a doz^,op n thpm all abp|it ‘how mopefi’*} T bu nave to pay, and as t,o. wha| c a and Judy|s exactly. The children increase, some adults glance at you shyly from the distance, and presently, when all is ready, you retire into your 'curtains and begin to squeak. “The,f.reault.,,is marvellous. The children laugh, the adults , draw nearer, ,\yjndqw of two is thrown open; the ‘shopkeepers come to their Moors jyith ...broad jj.milcs,sn their faccfe;'more peopld’come,into the square, apd a .arrives,in. a. car. After a 'scene ,or. ( twb you go round with the Hpt, talk to the audiepcq, and collect one and .eightpenec. ha-penny. You perform again and collect again, and $o «r<wd! •b&ftjs tp decrease and .you suspect them of going off fof.'ffiorh fo,o(l. \ “Then you begin to pack up among the crowd of children all asking when 'you ar coining again. Naively, they will describe the show which you have ’ just given them, and they will say ‘that’s all reet, mister,’ in unmistakable tones of ,i;apturp v Thcy wjjj ,rjya) .one another .‘to.'Havo'the honor,.of holding the sticks for you, and will assist, anfl 'gct, ip, the, wpy by ,a hu,ndyed means. A little girl will run off and buyp qf bread for you before the' shop closes, while a dozen boys wi11... offer to make other, purchases. A benevolent and trim blcl lady, at th§ ’fruit shop } wjlj,beckon to you. You' cross the road, and she gives yem tjrrpppcpqq, w.ifh,. the sympathetic 1 remark, ‘ you must be tired after doing all that. I enjoyed it ever so much. ’’ . ’ “ Yoiir day ’s work well and happily dbnC you set out from the cobbled sqdare and the ruined arches to walk through this ,qld Hpwdejn to the fields. A, few children accompany .y?% ,pnd you. are glad ‘to .have gained therj affection. More than ever in the late evening the country town belongs, to another age." <• • The above is typical of many wanderings, yet hardly .typical, for each halting place reveals > some quaint Ife whimsical beauty or incongruity. H* '■■■