THE CHRONICLES OF " PUNCH."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5460, 11 January 1896, Page 1

THE CHRONICLES OF " PUNCH."

A FULL, TRUE AND PARTICULAR

HISTORY-

[STROM OTJE OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

London, Nov. 8,

The exhaustive, and in places somewhat exhausting, history of Punch which Mr Spielmann, the well-known art critic, has been engaged on for the last three years, is at last complete, and brought out with copiotis illustrations in Cassell's best style, forms a sumptuous and, on the whole, entertaining volume. It sounds ungrateful to say that ruthless sub-editing would have rendered it even more readable, but such is the case. Mr Spielman goes unnecessarily into detail, and at times becomes exasperatingly diffuse. Here, however, area number of extracts which give a fair idea of the best parts of the book. They were culled by the Westminster's paste-ahd-scissora man : —

THE PATERNITY. Off " PUNCH."

The birth and parentage of Punch have hitherto been shrouded in some confusion, and it is only natural that there should have been considerable djfferencepf opinion on the matter. Anybody, would be glad to be, known as the originator of Punch, and claims for his paternity have been set up for Henry Mayhew, Mark Lemon, Joseph Last, Ebenezer Landells and Stirling Coyne; and also for Douglas Jerr old and Gilbert a Beckett. These several claims .Mr Spielmann has carefully ex-, amined, and has come to the conclusion that the idea originated with Landells, the. wood engraver :— " Landells and Henry Mayhew were certainly the founders— the former conceiving the idea of the paper which was presently established, and the latter developing it, according to his views — founding ,the tradition of personality of ; ' Mr Punch,' and converting him from a mere strolling : puppet, an irresponsible jester, into the • laughing philosopher and man of letters, the essence of , all wit, Me, concentration of alj; fountain of .goodness and the paragon of every virtue." Of the first number ten thousand copies were sold, and the proprietors regarded the fact as "ten thousand proofs of public sympathy. and encouragement." EABLT VICISSITUDES. Success was, however, by no means assured. The public bought the first number, but they were anything but unanimous in its praise. Mr Watts, E.A., tells of one gentleman he saw in an omnibus, who, after looking gravely through its pages, tossed it aside with the remark, "One of those ephemeral things they bring out. Won't last a fortnight !" Again : — " Mr Frith describes how, having heard Joe Allen tell a friend in the Gallery of the Society of British Artists to 'look out for our first number; we shall take the town by storm!' he duly looked out, but was disappointed at finding nothing in it by Leech -, and how when he went to a shop or the second number, to see if his idol had drawn, anything for it, the newsman replied, 'What paper, sir? Oh, Punch; yes, I took a few of the first number, but it's no go. You see they, pulled it about a good deal, so I wanted to see what it was like. It won't do; it's no go!'" Eut threatened papers, like threatened men, often live long, and after Punch got into the hands of Messrs Bradbury and Evans, who commenced publishing with it the " Almanac," it soon left all difficulties behind. THE " PUNCH " DINNER TABLE. For over, half a century the Punch dinners have been held — the. staff coming together once a week — and Mr Spielmann gives many interesting particulars concerning these gatherings. Punch's first dining-room was in the Crown Inn, Vinegar yard. The present " banqueting hall" is in Bouverie Street, and in the room are a number of relics more or less associated with leading contributors. The table round which the guests sit is described by Mr Spielmann as not of much account, the top being of plain deal (pace Thackeray's " Mahogany Tree "), and oblong in shape, with rounded ends. But its contents render it a treasure among treasures -. — " For at this table nearly every man upon the staff has, from the. day it was made, sat and carved his initials upon it with a penknife when officially elevated to Punch's Peerage. As each has died, his successor has taken his place, and he has out his initials or his mark close by those of the men who occupied the place before him. There they are, ' staring at you from the table like so many Abecedarian skeletons at the feast • and if you take a furtive and hasty peep from the doorway, and lift the green protection cloth, you' catch sight nearest you of a, 'D.M.' in close company with a beautifully cut 'W.M.T.' and a lnonogranmmtic leech ' inside a bottle, flanked by a J. and ail L. j . and you gaze with deep interest on the handiwork of them and of the rest, many of. whom have carved their names, as on that table, deep into England's roll of ' fame." The dinner now takes place at seven every Wednesday evening ; about half-past eight .the cigars come on, and then tho editor, avlio always presides, invites ideas, and discussion on the.subjecfc of the following week's cartoon. When the "big cut" has been decided on, the legend has to be settled. Then th,e title and legend ai-e written 1 on a piecfe of paper and handed over to the cartoonist. "It was at this moment that Shirley Brooks used to throw down hisknife to c cut' any further discussion, and after that symbolic act a more desultory conversation on the other men's work would follow." . . . THE GLADSTONE, DINNER. Very few but the regular staff have ever attended '; a Punch dinner, but outside dinners are occasionally : given, as when "Tpby, M.P/' invited the members to meet Mr Gladstone. Of this gathering a funny incident is told : — " Moonshine, commenting on the event, declared with malicious goodhumour that .' Ifc is said that Punch has been entertaining Mr Gladstone. We don't believe a word of it, as we can't believe that Punch ever entertained anybody !' The object of this fair Kit, the editor of Punch, sought out the epigrammatist, in the belief that here was a noiv humorist

whose services he might employ. He, I however, who might have enlightened him, wrongly believing that the motive of | the guest was less friendship than resent- j ment, declined to give the desired information. ■ But Mr Pupch appropriately avenged ; the insult by subsequently absorbing: it as I a joke of his own by the hand of Mr Reginald Cleaver." " BANG WENT SAXPENCE." ; It will perhaps surprise many people to learn that probably not one per cent of the jokes sent into Punch "from outside "are worthy either of publication as they stand, or even of being considered raw material for -manipulation by the editor or his artists. But some noted expressions had an outside origin, and "bang went saxpenco, 5 .' is one of them. Those words, which have passed into the language, issued from the lips of a visitor from the neighbourhood of Glasgow : — " It was Sir John Gilbert who heard it, j and repeated it 'to Mr Birket Foster while they were seated resting from their labours of 'hanging ? in the galleries of the Royal Water Colour Society. On the private view day that followed, Mr Foster tried the \ effect of 'the joke on two ladies whom he accompanied into Bond Street to take tea ; I and as they exploded with laughter he ncluded that it was good enough for hi* friend Keene, to whom he thereupon sent it." . . • The immediate success of the joke, Mr Spielmann says, was amazing; and Mr Foster was therefore the more surprised and amazed a year afterwards to heac a young "masher "calmly inform a barmaid serving on Brighton Pier that he -was the originator of it, and that he possessed the original drawing ! . ' . ' ANOTHER HISTORIC JOKE, i .' . But "Bang went saxpence".is not the most nomilar of Punch's jokes, Mr Spiel-

mann awards the palm in this respect to the lines:— ' Worthy op Attention. Advice to Persons About to Marry — ; Don't! • . ' This mot' appeared in Punch's "Almanac" as long ago as 1845, and it is doubtful whether any line from any author is so much quoted. It was based upon the advertisement of a well-known house furnisher of the day, and was long supposed to have been sent in by an outsider. All sorts and conditions of men have been credited with its authorship. Mr Spielmann himself has conducted somewhat extensive/ inquiries on the subject, and has succeeded in solving the mystery. The line simply came in the ordinary way< from-, one of the staff — I Henry Mayhew., The idea of the oft- | quoted drawing of Mr -^nrniss now used as an advertisement — " I": used your soap two years ago — since then., I have iised no other" — came, however, from an anonymous correspondent, and a point of interest about it is that Charles Keene .was deeply offended by it" at first, in the belief that it was intended as a skit upon him- 1 self, for which of course there was no foundation. THE MAID'S FIRST 'EFFORT. As an instance of liotv conventional the originals of some of Punch's jokes are, 'Mr Spielmann.' tells a good story of a contribution .made by Mr , Andrew " Tuer "•.— " In 1889 appeared a picture entitled 'A New Trade, in which a country maid, on being asked what her i last employer was, replied, "He kept a vicarage/ The circumstance ihad actually taken place ;in . Mr Tver's -own house. 'When the number appeared .the legend •pas rood out to the maid, UUd it was

explained to her that it was her joke. She showed no enthusiasm, not even appreciation ; but on seeing the others laugh, she said, with perfect gravity; yet still with hopeful perseverance, ' Well, I must try and make some more.'" It is interesting to note that to Canon Ainger, among many others, Mr dv Maiirier has often been indebted 'for jokes. QBE AT MEN AND "PTTNCH." Mr Gladstone on more than one occasion has paid Punch, a warm compliment, and a story is. told of a tribute which was once paid to our contemporary by Lord Beaoonsiield. A visitor to Hughenden was attraoted by a clever sketch of the then Prime ! Minister, who had been depioted as Hamlet. " I was smiling at the picture (he says),' which I may add was a cut out j of Punch, and framed, when the Prime | Minister entered, and, finding me gazing at jthe sketch, Lord Beaconsfield said, 'Yes, that is one of the best caricatures of me that has yet appeared, and; strange. to say, the artist has neither presented me with donkey's ears nor cloven hoofs. I feel very much flattered.' Lord Beaconsfield tookanin- . terestin.all the caricatures that appeared | of him, and at the time he died lie had several hundreds in his'possession." ,