Punch and Judy - Classic or Dud?

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The policeman! The crocodile! The sausages! the booth that looks like the things the GPO used to put up over holes in the road!

Let's talk about Punch & Judy.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 15 February 2003 12:15 (twenty-three years ago)

"That's the way to do it!"

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Saturday, 15 February 2003 12:43 (twenty-three years ago)

You don't hear much abt it these days and I wonder why. Is it because it is politically incorrect? It appears to condone violence. Or is it simply that "kids these days" aren't interested, or fewer British ppl take their hols in Britain? I suspect that its a combination of such factors, but which is the most important? Maybe someone can tell me whether or not there is still P&J at Skeggy, say, or Blackpool.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 15 February 2003 13:52 (twenty-three years ago)

It is deranged, insanely violent, and has catchphrases - and is therefore CLASSIC.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Saturday, 15 February 2003 22:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay, here's the deal.

Several years ago, a friend of mine residing in the Minnesota area stumbled across a small amusement park constructed underneath powerlines in the Twin Cities area, nearby Valleyfair. It was called "Family Funways" and was quickly recognized as the single worst amusement facility in the world. By far. This is a place that had rows upon rows of those coin operated childrens rides you see at K-Marts.

Anyways it had a coin operated "Punch And Judy" toy dispensment machine (I can't come up with a better name). You put a quarter in, they puppets would shake and one of them (which one we're not sure) would tell another to "come back with those sausages!" This continued for sometime until the croc would start saying "sausages" over and over, and then it would stop and give you a small egg shaped prize.

Now: Which one was Punch and which one was Judy? What the hell is the crocodile? What was it that my friends have video of?

-
Alan

― Alan Conceicao, Saturday, 15 February 2003 23:58 (twenty-three years ago)

Punch is an old man who throws his baby out of the window, beats everyone he comes across to death and gets his nose bitten by a crocodile and finally kills the devil. It's somewhat like the kabuki theater where there is always a man, a woman, a severed head and a box.

― JS, Sunday, 16 February 2003 04:51 (twenty-three years ago)

in some versions, there is also a policeman.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 16 February 2003 15:32 (twenty-three years ago)

What a lot of people don't know is that the medieval "judy" character is actually based on the early work of Sir Judi Dench. (early, but not earliest--His absolutely earliest work formed the core of many of Juvenal's satires)

― GeezrOod, Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:32 (twenty-three years ago)

It scared the living beejaysus out of me as a child and still does.

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, Lara, Sir Judi Dench has a tendency to do just this sort of thing. This is why he must be resisted.

― GeezrOod, Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh no, I find Dame Judy quite comforting in an odd way. I sometimes wish she's come round to my house at night time and read me bedtime stories.

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:58 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.filou-fox-figurentheater.de/images/kasperl.jpg

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Monday, 17 February 2003 10:56 (twenty-three years ago)

What I wanna know is how the puppeteer manages to make those horrible inhuman Black Rider-esque squeakmuffles. Surely no man can make this noise without some kind of artificial voce device or something?
When Punch hits Judy it makes a horrible wooden knocking noise like when somebody bangs their head really hard on a shelf. Painful.
Judy Dench is scarey.

― dog latin, Monday, 17 February 2003 15:56 (twenty-three years ago)

seventeen years pass...

Some ~very playful~ and not entirely serious THOTS

I've read a lot of feminist theory that dismisses Punch and Judy as pure misogyny coming from the id of an intensely misogynist society.

Then I've read some Marxist femininst theory that posits, maybe Punch is the explosive id of the proletariat, that the violence of Punch's and Judy's relationship is not inherently on account of Punch's innate 'criminality', but is a result of the violence of their material conditions under poverty. The only time that Punch and Judy are *united* is in their attacks on the Policeman and/or crocodile, and there's a lesson in there about banding together to resist the carceral system which supports the injustice of the class system, rather than expecting the carceral system alone to fix domestic violence. Maybe improving Punch and Judy's material conditions would reduce their friction and improve their marriage; maybe Judy just needs the support to divorce Punch and unionise the sausage factory?

I cannot remember what the crocodile symbolises (maybe the bourgeoisie monopolising all the sausages?) and also I have not seen a Punch and Judy show in 30-40 years. But I just thought I'd leave that here (I also think it would probably amuse Calzino on his return.)

― Branwell with an N, Monday, 10 August 2020 12:27 (five years ago)

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