Punch & Judy History > Mr. Punch on strings

Mr. Punch used to be a marionette who moved when the puppeteer pulled his strings. The illustration shows 'Punchinello' - as his name then was - in use recently as an attraction to gather a crowd for a traditional Punch and Judy Show. Exactly when - and why - the puppet changed from a string puppet to a hand puppet is contested by puppet historians. The date was around the late 1700's (about a century after he was first seen in England) and there are three contenders as to the probable reason. One is that marionette shows (which need a company of two or more puppeteers) lost much of their income as the Agricultural Fairs of Old England - where they had once played in tents to the crowds - now began to decline. The second is that with the start of the modern era of factories and towns, it was the streets where the new 'buzz' was and Punch evolved to become a street entertainer in the hands of a solo puppeteer plus a money-collecting partner. The third is that a superlative hand puppet player from Italy came to England and kick-started a copycat trend that breathed new life into an old entertainment. It could - of course - have been a combination of some or all of these reasons! One thing is for certain - if Punch had stayed a string puppet he'd never have picked up the slapstick. That's something that hand puppets do best.