Punch
& Judy History > Mr. Punch's slapstick
The
Slapstick is a traditional
clown's weapon of long and honourable pedigree. Here's how it is described in
the Oxford English Dictionary: "Slap-stick: the flexible lath used by
the harlequin in a pantomime etc. for making a great noise with the pretence
of dealing a heavy blow. Figuratively it is applied to boisterous or knockabout
comedy" Yes, the weapon of choice of Mr. Punch is the very object which
gave its name to the whole genre of slapstick comedy. Those outraged citizens
who wish to consider it an offensive weapon, the very use of which is an incitement
to real-life violence, are invited by the College to class custard pies, buckets
of water and banana skins in the same category. They are further invited to
impose a ban on clowns' cars on the grounds that they encourage dangerous driving.
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The use of the slapstick
(which Mr. Punch took up when he became a glove puppet) is in common with
the batons, frying pans and similar comic weapons used by his counterparts
in other cultures. They form part of the rythmic, percussive soundtrack
that underscores a good live performance of Punch and Judy in much the
same way that Tom and Jerry style cartoon animation is punctuated by thumps,
boings, whistles and crashes.
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