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| The
Codman's Punch & Judy Booth. |
"In
my early days, I pestered my father to such an extent that he gave
in and I used to sit inside on a box watching him.
"It
was incredible the things I watched, arms and legs flying up in
the air and goodness knows what.
"Punch
always has his stick.
"Slapstick
is a pantomime thing. Two pieces of wood with a little bit in the
middle that made a slapping sound. Or that’s the way to do it, I
should say.
"It’s
not an actual voice, but a prevetta was used in the original shows
and it’s still used in our shows.
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| Punch
& Judy with guest star Bessie Braddock MP. |
"Punch
is the favourite character, but it’s the hit and miss with the clown
that I like.
"They’re
all stock characters, but you can make it topical. We had a rubber
headed Ken Dodd in it once. But they’re only incidental.
"When
my Grandfather was performing they said:
‘Now we’ve got talking pictures Mr Codman, that’s going to knock
your trade.’
‘Not a bit of it', he said, 'They’ll come back.’
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| The
crowd gathered around the Punch & Judy show, before it was
moved in the 1950s. |
"And
they did.
"And
then of course when my Father was doing it, television was launched.
‘Don’t you think this is going to…..?’
‘No I don’t think so.’ He said
"Well,
it did do for a while, but then it picked up again, so I think it
will last. I hope so.
My son will be the next generation. "
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