Here is a very special treat to close Stop Motion March, the chance to watch in full The Pied Piper (1986) by Czech animator Jiří Barta (Originally titled Krysař “The Rat Catcher”).
Switch to full-screen, turn off the lights and prepare to be transported…
We could not allow Puppet Month to go by at The Arcade of Arts & Arcana without wishing a very Happy Birthday to Mr. Punch who is celebrating 350 years of terrifying minors with his anger-management issues.
Here are a few Punch facts to peruse if the pictures haven’t made you run screaming from this post ~
* Punch & Judy performers are known as “Professors” and are sometimes assisted by a “Bottler” who corrals the audience, collects money and provides musical accompaniment.
* Mr. Punch is a manifestation of the mythological Trickster archetype. His current anglicized form was adapted from the sixteenth century Neapolitan character Pulcinella from the Italian Commedia Dell’ Arte.
* Diarist Samuel Pepys recorded Punch’s début in London’s Covent Garden in 1662.
* Punch regularly beats the other characters with a wooden baton known as a “slapstick”, a name now used as a collective term for a genre of physical comedy.
* The Punch & Judy Show was originally intended for adults. Contentious characters such as The Devil and Punch’s mistress Pretty Polly were sidelined in the late Victorian era as the performances were adapted for children.
* The device which creates Punch’s familiar rasp is called a swazzle.
Summer 2012 is a total wash-out here in the United Kingdom so I will endeavour to make this month at The Arcade of Arts & Arcana as enchanting and enticing as possible!
July will be dedicated to strings and things; to the cute puppet friends who delighted us in childhood to the creepy, pant-wetting, spindle-limbed horrors that still haunt our adult nightmares… no? Just me then 😉
I also hope to squeeze in a few reviews and recommendations for some unusual Graphic Novels and present some Blog Awards whilst saying thanks for those I have recently received.
I have updated and launched a brand new album in the Gallery (you can click the header tab to visit, free entry as usual) or simply click the sample pictures below…
I know I’m late to the game here but this is amazing. I only discovered Street of Crocodiles after reading Bruno Schulz for the first time, embarrassingly only a few days ago. Gotta start somewhere.
EAT YOUR HEART OUT, DAVID LYNCH.
On a side note, Bruno Schulz is my new obsession. I will facebooklike him in my heart for ever and ever and ever. I’m aware that I’m a huge geek because I’m fangirling over a dead Polish author with a very small body of work, a man who was most likely a bit creepy.
Example A:
This is an old picture and the quality is compromised clearly, but LOOK AT HIS FACE. Stop staring at me like that, stop it. No.