The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-17
PUNCH AND JUDY AT HOME.
PROF.. HENDERSON TELLS OF THEIR
CONTINUING POPULARITY.

1lrHIAM OF ICY W. -
p.-r,. IN. old Piece-Perrormnnces In
tho Hospitals, Asyiums. and Churches.
Prof Milton Henderson,, alias Punch, alias
.Judy. alias the ghost and the doctor, tho darky
and tho nol,crman, and alias tho devil, ia a
rcntleman who. as might be expected. frequent
" has his hands full. In spite OF 30 remarkable
n Lat of aliases, Prof. Henderson is a genial and
kindly individual who gets q rousing welcome
wherever he gocs-and he goes into some queer
places. Ho is tho delight Of the infant sclons Of
the Four Hundred and the Joy OF the missions
and hospitals.
foot giants whose good nature seems TO be try
ing 10 keen up with their inches. He has put
old Punch and Judy through their PAGES under
moro al Rorent circumstances than any other
man. perhaps, in this country. According to the
professor. our old friend Punch has not come to
the end Of his popularity yet, by any means.
"where do you find your most enthusiastio
audiences T. the reporter asked.
Prof. Henderson thought a minute, then he
laughed.
"In Fifth avenue. / guess" he said. Almost
any place around the avenues"
"Not in the street, of course T.
"oh, no; / never give performances in the
| street. But they have me come to childrcn's
parties and to Sunday-school entertainments.
You've no idea how things have changed in that
direction. Why. a few years ago, the Metho-
| dists would have fallen down in horror at tho
| idea of having u Punch and Judy show at a
Suniay.school entertainment. But l have gone
to them regularly for tho last few years. and
| they have the performance In the church, tool"
do you give the regular performance =
"Oh. yes! Well, at one of the churches they
asked me to leave out the hanging. They drew
the line at hanging, but everything else went.
~ 1901 .-l that H~r ri.yntA
houses and churches one must be very careful,
anyway. A single coarse or vulgar word would
spoil the whole thing. For a church entertain
ment. too. 1 don't slam-bang quite so forcibly MS
under ordinary circumstances; / have q muslin
club instead OF u stick, for instance.
but l have to make 1t lively or people won't
be satisfied. Mr.. Faber, the pencil manufac-
turer, who died not long ago, tried 10 rewrite
Punch and Judy. but no failed. ] used to go
down there at Christmas time, and on this par.
ticular occasion he gave me, in advance. what
he called his modern Punch and Judy. 1t
covered about twenty sheets OF foolscap, and l
d~utifuily learned it all, though l had my doubts
about its going. There were only three char
actcrs in the whole thing, and they didn't do
much Of anything but talk, talk, talkl When l
got my booth ready at the party l commenced on
the modern Punch. After l had been at 1t for
about ten minutes. with nothing but talking,
one OF Che youngsters called out:
"'BanE her one, Punch I
IL obediently banged her one, and promptly
drifted into the regular performance. After
ward Mr.. Faber came to mo and aid that he
could SEQ himself that his version wasn't going
to do. There wasn't enough action.
Last winter I went to Shcrry's for a social
club that met there occasionally. Some of the
members had written u little piece for me to use.
The characters, which were taken by my regular
Punch puppets. represented members OF tho
club. and it was full Of hits and take-offs which
they enjoyed tremendously. Ordinarily. how
ever. l use the old English piece and bring in
local hits OF my own. i have several stock
figures which have played q good many cole
for much. ! trot in n woman. for instance:
We'll. how dye dot And who are you 3 de-
met Why. don't you know met I'm Anna
Held! or whoever is talked of at the time,
astonishment and Anna Held sings a snatch
from one o. her songs. l have one Inquire with q
wig that sticks out in every direction. and when
Punch asks him who he Is he says:
Paddy Roosky!
You'd be surprised to see how quickly the
doesn't seem TO make much difference. either.
whether they arc Fifth avenue children or
start In on Il song the whole audience sings it
with. me. On the. east side the most popular
are rep prize t]ishsePs .DfS dress them up In fshIins
trim, put boxing gloves on them, and have them
G9 shG9u seh5 5as h %SliGns; witt Il T S.Iis sfi an east side
pursued the professor. believe, after all.
orphans' homes and founding asylums. Some
OF the wealthy society women send me 70 these
places and pay all the expenses.. You never saw
such eager faces as those children have when
they arc al. seated and waiting for the show to
begin. They see SO few things that the expert.
ence is almost TOO much for them. Sometimes
go to the hospitals. They bring all the patients
who are able to sit up into one ward and the
beds IN that ward are placed so that the occu'
pants can see. Afterward / go into some OF the
other wards where there are bedridden patients
tho show Sometimes. always at Bellevue Hos,
pital. l take some one else with me, q juggler or
do the grown ups care for Punch and Judyi'
"Oh, yes, indeed! When l go TO fairs tho
ppartios. however they are more Interested In
the sleight Of hand tricks. BY the way. il is u
very different matter TO do a sleight.of-hand
,rick in a drawing room and tN do the same
for Instance, people sit right around me. they
Who talk and try to rattle the 'I Magician. In a
stage performance it Is just the other
performers success is his ability to in
terest the audience in what he says
and an d thus draw their srIr attention aope %w1 igm from what toa
everybody handles the things you work with;
There is no possible chance to use a mechanical
NOht Noil'Os nv ilh'ho ~ Ay !" NbiAik uofb
somebody picks IL up and xamin IT,. have a
certain little box which I carry around with me
1t hasn't any connection whatever with amy
trick I do, but / pretend. that It has. or course
everybody is Interested In the box. People pick
1t up. examine 1t. get their heads together over
II, and then ! have n chance to do the trick.
Ibid you know what a mania some people
have for learning tricksi l don't mean people
who are going into the cOniuring business, but
people who want to he able TO do a few tricks
before their friends. Not only men have THE
mania, but women want to learn, too. Their
preference is for card tricks. and they select the
complicated ones which require "A good deal OF
time and much dealing and making OF combi'
nations. ] had one customer. a man who was 9
buyer for several big Western firms. Ho died
last winter, and l suppose he left So, 200 OF
$4,000 worth Of mechanical trick devices. He
would see a trick table or something OF that
sort, nay $50 or S75 for it, have IL sont home
and probably never touch 1t again. But he had
an Intense fondncss for doing the hand
tricks; Many and many a time have gone into
his office in the middle OF the morning and found
him working with cards or coins. When l would
ask him what he WAS doing he would say:
".Oh. Just practicing that little trick.
Tho trouble with an amateur Ia that the mo
ment he has learned a trick he wants to TURF
around and do IL before somebody. He won't