A Big Pollock’s Panto Party

Posted on 24th Nov 2024

As this year we celebrate 44 years at No. 44 at our upstairs shop in Covent Garden’s market building, we wanted to celebrate with a party. It’s a toy party and we invited ZEEL to draw up the guest list. Covent Garden is know for the theatres, the pantomimes, the fruit and veg (as it was originally London’s food and flower market) and as many of you tell us, Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop.

Zeel’s Toy Panto Party for 44 years at 44

We’ve worked with comic artist and illustrator ZEEL over many years and this Christmas in 2024 he has brought his wooden characters to No. 44 in time for Panto season.

The Harlequinades of the Regency and Victorian Era were a particularly British spectacle. A hybrid of Italian Comedy, (Commedia dell’ Arte) , European Fairytales English folk stories, opera, ballet and Music Hall. Put it all together and you have the English ‘Pantomime’ – a word that colloquially means ‘a state of utter confusion’. If you have ever hosted a children’s party then you will know exactly what a Pantomime Party is. The Harlequinades had long extravagant titles, although this was partly because the second half would let in the ‘hoi polloi’ in the cheap seats so they had to cater to all audiences. Pollock’s produced many of these now obscure plays for the toy theatre in the late 1880s and they featured many of the bizarre characters: Giants, Daemons and Fairies who would appear next to the stock characters of Harlequin, Columbine, Pierrot and the Clown (immortalised by Joesph Grimaldi and the character now often takes his name ‘Joey the Clown’ or ‘Grimaldi’)

Of course some of the most extravagant spectacles were to be seen in London’s Covent Garden Theatre (Now the Royal Ballet and Opera) and Drury Lane Theatre, about to be home to Disney’s musical Hercules. You can see models of how the theatres looked throughout the ages in the foyer of the Opera House.

Mr Zeel has drawn on all these character references from ‘Big Head‘ to the ‘Pantomime Tricks’ of the Toy Theatre and created – in Gepetto style 16 wooden effigies. All of the characters are for sale. Message us for details. And as in every good play, each character has a back story.

Puss in Boots (Tibbytight) £320 ‘Puss in Boots or Harlequin & the Miller’s Son’ was performed at the Covent Garden Theatre (now the Royal Ballet & Opera House) in 1832
Puss in Boots by ZEEL
Grimaldi Egg (Guiseppe) £280 Joseph Grimaldi appeared in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or, The Golden Egg at Covent Garden in 1806. Joseph followed in the footsteps of his father Guiseppe who had been hired by David Garrick to play a pantomime buffoon at Drury Lane. His son, Joey went on to become the most famous clown in London. You often see Giant Clown Eggs in the Pantomime Tricks pages of the Toy Theatre, where it will be turned into a plum pudding by the magic bat of Harlequin.
Grimaldi Egg by ZEEL
Mr Turnip and Leek (Les & Neville) £280 Pollocks, Covent Garden was once home to T J Poupart, Fruit & Vegetable Sellers since 1895
Mr Turnip & Mr Leek (Les & Neville) by ZEEL
Sea Daemon and Dolphin (Herbert & Lizzie) £340 In 1875 ‘Spitz-Spitz the Spider Crab; or, The Pirate of Spitzbergen’ was performed at The Grecian Theatre, a Music Hall on the City Road adjacent to the Eagle Pub (immortalised in the song ‘Pop goes the Weasel’) “The phantom fight scene transcended our experience and cannot be described” was a quote at the time of the giant dancing crab. We are sure there was a sea demon and dolphin in there somewhere.
Sea Daemon & Dolphin by ZEEL
Frog (Ada) £300 ‘Little Goody Two Shoes; or Harlequin Little Boy Blue’ was performed at the Adelphi Theatre in 1876 and was performed entirely by children. We’re not sure if it featured a Frog but it starred Ada Branche who became a big star playing Robinson Crusoe at Drury Lane in 1893
Frog (Ada) by ZEEL
Dragon (Walter) £300There’s always an anthropomorphic character in the Pantomime. The horse is usually played by 2 actors, with the back end being a particularly strenuous part to play. In Frozen the Musical at Drury Lane, Sven the Reindeer was played by one actor wearing 4 stilts but as it was so hard on the body the part was alternated between two performers. Animal costumes are notoriously difficult to control, especially on a raked stage such as the one at Drury Lane.
Dragon (Walter) by ZEEL
Red Daemon (Henri) £300 In ‘Little King Pippin; or Harlequin Fortunatus and the Magic Purse and Wishing-Cap’ of 1805, Drury Lane, the impresario Henri Drayton played the dirty deity in The Temple of Mammon.
Red Daemon by ZEEL
Magic Parrot (Polly) SOLD The Magic Parrot appears in the toy theatre play ‘Polly put the Kettle on; or, Harlequin Robin Hood and The Magic Cat’ published by JK Green
Magic Parrot (Polly) by ZEEL
Giant (George) SOLD – In ‘Puss & Boots: or, Dame Trot and her Comical Cat and The Ogre, Fee-Fo-Fun’ performed at Crystal Palace in 1873 The Ogre played by George Conquest performs his hanky-panky tricks and assumes different shapes including a Giant.
Giant by ZEEL
Vegetable King (John Poupart) £280 The ‘grotesque’ vegetable king fights with Grimaldi in ‘Harlequin & Asmodeus; or, Cupid on Crutches’ at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1810
Vegetable King (John Poupart) by ZEEL
Grimaldi (Joey) £350 Joseph Grimaldi is immortalised as the greatest ever Pantomime Clown. Performing in the Regency era at Drury Lane, you will see his character depicted in many original Pollock’s plays as the ‘undisputed agent of chaos’
Grimaldi (Joey) by ZEEL
Buttons (Pedro) £250 was played by Joesph Grimaldi in early 19th century productions of Cinderella ; or, Harlequin and the King of Rats at both Covent Garden and Drury Lane
Buttons (Pedro) by ZEEL
Fairy (Celeste) £300 from ‘King Humming Top or Harlequin and the Land of Toys’ performed at Drury Lane in 1853 ‘The Hall of Christmas Revels’
Fairy (Celeste) by ZEEL
Fairy £300 (Miss C. Gibson) Colombine from the Pollock’s Play ‘Sleeping Beauty in the Wood! Or Harlequin and the Magic Horn
Fairy (Miss Gibson as Colombine) by ZEEL
Skull Heads £270 (De’ath) One can find some pretty good Spirits, Demons, Witches and Skeltons in Skelt’s Juvenile Drama ‘Der Freischutz
3 Skull Heads by ZEEL
Pierrot (Carlo) £300 ‘Harlequin Friday’ by Richard Sheridan replaced Harlequin as the leading character with Pierrot played by Carlo Delpini at Drury Lane in 1781.
Pierrot by ZEEL