Flamboyant and
carved with a
profusion of
ornaments
roundabout
creatures have a
fascinating
history.
'The
imaginative,
often bizarre
decorations that
enliven
fairgrounds,
amusement parks
and carnivals
have a
never-ending
appeal to the
popular
imagination.
Stunning carved
and painted
carousel horses,
sinister
mechanical
targets,
terrifying
rides, and
alluring freak
show banners are
among the many
wildly
ornamented
devices that use
sex, horror and
humour to entice
fairground
visitors to
sample their
wares...'
That’s the Way to do it! Margaret Powling looks
at the history and enduring popularity of Punch
and Judy.
'Waves are
breaking on the
shore and
seagulls are
screaming
overhead. But
there’s another
sound, too. A
high-pitched
squawky voice
repeating again
and again,
“That’s the way
to do it! That’s
the way to do
it!” Against
your politically
correct nature
you smile. Old
Red Nose is
torturing his
wife, beating
his child and
generally
defying all
figures of
authority. What
is more, an
audience
helpless with
laughter is
encouraging him
in his dastardly
deeds. For it’s
all good clean
fun. Isn’t it?...'
The heyday of Clockwork toys produced a huge
variety of shapes, sizes and subjects. By Andrew
Leston.
'Objects
apparently
moving under
their own power
have entranced
people since the
discovery of
clockwork,
giving the
appearance of
magic and
mystery to the
uninformed.
Germany,
particularly the
Nuremberg area,
was among the
earliest and the
best supplier of
clockwork toys
to the whole
world...'
Dancing Dolls. Carved out of
light wood or bread dough with articulated legs,
these tiny dolls dance to the vibrations made by
musical instruments.
'I was a small
child when the
little dolls
were given to
me. An heirloom
from Grandma, I
was told, handed
down to me as
the only girl in
the family. They
were delicate,
but I could play
with them if I
was very careful...'
The Amazing World of Automata. Clare Blake
admires these ingenious contrivances and looks
into their surprisingly long history.
'Everybody likes
automata. There
is something
irresistibly
fascinating
about machines
that perform
detailed actions
in such a
realistic
fashion that we
almost conclude
that the
movement happens
by some form of
magic, or even
that they have
somehow evolved
to have a life
of their own.
The relationship
between automata
and man is a
long one, and
even before
automata were
actually made,
their idea
existed in
folklore and
legend across
the globe...'
