The Old Showmen and the Old London FairsFrost, Thomas
History
The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs
Frost, Thomas
Fairs -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
In 1739, Bartholomew Fair was extended to four days, and there was a
proportionately larger attendance of theatrical booths. Hallam's stood
over against the hospital gate, and presented the pantomime of _Harlequin
turned Philosopher_ and the farce of _The Sailor's Wedding_, with singing
and dancing. Hippisley, Chapman, and Legar had a booth in George Yard,
where they produced _The Top of the Tree_, in which a famous dog scene was
introduced, and the mythological pantomime of _Perseus and Andromeda_.
Bullock, who had made his last appearance at Covent Garden in the
preceding April, had the largest booth in the fair, and assumed the part
of Judge Balance in a new pantomimic entertainment called _The Escapes of
Harlequin by Sea and Land_, which was preceded by a variety of humorous
songs and dances. Phillips, a comedian from Drury Lane, joined Mrs. Lee
this year in a booth at the corner of Hosier Lane, where they presented a
medley entertainment, comprising the "grand scene" of _Cupid and Psyche_,
a scaramouch dance by Phillips and others (said to have been given, with
great applause, on forty successive nights, at the Opera, Paris), a
dialogue between Punch and Columbine, a scene of a drunken peasant by
Phillips, and a pantomimic entertainment called _Columbine Courtesan_, in
which the parts of Harlequin and Columbine were sustained by Phillips and
his wife.
In 1740, Hallam, whose show stood opposite the hospital gate, presented
_The Rambling Lover_; and Yeates, whose booth was next to Hallam's, the
pantomime of _Orpheus and Eurydice_. The growing taste for pantomime,
which is sufficiently attested by the play-bills of the period, induced
Hippisley and Chapman, whose booth stood in George Yard, to present,
instead of a tragedy or comedy, a pantomime called _Harlequin Scapin_, in
which the popular embodiment of Molière's humour was adapted with success
to pantomimic requirements. Hippisley played Scapin, Chapman was Tim, and
Yates, who made his first appearance at Bartholomew Fair, Slyboots. After
the pantomime came singing and dancing by Oates, Yates, Mrs. Phillips, and
others, "particularly a new whimsical and diverting dance called the
Spanish Beauties." The performances concluded with a new musical
entertainment called _The Parting Lovers_. Fawkes and Pinchbeck also had a
theatrical booth this year in conjunction with a partner named Terwin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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