The History of the Punch and Judy Show
The history and tradition of the "Punch and Judy" show is a long and varied one, the following is a very brief introduction...
In 1662 the famed diarist Samuel Pepy's wrote in his diary that he’d been “mighty
pleased” by an Italian puppet show that he had seen near London’s Covent Garden. One of the entertainments
seen by Pepy’s may have been by the Italian puppeteer, Pietro Gimonde known as Signor
Bologna..
His marionette show took place inside a large tent and among his characters was
a beak-nosed hunchback called Punchinello. To English audiences he became plain
old Mr. Punch. Over the next century, puppeteers adopted the popular Mr Punch and
toured England with their shows. By the 1800’s however people had grown tired of
marionettes, but who ever first ”snipped” the strings from Mr. Punch and turned
him into a glove puppet is lost in the mists of time…
The cumbersome marionette theatres, needing many hands to operate, became a simple
one man show with a cast of just Mr. Punch, his wife Judy, their baby, a policeman
and eventually a crocodile. Mr. Punch’s squeaky voice or call is a traditional part
of the show and is usually considered incomplete without it…!
Continued!

I've Come a Long Way!