Green
It's Not Easy Being Green
‘…it’s not easy being Green’ – sang Muppet Kermit The Frog.
You know I’ve often wondered what would happen if Kermit and Miss Piggy did actually get it together. Green Pigs? Pink Frogs? The mind boggles. In the film a Private Function, the authorities painted any illegal livestock ‘green’ to render it unfit for human consumption. So desperate were they, the people still ate it. Eat up your greens, their parents’ voices still echoed in their heads.
When it comes to Punch & Judy ‘green’ isn’t a colour one naturally associates with anything, save, obviously, the crocodile. But we’ve all seen pink crocodiles out there. It must have been an unfortunate pairing between a pig and a crocodile!
I own a black crocodile, which masquerades as a U-Boat but it wasn’t until I took possession of him, that my parents pointed out that he should have been grey. Rats.
Anyway, I know ‘carvers’ Fred Tickner and Bob Wade were insistent on Punch’s trousers being green but their argument doesn’t hold much water. As a proud owner of a set of Wade Puppets and a Tickner pairing of Punch and Judy, I can tell you green trousers don’t suit.
We traditionally associate Mr. Punch with red, yellow, blue, gold and black. Black trim stands out really well but never green. In one of my favourite books ‘Playing with Punch’ a live-action Punch, in human form, is imagined by author Frank Baker wearing a green smoking jacket but as far as I’m concerned, that’s about it.
I own a Beadle puppet. A rather splendid one at that. Not as splendid as the one that appeared on the Royal Mail’s stamps but splendid none-the-less. He arrived dressed in a plainish green costume, that never sat easy with me. When I had a Piccini / Cruikshank doctor made, I knew where that dress was going and so I redressed the beadle (here he is) and swapped over the green to the doctor Here he Is) and with a little fuss I think it suits the doctor rather well. The plain green looks really smart.
Now there is another Piccini character that suits green: The Negro Servant. Here is my version of him:-
Again, the costume does nothing to hide the greenness of the rendering (if I may be allowed to use such a word) and it’s another winner!
The term ‘negro-servant’ can and has, caused offence. I’m sorry for that. I think he’s a great character and I just love his scenes with Piccini’s Punch. I feel his long suffering existence and Punch’s treatment of him is pretty needless. With a set of puppets on display in the window of his then local Rochester building society, Bob Wade was called to answer for and to remove this label – the label of ‘Negro-Servant’… An argument ensued. Eventually the compromise of relabelling the character to read ‘Servant’ was agreed and calm restored. Green is a calming colour. My nephew’s childhood bedroom was painted bright red and I’ve never been surprised that he is continuously over-excited; is that why we dress Punch in red?
But periodically, consider green for some of the other characters; not the Policeman obviously but green is a nice colour. With a little bit of complementary decoration, the plainness will stand out well. And remember, there’s lots of shades available: Light, dark, Buckingham, Olive, Avocado, Pale, Forest, etc., That’s right, Fifty Shades of Green!
(Bet you didn’t see that one coming!)
April 2025 – 584 Words