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Not currently on display at the V&A

Humpty Dumpty

Set Design
1959 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Cutcloth showing a scene with 'The Tents of a Travelling Fair' in the pantomime Humpty Dumpty, London Palladium, 1959.

In 1947, Val Parnell took over the management of the London Palladium, one of the largest theatres in Britain. Under Parnell, the Palladium presented large-scale spectacular pantomimes until 1987 and became known as the Home of Pantomime due to its lavish productions featuring the biggest celebrity names of the time.

Humpty Dumpty starred Harry Secombe as Humpty Dumpty and Roy Castle as Simple Simon. The show’s scenery was designed by Tod Kingman and Edward Delany and was said to be so spectacular that, according to the Times, there were “times when the stage [could] almost be heard to creak under the loads of scenery.”
The Observer commended the production’s “imaginatively designed costumes and sets” and many newspapers, including the Guardian, described the finale to act one:
“The scenery is lavish without being too artistic, and the pageant of the four seasons ends in a wondrous snowfall, with the entry aloft of Father Christmas’s sleigh (real) which suddenly – when your heart is already in your mouth – bursts into twinkling lights, and tough men find they are gulping.” Guardian


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleHumpty Dumpty (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Gouache and watercolour and pencil on card.
Brief description
Cutcloth showing a scene with 'The Tents of a Travelling Fair' in the pantomime Humpty Dumpty, London Palladium, 1959
Physical description
Cutcloth showing a scene with 'The Tents of a Travelling Fair' in the pantomime <i>Humpty Dumpty,</i> London Palladium, 1959. The night time scene is painted in tones of purple, blue, pink and red. It features a series of tall circular tents with their high roofs surmounted by flagpoles and flags. Two small wooden painted carts stand to the left of the tents, the cart in the foreground is painted in tones of red and white and supported on large, round wheels. The scene is illuminated by a lantern which hangs from a wooden pole at the left side of the scene. A series of houses, suggesting the distant town, are visible in the background.
Dimensions
  • Widest part height: 30.2cm
  • Widest part width: 63.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
Transliteration
Credit line
Given by Roger Fox
Summary
Cutcloth showing a scene with 'The Tents of a Travelling Fair' in the pantomime Humpty Dumpty, London Palladium, 1959.

In 1947, Val Parnell took over the management of the London Palladium, one of the largest theatres in Britain. Under Parnell, the Palladium presented large-scale spectacular pantomimes until 1987 and became known as the Home of Pantomime due to its lavish productions featuring the biggest celebrity names of the time.

Humpty Dumpty starred Harry Secombe as Humpty Dumpty and Roy Castle as Simple Simon. The show’s scenery was designed by Tod Kingman and Edward Delany and was said to be so spectacular that, according to the Times, there were “times when the stage [could] almost be heard to creak under the loads of scenery.”
The Observer commended the production’s “imaginatively designed costumes and sets” and many newspapers, including the Guardian, described the finale to act one:
“The scenery is lavish without being too artistic, and the pageant of the four seasons ends in a wondrous snowfall, with the entry aloft of Father Christmas’s sleigh (real) which suddenly – when your heart is already in your mouth – bursts into twinkling lights, and tough men find they are gulping.” Guardian
Collection
Accession number
S.2548-2014

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Record createdDecember 23, 2014
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