Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters.

Benjamin Pollock produced 8 sheets of Pantomime Characters sometime late in the nineteenth century or early in the twentieth century. These mostly included the characters from the Harlequinades produced by JK Green, such as Harlequin and the Giant Helmet, Harlequin St George & the Dragon and Harlequin Greenheart. The new pantomime characters included all the old favourites, such as Harlequin, Columbine, Pantaloon, Clown and the occasional Sprite. These characters were interspersed by policemen in various comic poses.

The Policemen.

The policemen were most interesting characters. In Green’s original Harlequinades, he too had policemen, but these were more of the “Peeler” variety. In Pollock’s time of the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, few people would have been able to identify a “Peeler” as a policeman. Therefore Pollock had to create the policemen of the day. Deep in the vaults of Pollock’s Toy Museum I discovered an old pull from a plate. It contained just policemen, those same policemen appear on all of Pollock’s Pantomime Character sheets. These were definitely pantomime policemen. When coloured they wore the customary blue uniform, with round semi-pointed hats, but it was the shoes that made the difference. They were white with red stripes. These policemen so amused Sacheverell Sitwell when he visited Pollock’s shop with Diaghilev and the Russian ballet company that the characters were used throughout the ballet they created; “The Triumph of Neptune” as performed in 1926.

The Harlequinade Characters.

All the other characters that appeared on Pollock’s Pantomime Character sheets came from Green’s plays.

After many hours scrutiny I have tracked down every image to its original location. These are shown below.

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.1
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Harlequin	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	6
Top Row 2	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 3	Pantaloon	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	1
Top Row 4	Clown & Chinaman	Harlequin Robin Hood	5
Bottom Row 1	Clown & Pantaloon	Goody Goose	8
Bottom Row 2	Nursemaid & Clown with baby	Goody Goose	8
Bottom Row 3	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.2
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 2	Clown	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	8
Top Row 3	Tumbler	Uncle Tom’ Cabin	6
Top Row 4	Clown	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	8
Top Row 5	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Entire Bottom Row	Punch & Judy with Human Pyramid	Harlequin Robin Hood	5

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.3
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 2	Fishmonger & Clown with Fish	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	6
Top Row 3	Pantaloon	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	7
Top Row 4	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Bottom Row 1	Columbine	Goody Goose	8
Bottom Row 2	Clown & Pantaloon at Tea	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	7
Bottom Row 3	Harlequin	Goody Goose	6

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.4
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 2	Clown & Pantaloon	Goody Goose	6
Top Row 3	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 4	Pantaloon being carried by Clown	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	7
Bottom Row 1	Columbine	Goody Goose	6
Bottom Row 2	Clown with Union Flag	Harlequin Robin Hood	5
Bottom Row 3	Harlequin	Harlequin George & the Dragon	8
Bottom Row 4	Pantaloon & Clown – Polka Dance	Harlequin George & the Dragon	8

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.5
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Clown	Uncle Tom’ Cabin	6
Top Row 2	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 3	Pantaloon	Uncle Tom’ Cabin	6
Top Row 4	Columbine & Harlequin (dressed as a sailor)	Harlequin Robin Hood	7
Bottom Row 1	Columbine & Harlequin – dancing	Harlequin Robin Hood	5
Bottom Row 2	Pantaloon	Harlequin George & the Dragon	1
Bottom Row 3	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Bottom Row 4	Clown - smoking	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	8

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.6
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Clown on Ladder	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	7
Top Row 2	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 3	Clown	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	7
Top Row 4	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 5	Pantaloon	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	7
Bottom Row 1	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Bottom Row 2	Clown with meat cleaver & side of beef	Harlequin Robin Hood	6
Bottom Row 3	Pantaloon	Harlequin Robin Hood	7
Bottom Row 4	Columbine & Harlequin	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	7

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.7
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Clown	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	1
Top Row 2	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Top Row 3	Pantaloon	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	1
Top Row 4	Clown & Fishwoman	Harlequin George & the Dragon	8
Bottom Row 1	Harlequin & Columbine	Harlequin George & the Dragon	1
Bottom Row 2	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Bottom Row 3	Clown in hat	Harlequin George & the Dragon	7
Bottom Row 4	Pantaloon	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	6

Pollock’s New Pantomime Characters No.8
POSITION	CHARACTER	ORIGINAL PLATE	PLATE NO.
Top Row 1	Baker & Butcher - fighting	Harlequin George & the Dragon	7
Top Row 2	Clown	Harlequin George & the Dragon	7
Top Row 3	Pantaloon	Harlequin George & the Dragon	8
Top Row 4	Policeman	Pollock’s Policemen
Bottom Row 1	Harlequin & Columbine	Harlequin Oliver Cromwell	1
Bottom Row 2	Pantaloon	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	8
Bottom Row 3	Landlady & Clown	Harlequin & the Giant Helmet	8