Now that the Pantomime season is drawing to a close and the intelligent
student of this branch of Drama is tempted to pass it in review, it may
be useful to him to have a list of possible Pantomimes drawn up in a
tabulated form according to genus and species, that their finer
distinctions, so easily overlooked, may be the better apprehended. _Mr.
Punch_ has no hesitation in placing his nice erudition at the disposal
of his readers.
Pantomimes may be divided into those of a distinctly Oriental origin and
_milieu_ and those which are either associated with Occidental
localities or with none in particular. For convenience we may divide
them broadly and loosely into Oriental and Non-Oriental Pantomimes. Very
well, then.
I.--Oriental.
A. With a ship (_Sinbad the Sailor_).
B. Without a ship.
(a) With a cave.
(1) Password to cave, "Open Sesame" (_The Forty Thieves_).
(2) Password to cave, "Abracadabra" (_Aladdin_).
(b) Without a cave (_Bluebeard_).
II.--Non-Oriental.
A. With a ship.
(a) With a cat (_Dick Whittington_).
(b) Without a cat (_Robinson Crusoe_).
B. Without a ship.
(a) With a giant.
(1) With a cat (_Puss-in-Boots_).
(2) Without a cat.
(i.) With a bean-stalk (_Jack and the Beanstalk_).
(ii.) Without a beanstalk (_Jack the Giant-Killer_).
(b) Without a giant:
(1) With animals: sheep (_Bo-Peep_);
wolf (_Little Red Riding-Hood_);
goose (_Mother Goose_);
uncertain (_Beauty and the Beast_);
two children (_The Babes in the Wood_).
(2) Without animals.
(i.) With footgear: shoes (_Goody Two-Shoes_);
slippers (_Cinderella_).
(ii.) No particular footgear.
(a) With a "Jack" (_Jack and
Jill, Little Jack Horner, The House that Jack Built_).
(b) Without a "Jack" (The Sleeping Beauty).
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