A History of Pantomime

A History of Pantomime is a book of London, 1901, by R. J. Broadbent, who is named as the author of "Stage Whispers", and it is dedicated to William Wade, Esquire. The contents list includes Chapter I, Origin of Pantomime, and a Chapter II covering, among other topics, the meaning of the word Pantomime and the origin of Harlequin, Columbine, Clown, and Pantaloon. The Ostyak tribe of Northern Asia is given as a specimen of rude imitative dances in a Pantomimic exhibition of the Chase, and the Pantomimic dances of the Kamchadales imitate birds, dogs, and bears.

The text says that in Italy there were many varieties of Harlequin, the most notable being Trivelin and Truffaldin. The text says the hare's foot, denoting speed, has in all probability its origin in the winged cap of the god Mercury. In 1862, the text says, Fox was at the Bowery Theatre, and half a dozen years afterwards he produced "Humpty Dumpty" at the Olympic Theatre, New York, where it ran 483 nights.