The Old Un’s Notes
It’s the pantomime season once more. Oh no, it isn’t! Oh yes, it is!
Pantomimes, growing out of commedia dell’arte, have been around in Britain since the 18th century.
The pantomime dame, always played by a man in outrageous costumes, first appeared in around 1806 in the show Harlequin and Mother Goose, also known as The Golden Egg.
Jack Tripp (1922-2005), an English comic actor, singer and dancer, performed as a pantomime dame in more than 35 shows. Described in The Stage newspaper as ‘the John Gielgud of pantomime dames’, he was born 100 years ago, on 4th February 1922, in Plymouth, Devon, the son of a baker.
A natural dancer, he was soon billed as ‘Plymouth’s Fred Astaire’.
He went on to become half of a popular double act with his on- and off-stage
