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    Posted

    Can anyone identify what this peg-legged not-so-ancient looking warrior is doing to make a few pence on Hyde Park Corner, ca. 1800? Is he wearing a Chelsea pensioner's uniform or his old regimentals?

    Above the squirrel? or rat? appears to be a row of small bells. Everyone I've shown this to is at a loss for words...

    Rgds

    John

    MVC-006S.jpg

    Posted

    Must be before the organ grinders were issued with monkeys and therefore had to take whatever they could find (in Greenwich park if he's a navy boy).

    Guest Rick Research
    Posted

    Hmmm.... squirel runs in cage ringing bells...

    but how does that connect with what looks like a peep show box?

    Early naughty moving pictures?

    Posted

    Hmmm.... squirel runs in cage ringing bells...

    but how does that connect with what looks like a peep show box?

    Early naughty moving pictures?

    Ahhhh Rick.... takes you back to your youth eh!!! Thank god for the internet!!

    Posted

    Nah Guys, :beer:

    he is a peg-leg maker using the latest squirel powered peg-leg shaver, depending which of the 3 sockets the wooden peg is placed in, affects the diameter of the peg-leg, a technical wonder for its day.

    The bells are rung to announce which stage the process is at by the squirrel.

    Having a real peg-leg operator was a major advertising advantage as the man could answer and potential customers questions with regards the items being made, such as a good wood for wet ground (particularly of interest to any one-legged swamp-dwellers from the Fens :speechless1: Do the straps chaffe . . .etc. . etc. .

    However a unscruplous company might hire a "civilian" dressed in military uniform as a cheap trick, accounts have been recorded, that when such a trick was discovered the man, machine and squirel were deposeted in the nearest cess-pit :speechless:

    Kevin in Deva :rolleyes:

    Posted (edited)

    He's operating a peep-show. (There's a picture of another one below.)

    Essentially it was a portable entertainment consisting of a box which could be carried on the back like a pack and a small folding table to stand it on. There was also a flap somewhere which could be opened to let in light. Customers looked through the round holes. Inside there might be a representation of a royal procession or a sea-battle painted on a long roll of paper. The showman would wind the roll across the field-of-view, giving a very primitive impression of movement or progression. The showman could them give a commentary. Other subjects could be the story of a notorous and recent "horrid murder" - the crime, the capture, trial, imprisonment and execution, etc.

    More sophisticated peep-shows used articulated images operated by rods, so sword-arms could slash, horses could gallop, and so on.

    The squirrel on the treamill, ringing the bells, is just an attention-getter!

    Tom

    peepshow.jpg

    Edited by Tom Morgan
    Guest Rick Research
    Posted

    :cheers:

    See? You people DOUBT my wide-ranging and Renaissance experience? :catjava:

    I told everybody I was "just doing research," but nooooooooooooooooooooooobody EVER believes the Good Ricky. :rolleyes:

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