In the Pantomime of “Red Riding Hood,” written by F.W.  Green, and produced at Her Majesty’s Theatre, during the ’eighties, an effort was made to compose and invent a piece of pure Pantomime.  The Vokes family, J.T.  Powers, and others, appeared in this Pantomime.

In France and Italy particularly, the Mimetic Art still flourishes; but in this country it is practically a lost Art.  One of the best examples, and most successful, we have had in recent years of this ancient form of entertainment in this country was that of “L’Enfant Prodigue,” played by Mdlle.  Jane May and a French Company of Pantomimists.  There are, however, several other very brilliant Pantomimists excellent in their Art, like the Martinetti troupe, the two brothers Renad, and the Leopolds.

“It is a pity (observes Dickens, in ‘The Theatre’) that the knowledge of it (Pantomime) cannot be more extended among our modern actors and actresses, so few of whom understand anything about the effectiveness of appropriate gesture.  A few lessons in the business of Harlequin would teach many a young man, for instance, the simple lesson that arms may be moved with advantage from the shoulder as well as from the elbow; and so we should get rid of one of the awkwardest, ugliest, and commonest of modern stage tricks.  And there would be nothing derogatory in the study.  Many of our most distinguished actors have graduated in Pantomime.”

Mr. Davenport Adams, writing in “The Theatre,” for January, 1882, on the decline of Pantomime, says:—­

“We may say of present-day Pantomime that the trail of the music-hall is over it all.  I admit the extreme ability of certain music-hall comedians.  I object, however, altogether, to the intrusion of such artists into the domain of Pantomime, and I do so because they, and others not so able, bring with them, so to speak, an atmosphere which it is sad to see imported into the theatre.  They bring with them, not only their songs, which, when offensive in their wording, are sometimes made doubly dangerous by their tunefulness; not only their dances, which are usually vulgar, when they are not inane, but their style and manner and ‘gags,’ which are generally the most deplorable of all.  The objection to music-hall artists on the stage is, not only that they take the bread out of the mouths of ‘the profession,’ which is a minor consideration for the public, but that they have the effect of familiarising general audiences, and children especially, with a style and a kind of singing, dancing, and ‘business’ which, however it may be relished by a certain class of the population, ought steadily to be confined to its original habitat.  The managers are, of course, very much to blame, for it is by their permission, if not by their desire, that youthful ears are regaled with ‘W’st, w’st, w’st,’ and similar elegant compositions.  Such songs as these would not be tolerated by paterfamilias in his drawing-room, yet, when he takes his children to the Pantomime, they are the most prominent portion of the entertainment.”