Punch and Judy's days numbered

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Punch and Judy are vanishing from beaches -- but 70-year-old puppeteer Bryan Clarke is convinced the roustabout shows are no dying art.

Clarke, who still stages his own shows and makes puppets for fellow performers, said "They are so old-fashioned and so old-hat but still conjure up fun for the children. The excitement in the kids is unbelievable."

But the days of Britain's traditional seaside holiday -- with donkey rides, sticks of rock candy, saucy postcards and a plate of cockles and mussels -- may be numbered.

A recent survey of young holidaymakers showed 60 percent considered the seaside holiday to be unfashionable.

Punch and Judy shows, first recorded by Samuel Pepys in his diary in 1662 and a stalwart of seaside resorts since Victorian times, found favour with just two percent.

Clarke reckoned that in their Victorian heyday there were over 300 permanent Punch and Judy shows around the country. Now, he reckons, there are no more than four.

"In the 70s, wherever you turned, you made money with them. But the seaside has been gradually going down in popularity. People are now going abroad on cheap package holidays," he told Reuters.

Punch and Judy also fell victim to political correctness, with some local councils arguing that the plotline -- the anarchic Mr Punch chucking away his crying baby and walloping his wife -- promoted domestic violence.