Polichinelle has married the rich mother Gigogne, but he beats her children or gives them away in payment of his own debts. Grigogne complains to his cousin Niflanguille and gives him his bag of money. Polichinelle takes it to buy a horse. But the Maquignon sells him a dangerous horse and steals the money bag. Niflanguille accuses Polichinelle of the theft; mother Gigogne wants to beat her husband, but it is Niflanguille who gets the blows. Gigogne promises her husband more money if he behaves like a father to his children. But as soon as a child refuses to eat, Polichinelle kills him and throws him out of the window. Gigogne wants to punish Polichinelle, so he kills her, Niflanguille and a magician. The surviving children attack Polichinelle who chases them away. The Devil arrives and takes Polichinelle away.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Printed

Marrying for money

Debt

Money

Child

Theft

Horse

Bad father

Bad husband

Large family

Farcical

Comical

French

Polichinelle

Mother Gigogne

Niflanguille

Marchand de chevaux

Pork butcher

Arlecchino

Magician

Baby doll

Devil

Animal

Blow-with-a-stick

Lazzi

Running gag

Final intervention of the devil

Character thrown out of the scene

Characterisation through onomatopoeia

Polichinelle et la Mère Gigogne

Polichinelle and Mother Grignon

Wanting to enjoy a quiet dinner with his friends, Galimar gives his servants, Guignol and Cadet, five francs and permission to stay out until midnight, so they decide to go to a restaurant. Meanwhile, Fanchette and Gnafron recount the pranks Guignol has played on them: leaving a restaurant without paying the bill, and borrowing a watch only to pawn it. To get their own back, they decide to set a trap for him by leaving an abandoned baby in his care. But Galimar adopts the child and gives Guignol and Cadet a hundred francs to find a nanny for him. Fanchette and Gnafron force Guignol to pay them back.

Not specified

Lyon

Typewriting

Revenge

Adoption

Pawning

Restaurant

Inheritance

Invitation

Swindling

Child abandonment

Le Poupon abandonné

L'enfant abandonné

Guignol

Cadet

Gnafron

Fanchette

Baby

Plot twist

Trap

Final song

Les Mésaventures de Fanchette

The Misadventures of Fanchette. The abandoned child

Alcide Cervi was a farmer. In 1934 he moved with his family to Gattatico, near Reggio Emilia, on a piece of land called Campirossi ("red fields"), which nobody wanted because it was infertile. He lives there with his nine children: seven boys and two girls. With hard work, they manage to make these fields prosper, and the family can afford to buy a tractor. The Cervi family is known for their anti-fascist political positions. After July 1943, when the Americans landed and Mussolini was arrested, all seemed well. But in November of the same year, a hundred fascists besieged the Campirossi house. The seven brothers try to resist, but they are arrested and eventually executed. As a sign of support and respect, Alcide Cervi never ceased to receive gifts from all sides: a Bible from the Fiat factory workers in Turin, a globe from the agricultural cooperative workers in Santa Vittoria, skittles for his grandchildren from some friends of the boules club. Finally, the puppeteer himself, Maurizio Bercini, wants to give Alcide a gift: a puppet with his features, with which he can transform pain 'into serenity and play'.

Polichinelle et la Mère Gigogne

Les Mésaventures de Fanchette

L'enfant abandonné

Cide

I doni di papà Cervi