Summary

Alternative Name(s); Children's Slide; Magic Lantern Slide

Slide, part of a toy lantern projector set manufactured by Ernst Plank, featuring scenes from 'Puss in Boots'. The slide is circular and the images are projected as the slide rotates within the projector.

Ernst Plank, the manufacturer, was founded in 1866 and produced tin toy trains and boats, as well as magic lanterns. At one time the company was the second largest manufacturer of magic lanterns in Nuremberg, Germany. Nuremberg was a major centre for metal toy production and export in the latter part of the 19th century and up to World War I. Ernst Plank survived the War but gradually phased out magic lantern production in the 1920s.

Part of the Francis Collection of pre-cinematic apparatus and ephemera, acquired by the Australian and Victorian Governments in 1975. David Francis was the curator of the National Film and Sound Archive of the British Film Institute as well as being a co-founder of the Museum of the Moving Image in London, which was operational between 1988 and 1999.

Description of Content

Disc-type slide with six images around a yellow and red central motif, surrounded by inscription. The six images are: 1. Man and woman with another man behind, dressed in Tudor-style clothing. Tiled floor; spiral column behind. Appearance of wedding. 2. Man in red chair, wearing conical hat. A green figure (apparently not human) bows before him. 3. Cat standing on its hind legs, wearing long black boots, hat and possibly a nosegay. Three people stand to the left, looking at him - possibly two boys and a girl. Large building appears behind - perhaps a cathedral. 4. Cat standing on its hind legs in front of a large tree, wearing long black boots and hat. Its arms are raised. A person watches from behind the tree. 5. Man in red robe with ermine, seating on red chair - apparently a king on a throne - addressed by a cat standing on its hind legs. An attendant in blue and yellow stands to the right of the king. Tiles floor suggests interior. 6. Cat standing on its hind legs, holding a pair of bellows (or similar). A man in a red vest, white shirt, hat and trousers stands to the right. A house is depicted behind them.

Physical Description

Disc type lantern slide composed of six circular colour images printed on glass with opaque background. Scratched across surface. Metal rim around edge.

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