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'Alice, Where Art Thou?' Magic Lantern Slide

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Description: Very rarely has such a forlorn scene been so enticing and beautiful. This magic lantern slide is a delicately hand coloured photograph and one of a set used by travelling lanternists who dazzled and entertained in town halls across the world. There was no cheap way of printing colour photography in the 1890s so each slide was done by hand by washing the slide, preparing specially thinned paint (to allow enough light to shine through) and finally coating the results with a protective varnish.

This slide references a lyric from the popular music hall song ‘Alice, Where Art Thou?’ which was first released in England in 1861. For this particular set of slides a lyric from the song was represented by an image (with the help of ‘Life Models’ who assumed the right poses!) A full set of slides covered the entire song. The lyrics may have fallen into obscurity but the tune remained popular. It was cut on early Edison cylinder recordings and even saw a resurgence as the theme to the 1970s/1980s comedy programme ‘Open All Hours’. But the original words still survive, and they went like this (the slide’s lyrics are in bold)

“The birds sleeping gently, Sweet Luna gleameth bright, Her rays tinge the forest, And all seems glad tonight, The wind's sighing by me, Cooling my fever'd brow; The stream flows as ever, Yet Alice, where art thou? One year back this even, And thou were by my side, One year back this even, And thou wert by my side. Vowing to love me, One year past this even, And thou wert by my side, Vowing to love me, Alice, what e'er might betide. The silver rain falling, Just as it falleth now, And all things slept gently, Oh! Alice, where art thou? I've sought thee by lakelet, I've sought thee on the hill; And in the pleasant wild-wood, When winds blew cold and chill. I've sought thee in forest, I'm looking heav'nward now, I've sought thee in forest, I'm looking heav'nward now. Oh! there, ‘mid the starshine; I've sought thee in forest, I'm looking heav'nward now, Oh! there amid the starshine, Alice, I know, art thou”

MAVtech’s slide was made by Bamforth and Company who were based in the English town of Holmfirth. They started making lantern slides in 1883 and later branched out into silent films and seaside postcards. In fact, the firm used some reworked ‘Alice, Where Art Thou?’ designs for some of their postcards! A search of ‘Papers Past’ reveals that the song was often sung in New Zealand shows in the 1890s, with references to its popularity well into the 20th century. By World War Two the ditty was still known enough for a group of British soldiers to name their army lorry ‘Alice’.

We know that the ‘Alice’ magic lantern show was performed in New Zealand and Manawatu newspapers from the 1880s to the 1900s record lantern shows being given in the name of education, amusement and children’s entertainment. Did ‘Alice’ get shown in Horowhenua? It is very possible!