1920s - 1930s.]. 4to blue printed glazed/waxed enveloped, 236 x 195 mm, containing a single sheet of instructions, again printed in blue 212 x 97mm, and with articulated chromolithograph card figure of Charlie Chaplin, legs hinged at the hip and knees with four metal pins; some creasing visible to figure though complete and with no loss, envelope and instructions a little creased and soiled; a good example. An appealing example of this popular optical card toy, an articulated cardboard cut out of Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), that can be made to ‘dance’ through the discreet and ‘magical’ use of black cotton, stretched across a room, and which when pulled, will make Charlie move.
The present example has no note of manufacturer or place of issue. It appears that a number of firms produced similar toys, including one by ‘The Lightning Company’ in London, and which came in a box, rather than as here in just a simple envelope, and also appears to have had jointed shoulders in addition to the jointed hips and knees.