Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty is both a character in an English nursery rhyme and the title of numerous stage and film texts.

Known as Hompie Kedompie in Afrikaans.

The character

Its origins of the Humpty Dumpty character/tale/riddle are obscure, though several theories have been advanced over time. The Wikipedia entry on Humpty Dumpty describes him as "a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world....typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such".

The well-known rhymes appear to date from the late nineteenth-century in England.

Humpty Dumpty has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture over time.

Stage versions of the Humpty Dumpty tale

Numerous stage, film and TV versions of the basic tale, or versions using the character, have been done over the years.

For example, sthe character of Humpty Dumpty was popularised in the United States by actor George L. Fox (1825–1877)[]. According to Doug Reside, Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Fox's Humpty Dumpty (which opened at the New Olympic Theatre on Broadway on 9 March, 1868), was one of the most popular American pantomimes of the 19th century.

Doug Reside. 2011. Musical of the Month: "Humpty Dumpty" (1868), New York Public Library website[1]

Poster for the 1868 [2]