Jig Dolls, Limberjacks or Les Gigueux
including:
Dancin' Dolls and Walkin' Mules

Jig Dolls or Les Gigueux are old and established traditional wooden or tin-plate 'toys' for adults and children alike.

Basically they are dolls with loose limbs that step dance or 'jig' on the end of a vibrating board or platform just like a real step or clog dancer.

Dancing dolls have always been popular street entertainment for hundreds of years. In old 18'th and 19'th c. London they were frequently seen operated by street entertainers or buskers. In the early 20'th c. old soldiers from the Great War sometimes busked with them to supplement their meagre war pensions.

Older versions dating back to the 1500s were known as a 'Poupee a la Planchette' or 'Marionettes a la Planchette.' These were dancing puppets operated by a horizontal string attached to the musician's leg, and which 'danced' on a board or 'planchette' on the ground as the musician tapped his foot. These were and still are popular street entertainment throughout Europe.

At some stage, possibly in the mid-1800s, the string was replaced by a wooden rod fixed into the back of the body, with the doll dancing or jigging on a vibrating board.

The East Anglian Traditional Music Trust reports that the earliest jig doll yet discovered is one from the Victorian Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace dating from 1851. "It is a female figure dressed in a skirt, petticoat, bodice and shawl, and is now in the Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, Yorkshire."

Today they can be seen in the UK, USA, Canada, Asia, and even in Australia. The best ones are home-made. Old ones can fetch high prices and have become collectors' items.

I first came across jig dolls when I was at university in Loughborough (1966-71), and when I was working for British Rail in Derby. At that time a folk duo Jacqui & Bridie were touring the Midlands. They had with them some jig doll replicas given by Jean Ritchie from her Appalachian family toys.

Then in the 1970s, when I was living in New Zealand, a visiting Canadian lady told me about those that she had seen in Canada and especially in Quebec. From then on I determined to acquire one or two. In the mid-1970s one of the first I purchased was unique as 'the man in the iron mask' from Sydney Folk Festival in Australia. Then in the 1980-90s, as I travelled the world as a member of BA staff, I built up quite a collection.

Now I have three Mr. Jollyboys from the early 1900s, and also many more modern ones from all over England, the Appalachians (USA), Quebec (Canada), and Sydney (Australia). These are used to entertain kids and adults at barn dances and festivals. I also have an amazing marionette of myself in the costume of the Reading Cloggies that operates a jig doll that in turn also operates a jig doll. This was made under commission from Ted & Kath Beresford.

Then in the 1980/90s, when I was involved with the Reading Cloggies and their annual Festival of Step and Clog Dance, I met the inimitable Pat and Rennie Pickles who also had a large collection of jig dolls. At nearly every Festival Pat would drive down from Yorkshire to set up an exhibition of these. After Rennie passed away Pat had a marionette puppet made by Ted & Kath Beresford that depicted Rennie operating a jig doll just as Rennie used to do. In the video [*] of 'Pat Pickles' Jig Doll Party' Pat operates this to good effect. [*] email me for details - CJB.

In the UK and Australia, a Jig Doll usually goes by that name or any of the following: Dancing Doll/Man - Clogging Man - Busker's Puppet - Clogger - Jigger - Mr.Jollyboy or Mrs. Jollygirl (a commercial version made by Dover Toys, UK) - etc.

In the USA, a Jig Doll would be called a: Dancing Doll/Man - Limberjack [*] or or Limberjim or Limberjill or Limbertoy - Paddle Puppet - Stick Puppet - Paddywacks. A more commercial version was called a: Dancing Dan or Dancin' Dan - Dapper Dan - Dancing Jo or Dancin' Jo - Stepping Sam or Steppin' Sam - etc.

[*] In the Appalachians the general term amongst the old-timers was 'dancing man,' however the term 'limberjack' may been introduced in the late 1800s when such home made toys started to  became commercially produced, rather like the 'Mr.Jollyboy' versions in the UK. The term may have come from its loose 'limber' method of dancing; and 'Jack' was the generic name for any boy (ref. the tradition of Jack tales).

In Quebec, Canada, the French-Canadians refer to these as: Les Gigueux - Bonhomme Gigueux - Gigueux de Bois - 'Marionnette et instrument de percussion' - etc.

In France the term Jack Agile is used.

In one old patent the term 'Manipulable Doll' was used.

Curiously there are no references to jig dolls in Ireland, despite the strong tradition(s) of step dancing in that country.

The above terms can all be search terms on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, eBay, etc. Also try searches on eBay such as 'dancing toy' - this will also pick up mechanical dancing toys some of which could be automated jig dolls.

For patent searches 'dancing toy' is a catch all search term. Other search terms can be someting like 'Dancing Man' or 'Dancing Man Toy' which are somewhat generic or perhaps 'Black Americana Toy' or 'Black Americana Wooden Dancing Minstrel', etc.

Jig dolls are essentially homemade, and now-a-days you can see versions like costumed sailors, costumed folk-dancers (like those in the picture from Les Sortilèges - a folk dance performing group from Quebec), African-Americans, Native Americans, Morris dancers (Cotswold and NW Clog), clog dancers, Punch & Judy, clowns, Uncle Sam, Cowboy, Confederate Soldier, Charlie Chaplin, Adolf Hitler (YouTube), a Scotsman in a kilt, Lady Godiva, Santa, Henry the Dog, other animals such as horses / horses / horses, pigs, bulls , chickens / chickens, dogs / dogs / dogs, frogs / frogs, bears, dinosaurs, a skeleton, a mule, and even a Spudhead, etc.

Ted Beresford makes wonderful marionettes that operate jig dolls.

Some Punch and Judy Professors also have jig dolls to attract an audience. One has a jig doll of Charlie Chaplin which may sometimes be seen at the annual Covent Garden Punch & Judy Festival in London.

In the UK many folk dance bands have a jig doll that may come out to entertain the audience in the interval of a barn dance. This is always a popular 'act' for any kids (and adults) present.

At other times you might see someone busking in the street with a jig doll. See 'Seth Davey' below.

If there is a live music session in a pub in England then a jig doll might make an appearance to step dance for the crowd. Equally likely in the past a regular feature of such a pub session would be step dancing by members of the audience. Now with the latest draconian and expensive licencing regulations in England, playing live music and step dancing is largely illegal and therefore banned. So in effect even 'playing' jig dolls in pubs or in public has been out-lawed by the English Government!

In Quebec, French speaking Canada, one (or more) jig dolls can feature as a percussion instrument for a folk dance band, even to the extent of the plank on which a doll 'dances' being fitted with a small mic. connected to the p.a.

Some antique clockwork tin-plate jiggers can fetch anything up to £2,000 (in 2009)!! Here's a link to a great jigging sailor.

An excellent index of magazine articles can be found at NLEINDEX. To obtain a copy of any magazine article contact your local public library or the publisher.

The basic versions of jig dolls are the homemade varieties with joints at the arms, elbows and sometimes the hands; or additionally with joints at the hips, knees and sometimes the ankles. The best dancing dolls have ankle joints with the toes slightly hanging below the heels.

Of course the nicest jig dolls are the homemade variety, sometimes whittled with a simple pocket knife.

Jig doll are still made in the UK. Their charm, and what makes them collectable, is that being homemade every single one is different.

In the Appalachian Mountains of the USA such toys were made locally in the mid-1800s right through to the present time. In olden times (maybe even now) such a dancing doll might be a child's sole possession. This still living tradition is illustrated in this remarkable set of slides: Dancin' Dolls and Walkin' Mules. The slide show is automated with a narrated sound tack; as soon as the sound starts simply click on the [Auto==>] button at the top of the display page.

One mistake some folks make is to glue the stick into the back of the doll. This is not a good idea and it makes packing up &/or posting difficult!!

All of the above varieties can be found in the various UK and USA Patent applications. There are two main websites for these: in the UK and the USA.

Patents

It is often wondered where these engaging 'toys' originated. I have a hypothesis that they were also created by sailors on the old windjammers, who when becalmed whittled (carved) these step dancing figures for their kids back home. The reasoning for this is that it was an English Master Mariner, one Harold Percy Rugg (of 127 Station Street, Burton-on-Trent in England) who on 14-Mar-1904 filed the first known patent for a dancing doll. The actual patent document with diagrams is here: GB190406198A.

A few years later an American electrician, one Harry William Thornton, Electrician (of Winona, County of Winona, State of Minnesota, United States of America) filed a similar patent on 06-August-1906 in the USA. The actual patent document with diagrams is here: US Pat. 845985.

Then on 02-Mar-1907 he also took out a similar patent in the UK. The actual patent document with diagrams is here:  GB190707725A.

It appears that this was eventually turned into a commercial version called Mr. Jollyboy by Dover Toys, of which examples can often be seen for sale on eBay.

Other Patents

All varieties of these dancing toys can be seen in the various patents for improvements of same. Usually these involve some kind of 'improvement' to the mechanical automation of vibrating the plank or plate upon which the doll dances; or maybe 'improved' mechanisms to rapidly vibrate the doll itself up and down with the feet just touching a static plate.

Over 450 possible patents can be found in the USA: US Patents.

Similar interesting patents can be found in the UK: UK Patents.

It appears that 'improvements' continued to be made from the late 1800s and indeed still continue right through to the present day. This is a particularly interesting one from 10-April-1975: US Pat. 3990178

According to recent sales on eBay jig dolls (under various guises and names) were also produced commercially in Taiwan and Japan.

Jig dolls usually dance on a thin vibrating plank. The operator then usually sits on one end of the plank on a rigid table top or a firm wooden stool. It can be placed so that it projects forwards between the knees, or out to one side. It needs to be long enough and springy enough to vibrate in time to the taps of the working hand and in time to the music. The doll is then usually held by a stick protruding from its back, so that its feet just touch the vibrating end of the plank. That's the easy bit. The hard bit is making the doll dance in time to the rhythm of the music; and also to swing its arms around (if they are so jointed at the shoulders). Like the bodhran playing a jig doll well is actually quite difficult and requires much practice.

For further informtion see: Chris Harvey's Jig Doll Circus - Tutorial.

Other dolls may be held by strings above the plank rather like a puppet. In fact a puppet with loose wooden feet makes an ideal jig doll.

Other mechanisms can make the doll 'dance' up and down such as a clockwork motor vibrating a metal disc upon which the doll is held (there used to be one of these in the window of the 'Mechanical Cabaret' in Covent Garden, London, now alas closed); or a clockwork driven vibrating rod inserted into the body of a tin-plate doll with the feet resting upon a fixed metal disc. I have a tinplate duck with an umbrella that jigs up and down on a drum - made in Germany; or even trickling dry sand that drives a paddle wheel that  vibrates the platform to make a static doll dance (ref: Ron Fuller).

There was even a type that danced on an old fashioned wind-up gramophone playing a 78 rpm record, the vibrations from the record groove caused a platform to vibrate, and thereby the doll's the feet, legs and arms to 'jig' around.

Craft stalls at Folk Festivals are the best places. Other Craft Fairs may have these - but you'll have to search every stall. Some modern toy shops may sell them - but they have not really caught on. You could try searching on the web. Antique shops may have them. In Appalachia (USA) you can usually purchase beautiful hand carved (whittled) jig dolls. In Quebec (Canada) many even have clothes including the traditional woollen woven waist band worn by step dancers. There are some factory made versions which lack any carving or decoration - they would be good to start with but they don't usually dance very well, or you could personalise one by whittling some features and then painting it. Frequently they can be purchased from specialist antique shops (at a price) or even through eBay. Or better still - you could make your own!!