Gnafron : Gnafron is a hand puppet from Lyon, companion of Guignol. In some pieces from the classical repertoire, he is Madelon's father. Amateur cobbler Beaujolais, he is traditionally depicted with an unshaven beard, red nose and cheekbones (which are evidence scarlet of his penchant for chopinaison), toothless mouth, wearing a crooked galurin, a scarf as a tie or a checkered or polka-dot bow tie, a hat or a cap and the cobbler's leather apron. A philosopher whose words are always full of common sense, he moderates the ardor of Guignol but likes to Party with him.
Origin: Gnafron is the first character created by the Lyonnais Laurent Mourguet according to tradition on November 22, 1804, but probably developed between 1804 and 1808.
At the start of the 1797th century, the Lyon silk industry was in crisis. A former unemployed canut, Laurent Mourguet became a peddler for a time, then a tooth-puller in XNUMX. He attracted his customers with Polichinelle, Colombine and Arlequin by improvising skits with these animated puppets. It also allows him to spare his future clients the fear caused by the cries of the patients.
(*) Canut: Worker, laborer who work in the weaving of la silk in Lyon.
Encouraged by success, he abandoned his pliers and embarked on a career as a puppeteer, in the company of Grégoire Lambert Ladret (known as Father Thomas), shoemaker, public entertainer and violin player, the latter having practiced in Paris with sheaths, technique simpler than those with threads and quickly adopted by Mourguet. When a quarrel separates the two acolytes, Laurent Mourguet decides to replace Polichinelle with an authentic canut, the puppet Gnafron, the shoemaker (gnafre in Lyon), inspired by his former accomplice...
Gnafron's first known puppet is on display at the Museum of Puppetry Arts, Lyon.
Gnafron is celebrated by the wineries as early as 1931 when a statue was erected in his honor at Beaujeu, capital of Beaujolais.