‘Tyson’

From the 1950s onwards lanterns depicting current events were becoming increasingly popular. They reflected matters of national and political as well as international interest. The members of Bronx Lantern Club (who were responsible for this lantern) were keen on physical fitness and ran a gym where they practised weightlifting and boxing in the late 1980s. This lantern depicts the famous boxing match in February 1990 in which the then-undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion Tyson lost to Buster Douglas. The figures on the lantern are all puppets manipulated by strings and rods from beneath the floor of the lantern.