This article brings an analysis of the history and development of variety and trick puppets in the Czech lands between 1850 and 1950 together with a discussion of the extant artefacts, with a particular focus on the mechanics of these special puppets and their innovations during the Modernist decades in a European context. Variety and trick puppets were also significant components of the traditional marionettists' productions and complement, and the article also considers the extant ephemera surrounding that tradition of performance.