In the 1950s Humanettes, as they were called, had a brief period of renewed popularity. I think they were originally a Victorian invention, but a booklet describing their construction and use was written by a magician (I think it was Will Blythe?) suggesting they be used as a novelty to be included along with the conjuring tricks, much as some magicians now use a vent doll, Punch & Judy or balloon models.
(The Heron Humanettes with "Jake the Peg") In those days work was plentiful and many magicians would do a full evening family show in a church or village hall and so need plenty of material. Many were versatile and had added skills such as chapeaugraphy, paper tearing, rag pictures, or juggling. Older magicians will probably remember Al Roberts and Dorothy who provided entertainment for Magic Club Annual Dinners throughout Britain. Their's was a wonderfully varied performance of old fashioned Parlour Magic, comedy, paper tearing, tap dancing, rag pictures (they made a splendid Laughing Cavalier Painting from bits of coloured felts stuck on a black velvet board, and then finished it off with an ornate golden frame), they sang, recited, performed a dramatic monologue,and Al did a Vent routine and they both worked marionettes and were altogether thoroughly entertaining. I remember once enquiring about booking them for an event.
They were booked solid for the next three years!. I never saw them perform with Humanettes or Punch & Judy but am pretty certain they had done both.
When I was about 8 years old I remember being taken to see a puppet show which turned out to be a Humanette Show. It was pretty boring for a child. The puppets were well made and costumed. The usual practice was for most of them to have stuffed arms and bodies with articulated legs animated by short rods from the heels through a slit in the backcloth. The head was a human head poking through a slit, with the body hanging from the collar which clipped round the performer's neck.
So you might have a Scotsman, the performer wearing a tam o' shanta and the doll wearing a kilt. He would sing a Will Fyfe song and finish with a tap dance. The curtain would drop while they changed the body of the puppet and the headgear of the performer. The puppets were nicely dressed, but the show was a series of character songs all ending with a tap dance. Sometimes (as in Miraiker's set up) there were two characters, or I did see one show with a line up of four. These puppets are a great novelty and can be very effective for a short act. But for a full show they were very boring even to a puppet enthused eight year old - and I'm pretty sure to anyone else.
You could buy a fit-up and full set of Humanette puppets ready to show from Gamages or Ellisdons in those days. I have a feeling that Michael Dixon (British Puppet Guild Archivist) has a set in his wonderful collection in Bridgnorth.