World of Puppets - Watching With Mother

In post-war Britain, the BBC began a regular television service to the population. It was very different service to that which we know today. Male presenters were expected to wear black-tie-dress and women wore evening gowns. Programmes were transmitted live and in glorious black and white. Class distinction and the Home Counties accent ruled the day, and in 1947 only 34,000 television sets were in use.

Many traditional puppeteers greeted this new technology with excitement, believing it to be the ideal medium to bring their art to new audiences. However, simply transferring the puppet theatres’ performances onto the box proved to be ineffective. Often variety shows were the only place for a puppet performance. A new track was needed.

In 1946 a new superstar emerged onto the small screen. Described by The Daily Express as “the biggest personality in TV”, and oozing screen charisma, Muffin the Mule trotted onto television. Muffin, a string marionette, danced energetically on top of a piano, while Annette Mills played the music. The fifteen minute long children’s show revolved around normal everyday situations, such as Muffin’s bath day. He was a great success and ran on television until 1955. Just one week after Muffin’s retirement from acting, Annette Mills died after an operation at the age of 61. Muffin was a major part of the popular culture of the 1950s. The Observer newspaper wrote in 1949, “when a puppet like Muffin the Mule is on view I realise that television is one of the pictorial arts as well as a medium of instantaneous communication.” Not bad for a small wooden horse.

Muffin had various puppet sidekicks, but it was not until four years after his debut that the BBC came up with another immortal symbol. In 1950, Watch With Mother was lunched on the airwaves. Although the BBC had been making Muffin the Mule since 1946, their shows were aimed at children generally. Watch Wirth Mother was the first attempt to aim a series of shows at the pre-school child. The first programme to be included was the pale faced, blue stripped suited marionette Andy Pandy.

Andy Pandy was created by Maria Bird and Freda Lingstrom (who later became the head of children’s television at the BBC). Their aim was to provide a “friend” on the screen for the young viewer to relate to. As a child actor of three years old was impossible, a puppet built to the same proportions was the obvious choice. Originally a solo performer, Andy was soon joined by two more puppets - a bear called Teddy and Looby Loo the ragdoll. The trio lived in a large basket, to which they returned at the end of the show. As with Muffin the Mule, the tales were simple with no overall theme becoming apparent. All three puppets were mute, with the story unfolding by narration. As with all marionettes of this period, the strings were thick and intrusive. The children didn’t mind though, and were delighted. The eagerly watching youngsters were “invited to watch the movements of a simple puppet, naturalistic of form and expression.” The end song “Time to go home, time to go home, Andy is waving goodbye, goodbye” has embedded itself within the memories of generations.

Two years after Andy’s television premiere, another masterpiece was unveiled. Children saw in 1952 what really goes on in the gardener's potting shed when humans are not around. During this period, Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men come out to play. This time the marionettes did talk, albeit in an unintelligible language. Their odd conversations of “flibadob, flobadob” sparked controversy when parents complained that their little one’s speech was being impaired. Again the children didn’t care, and the show became well loved. Both Andy Pandy and The Flowerpot Men were repeated on our screens for almost two decades.

Many other puppets emerged during the early years of television, mostly marionettes, but one glove puppet was to outlive all opposition. Indeed he has not been off the small screen since his television debut, and has an entry in The Guinness Book of Records as the longest running show on British television. This character was a small, mute, orange bear called Sooty. Appearing on Talent Night in 1952, Sooty and his operator Harry Corbett became an instant success, (Although at this time he was simply called Teddy. Later, when his ears were blacked out with soot, he obtained his well-loved name). Shortly after Talent Night’s transmission, the Sunday Express raved “five minutes on the television screen last night established Harry Corbett’s teddy bear as rival to Muffin the Mule.”

Sooty was soon given his own series, entertaining generations of juniors. Unlike the majority of puppets at the time, the bear was very naughty. Often he would torment Harry, squirting his water pistol at anybody and everybody. Children viewed his antics with enjoyment and delight, their hero engaging in many things they wished they could do themselves. Sooty was axed by the short-sighted BBC in 1968, but found a new lease of life on independent television. However, the show has not had a trouble free run. Sooty has been accused of drug pushing when co-star, Sweep, was pushed into a tranquillising booth, and involved in sex scandal, when another co-star, Soo, pretended to be pregnant. The press, wanting a smutty angle on children’s television omitted the word “pretended” and put out front page headlines that Soo was pregnant. The makers were delighted with the fee publicity! But through it all, the children were glued to their television sets, and the show still flourishes today.

There are probably several reasons for the naughty little bear’s success. In today’s television, the marionette puppet has all but disappeared. This is a compete turnaround from the 1950s, when almost all puppets were marionettes. In our modern society, the string puppet looks old fashioned and outdated. Sooty started off as a simple show - one glove puppet controlled by his human co-star. As Sooty has continued over the years it has become more complicated. Today, aside from Sooty, there are three other main co-star puppets, together with moving cars and props. Far more complex than the original, but still easier, less time consuming, and therefore often cheaper than strings. Due to its appeal to the youngsters and its comparative cheapness, it can easily be seen why Sooty has survived, whilst others have been left in the midst of time.