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Four Feather Falls is a British children's western television series, the third puppet TV show produced by AP Films (APF) in association with Granada Television. It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The series was the first to use an early version of APF's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced between April 1959 and April 1960, and the series was first broadcast on the ITV network from February to November 1960.
Supermarionation is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films in its puppet TV series and feature films of the 1960s. These productions were created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed at APF's studios on the Slough Trading Estate. The characters were played by electronic marionettes with a moveable lower lip, which opened and closed in time with pre-recorded dialogue by means of a solenoid in the puppet's head or chest. The productions were mostly science fiction with the puppetry supervised by Christine Glanville, art direction by either Bob Bell or Keith Wilson, and music composed by Barry Gray. They also made extensive use of scale model special effects, directed by Derek Meddings.
Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's earliest known animated feature films were cutout animations, as is the world's earliest surviving animated feature Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reiniger.
Frederick Joseph Jones was a Canadian-born television presenter and folk musician, best known for his work in BBC children's television programmes Play School (1964–1973) and Fingerbobs in 1972.
The Sooty Show is a British children's television series, created by Harry Corbett, and produced for the BBC from 1955 to 1967, and then for ITV from 1968 until 1992. The show, part of the Sooty franchise, focuses on the mischievous adventures of the glove puppet character of the same name, alongside his friends Sweep and Soo, and their handler. Between 1955 and 1975, Corbett presented the programme until his retirement, before it was taken over by his son Matthew Corbett. It also co-starred Marjorie Corbett as the voice of Soo from the character's debut in 1964, until her retirement in 1981, whereupon Brenda Longman replaced her.
Sweep is a British puppet and television character popular in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and other countries.
Fingermouse is a British children's television programme created by Michael Cole for the BBC in 1985. It is a spin-off of the earlier series Fingerbobs. The first episode was broadcast on 25 September 1985 on BBC1. The eponymous star was a paper finger puppet in the form of a mouse, who would play various musical instruments with the help of Music Man, played by Iain Lauchlan. Fingermouse also went adventuring outside, interacting with other paper puppets made by artist Joanne Cole. The episodes were repeated frequently between 1986 and 1994. The series was also shown as part of the CBBC On Choice strand in 2000. For the 2000 repeats, the address to receive a instruction sheet was removed.
Pinky and Perky is a children's television series first broadcast by BBC TV in 1957, and revived in 2008 as an animated adaptation.
The Adventures of Twizzle is a British children's puppet television series produced by AP Films (APF) which premiered on the ITV network in 1957. Created and co-produced by author Roberta Leigh, it was filmed in Maidenhead between July 1957 and January 1958 on a budget of £23,400.
The New Gulliver is a Soviet stop motion-animated cartoon, and the first to make such extensive use of puppet animation, running almost all the way through the film. The film was released in 1935 to widespread acclaim and earned director Aleksandr Ptushko a special prize at the International Cinema Festival in Milan. The part of Gulliver was played by Vladimir Konstantinov, who was born in 1920 and died in 1944 near Tallinn in the Second World War. This was his first and only film role.
The Blue Meanies are the main antagonists in the surreal 1968 Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine. They are a fictional army of disagreeable beings that abhor all music, allegorically representing all the bad people in the world. Their visual appearance was mostly designed by Heinz Edelmann. Producer Al Brodax said that the Chief Blue Meanie resembled production coordinator Abe Goodman.
Super Friends is a 1973 animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera and National Periodical Publications. It is based on the Justice League comic books, and is the first incarnation of the Super Friends series.
Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in The Sooty Show in 1955. The main character, Sooty, is a mute yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky. Sooty performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and squirts his handler and other people with his water pistol. The franchise itself also includes several other puppet characters who were created for television, as well as an animated series, two spin-off series for the direct-to-video market, and a selection of toy merchandising.
Bear in the Big Blue House is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aired its last episode on April 28, 2006. Reruns of the program continued to air on Playhouse Disney until May 6, 2007.
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in ancient Greece.
Pelham Puppets were simple wooden marionette puppets made in England by Bob Pelham (1919–1980), starting in 1947. While mainly known for making marionettes, his company also manufactured glove puppets, rod puppets and ventriloquist puppets. The company ceased to trade in 1993 and some of its products became collectable.
Sooty's Amazing Adventures is a short-lived animated spin off series of the Sooty franchise which aired from 1997 to 1998. In this incarnation, he is a fully bodied bear free from the puppeteer's hand.
Joanne Cole was a British artist and illustrator. She most notably produced numerous children's books in the 1960s through to the 1980s. She also created artwork and puppets for British TV children's programmes. Together with husband Michael Cole they created Bod.
Michael Cole was a British writer. He created a number of children's programmes from the 1970s to the 1990s, including Alphabet Castle, Heads and Tails and Ragtime, for which he won a Society of Film and Television Award for Best Children's Programme. Together with his wife Joanne Cole, he created Bod, originally published as four books in 1965 and made into a TV show in the 1970s, as well as Fingerbobs and Gran.
References
- ↑ Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 102–105. ISBN 1903111277.
- ↑ "Simpsons tops kids' TV poll". BBC News. 28 August 2001.
