Wooden TV Stars from The Past

By: Jon Skinkis
Submitted: 2008-02-25 22:27:33
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The start of black and white TV are at least five decades in the past. But even then there were stars of TV that were known throughout the country. I'm not talking of your Georgie Bests or The Beatles, no, these stars were much simpler than that. They were made up from pieces of carved wood and fine nylon wires. They were the puppets that children came to love and couldn't wait to see on TV.

At the start of the nineteen fifties one of the first characters to appear on children's TV was Muffin The Mule who sat on a table, with Annette Mills singing the songs and Ann Hogarth as the puppeteer.

Bill and Ben the flowerpot men came to the TV around the mid fifties with their friend little weed. Bill and Ben had wooden frames and a pot as a body. They were to be seen at the end of the garden behind the shed  only coming out to play when the farmer went home for his dinner. Little weed would let them know when the farmer was on his way back so they could get back in their pots to hide.

Around the same time The Woodentops arrived. While Daddy Woodentop was busy doing 'men's work', Mummy Woodentop was busy in the kitchen with assistance from Mrs Scrubbit. The Woodentop children were twins Jenny and Willy and baby Woodentop who resided in the arms of Mummy Woodentop. The family was complete with Sam who helped Daddy Woodentop in the fields, Buttercup the Cow and a rascal of a hound called Spotty Dog, famed for his strange bark and mechanical movements. He was 'the biggest spotty dog you ever did see'.

Around about the nineteen sixties came Andy Pandy with his friend Teddy, they enjoyed most of their time in a garden, whilst Looby Loo a rag doll would spend most of her time in the house cleaning, or hiding away if Andy Pandy or Ted would dare go near her. They were all brought out to play by Maria Bird and songs were sung by opera singer Gladys Whitred.

Come the late sixtees to early seventies most of these programmes were being taken off the TV but there were two that would make a brief comeback, one on a revamped TV series and one on the big screen. Bill and Ben came back with a full makeover in the year 2000 on TV and ran for 13 episodes. The Magic Roundabout however made it to the big screen in 2005. The storyline, the group of friends embark on a dangerous journey in an effort to imprison their oppressor -- the evil wizard ZeeBadee.

With these programmes being re run, toys made from wood are in the limelight and some of the figures in the TV series can be found on websites that sell wooden toys.

Article source: Expert Articles