As I watch this, I look on a shelf above my desk and see a boxset of DVDs with a couple of dozen or so of the 'Watch With Mother' shows on them. Monday to Friday, they were 'Picture Book or Muffin the Mule'; 'Andy Pandy'; 'Bill and Ben'; 'Rag, Tag and Bobtail' and 'The Wooden Tops'. The dates shown on the clips are much later than when I watched them from '52 to '55. My wife saw the in a Charity Shop and thought that with me going into my second childhood at the age of 74, I should have a permanent reminder of my first one! Only a woman would think that way! Bless her.
Every time i see a Dalmation I remember Spotty Dog. I cried and cried when they all climbed back into the basket and that song "Time to Go Home." I had a Muffin the Mule string puppet, and an Andy Pandy toy. So many memories. Another, kinder, world.
What a beautiful well spoken girl. When we look back on the past, like this, we can see just how much we have lost in manners and diction and much more. Very sad. TEMPORA MUTANTA NOS MUTAMUR IN ILLIS.
@Henry Black Probably correct. Which is why it eventually disappeared. They sound ridiculous, like they'd all got something stuck up their backsides. Even as a kid I thought they sounded weird. I remember the first time I heard Bernard Cribbins and Johnny Morris and thinking "at last, people who sound fucking NORMAL for once. We had to wait decades before a female voice came on that kids could actually relate to.
Well, that was so sweet! This Yank began watching the TV at about the same time in the early 1950's and I am sure I would have loved this program. Thanks so much for sharing!
What a wonderful collage of nostalgia, had completely forgotten about Meet The Penguins !.The only thing missing from this era was The Bumblies with Michael Bentine .
Glenn Johnson I remember all these programmes of the time.Feels like i have just travelled back in a time machine.The wonderful 50`s.Thanks for these wonderful film clips.These all survived as they were all shot on film.
nnifer when i was a child watching her on TV well I got her..my daughter Jennifer is now 38 and has just had her own baby Ruby and now will have my most teasured book..Jennifer and the Flower fairies.my dad bought me in 1954.Wish i knew where she is now wate joy she gave me. thanks Jennifer Gay.xx
Good grief, Larry the Lamb! I was born in 1971 and remember the version that was (presumably) made in the late 1960s. I knew Larry the Lamb started out on radio but had no idea stories featuring him and Dennis the Dachshund had been televised before that.
Toytown started out on Children's Hour (radio) in the 1930s and Larry was voiced by Derek McCulloch (a.k.a. Uncle Mac). The radio recordings survived until the early 1960s when radio Children's Hour ceased. The interesting thing is that Hulme Beaman also illustrated the series and he drew the characters as marionettes or wooden toys (similar to the clip). I still recall Mr Growser the grocer: "It's disg-r-r-r-r-raceful! it ought not to be allowed!
Such a soothing voice - I could listen to that 24 hours a day !! Very pretty face - looks very much like a younger Queen Elizabeth, before she took the throne.
Oh how history has not been kind to vintage British television, so thank the Lord that this episode never became a television casualty like so much of its kind! 😊
I was told that there was almost an uprising when Children's Hour was reduced to 55 minutes, to give time for Shipping Forecasts. (What ever they were!)
I tried sharing this on FB and it wouldn't let me, saying it had content that people had reported as being abusive, what narrow mind people have, this is pure innocence, it's only abusive if you have twisted thoughts. :( .
Yes indeed. Ms. Gay was very attractive and made an impression of great modesty and poise - sorely missed qualities in today's world. Very attractive indeed. I must have been about 5 years of age when she recorded this film and, in this connection, I must make a very delicate confession(!). At THAT time, when she was shown in close-up, my nose was pressed - very tightly - to the television screen. I was hoping for a fleeting, feather-like contact with her countenance. But - woe is me - this was never to be! That's why I've got another profound confession to make ..... I've recently spent hours upon hours, repeating the above proceedure between 0:36-0:58 ! My best wishes now, belatedly, to Ms. Gay. Regards, Horatio Nelson.
As a council estate child I watched these children’s programmes and copied the way they spoke. I was “educated” to raise myself out of what would today be considered a deprived area. This was what the BBC was supposed to do. These days it’s programmes are dumbed down to the lowest level of society who will never have anything to aspire to and be kept down which is probably the plan all along.
it was the end of the "end of the pier" at the end of the pier then we transferred to th Windmill in Great Yarmouth, Jack Jay's theatre. Promotors were Arthur Lane and Audrey Lupton, I would love to hear ny stories about Nat Jackley and his world, Nat was a great chap!
Hi Michael, I remember back in the mists of time a children's show called 'Four Feather Falls' which was a very early Gerry Anderson Production (he of thunderbirds etc fame) which was based on a Western puppet character, probably in the early sixties, but I cant say I have ever heard of ''The Magic Feather, perhaps others have.
I am chuckling at the thought of the English performers and pop stars I loved to watch as a child on US TV in the 70s themselves watching these programmes when they were children in the 50s. I guess until 1955, this was the only game in town for kids like Michael Palin and David Bowie, eh?
Yes, I remember all this stuff, even though by the time we got a telly I was a bit too old for most of it. These shows were recorded, and on endless rotate for much of the fifties. Schedule in 1957: Mondays: Picture Book Tuesdays: Andy Pandy Wednesdays: Bill and Ben Thursdays: Rag, Tag and Bobtail Fridays: The Woodentops. Picture Book had a tie-in publication called "Making Things With Patricia Driscoll" (one of the presenters). My sister was given a copy. That over-long 30-second intro at the beginning of this clip must have saved hundreds of pounds' worth of script writing and filming over the years. (ITV had something similar - a circular railway with a train carrying all sorts of figures.) Don't remember ever seeing Jennifer G; before my time, I guess. Likewise the Penguins. Have to agree they didn't look much chop. Pinky and Perky never appealed either, until they "got with it" and started having the puppets dance and mime to current pop hits. (From 1964 on there was even a puppet beat group on their show, called The Beakels.) Looks as though some of the characters Jennifer mentions haven't survived on film. Hank was a cowboy with a cheeky nephew called Cassie and a cliche-Mexican enemy, whose name I forget. And there was Prudence Kitten, who appeared to understand everything her human co-performer said, but only ever answered "miaow". Even in our pre-TV days I'd heard of Muffin the Mule. The girl next door had a Muffin puppet, which I was once allowed to borrow for a few days (and which had to be hastily returned when I started whacking it in frustration at being unable to make it walk or dance properly!!).
I maybe two years late to reply to you. But I would like to say, that I'm pretty sure that Hank the Cowboy's Mexican rival was actually called 'Pete'. I know this because I just watched the 'Dinosaur' episode today here on RUclips.
@@0b13F4st3 Ha ha, yes .... Mexican Pete! A sly nod perhaps to a certain well-known bawdy ballad (which we well-sheltered 1950s kids would naturally have known nothing about)?
And to think she did that voxpop at a primary school in Birmingham for the 1964 General Election that appears on "From Headlines to Tight Lines" the story of "ATV Today".
My goodness those Penguins were seriously NAFF puppets, weren't they? Things is, I remember being about seven and thinking they were not up to much even back then. Children do have an eye for quality and can tell when they don't get it,.... (a mantra within children's broadcasting.)
There was even talk from concerned parents at the time regarding fears that kids would only be able to speak Bill and Ben Lingo.. Just like what later happened with the Teletubbies...
Before Jim Henson, puppeteers had to take what they could get to make their characters look charming without being too uncanny, with interesting results
Who remembers the BBC television serial of Heidi shown in the 1950's. She was played by a little girl with short curly hair and I wonder if anyone knows her name and if the series is available on video or dvd ?
SHIRLEY WILLIAMS "Heidi" was shown live on BBC in 1954 and starred Julia Lockwood in the title role. She was the daughter of the British film star Margaret Lockwood. As the series was live it is unlikely there are any recordings as this was an age before such things had been thought of!!
+SHIRLEY WILLIAMS I do remember the series, and in particular the Swiss folk song "The Old Chalet" which featured in it. I expect somebody here has the whole thing recorded on DVD!
+Sue Hunt Unfortunately Alan is probably right. The only means of recording in those days was film, film was expensive, and was therefore normally reserved for programmes considered to be of historic importance. Childrens' TV seldom figured on that list. I have however seen film of Annette Mills and Muffin the Mule (though never a mention of the puppeteer Anne Hogarth), and some people seem to have unexpected clips tucked away. So keep looking. Something may turn up one day.
Ah yes, I remember watching and listening to these southerners with their speech defects - Watch with Mother, Listen with Mother and the rest. Even after years, they couldn't manage ordinary pronunciation. The BBC, based and operating almost entirely in London, was a refuge for the terminally ineloquent.
So nostalgic, but they DID get away with some terrible rubbish back then. Pinky & Perky! Grim, but if you were drunk or worse, you could laugh yourself crazy at the awfulness of it.
Развлечения
I still remember the wonderfull roundabout about 1956 lol the wooden tops were real i was 5 years old ,thanks for the film 😊😊
How calm and gentle it all is compared to what very young children watch today.
As I watch this, I look on a shelf above my desk and see a boxset of DVDs with a couple of dozen or so of the 'Watch With Mother' shows on them. Monday to Friday, they were 'Picture Book or Muffin the Mule'; 'Andy Pandy'; 'Bill and Ben'; 'Rag, Tag and Bobtail' and 'The Wooden Tops'. The dates shown on the clips are much later than when I watched them from '52 to '55. My wife saw the in a Charity Shop and thought that with me going into my second childhood at the age of 74, I should have a permanent reminder of my first one! Only a woman would think that way! Bless her.
Every time i see a Dalmation I remember Spotty Dog.
I cried and cried when they all climbed back into the basket and that song "Time to Go Home."
I had a Muffin the Mule string puppet, and an Andy Pandy toy. So many memories. Another, kinder, world.
Jennifer Gay is now 87 (in November 2022)
Born: September 22, 1935 in London, England
Oh that is Libra and they always have the loveliest voices!
Pinky and Perky. Bless them. And my favourites The Flowerpot Men.
What a beautiful well spoken girl. When we look back on the past, like this, we can see just how much we have lost in manners and diction and much more. Very sad. TEMPORA MUTANTA NOS MUTAMUR IN ILLIS.
Such memories lm in tears right now - such a gentler time. Thankyou my Friend. 🇬🇧❤️🇦🇺
What a lovely voice she has! I am an American and would be happy to listen to this young woman speak all day. This is too cool.
Back then in Britain that was pretty much the only accent they allowed on telly.
Yeah upper middle class , needs to take that plumb out of her mouth as us working class say
what a lovely voice...and all spoken in the finest british english
Paresh Panditrao And nowadays people think American English is cool. Sounds scratchy to me.
@Henry Black Probably correct. Which is why it eventually disappeared. They sound ridiculous, like they'd all got something stuck up their backsides. Even as a kid I thought they sounded weird. I remember the first time I heard Bernard Cribbins and Johnny Morris and thinking "at last, people who sound fucking NORMAL for once. We had to wait decades before a female voice came on that kids could actually relate to.
Give me RP over dreary local accents any day. Even Doctor Who speaks like a yokal these days.
@TheRenaissanceman65 RP is received pronounciation, lad. It's the definition of contrived.
Well maybe not Bill & Ben
Ah, a wonderful wallow in nostalgia. I remember all that.
Well, that was so sweet! This Yank began watching the TV at about the same time in the early 1950's and I am sure I would have loved this program. Thanks so much for sharing!
Wonderful. Brings back lovely memories.
What a wonderful collage of nostalgia, had completely forgotten about Meet The Penguins !.The only thing missing from this era was The Bumblies with Michael Bentine .
Glenn Johnson I remember all these programmes of the time.Feels like i have just travelled back in a time machine.The wonderful 50`s.Thanks for these wonderful film clips.These all survived as they were all shot on film.
The dancing piggies really got me and accompanied by a Hammond organ, what a great sound.
Sounds like it was a Novachord!
Pinky and Perky. They git into trouble in the early sixties for singing a song that made fun of the forthcoming general election.
Every memory of the past is golden
nnifer when i was a child watching her on TV well I got her..my daughter Jennifer is now 38 and has just had her own baby Ruby and now will have my most teasured book..Jennifer and the Flower fairies.my dad bought me in 1954.Wish i knew where she is now wate joy she gave me. thanks Jennifer Gay.xx
It is surprising how drastically different kids' TV is now.
How innocent we were back then.
Soo sweet, and novel! Just what small children need, not the vile Disney Jr.!
Good grief, Larry the Lamb! I was born in 1971 and remember the version that was (presumably) made in the late 1960s. I knew Larry the Lamb started out on radio but had no idea stories featuring him and Dennis the Dachshund had been televised before that.
Toytown started out on Children's Hour (radio) in the 1930s and Larry was voiced by Derek McCulloch (a.k.a. Uncle Mac). The radio recordings survived until the early 1960s when radio Children's Hour ceased. The interesting thing is that Hulme Beaman also illustrated the series and he drew the characters as marionettes or wooden toys (similar to the clip). I still recall Mr Growser the grocer: "It's disg-r-r-r-r-raceful! it ought not to be allowed!
Such a soothing voice - I could listen to that 24 hours a day !! Very pretty face - looks very much like a younger Queen Elizabeth, before she took the throne.
Born in 1939 I grew up with these programmes on our little black and white TV.
Malcolm Dale Black and white television is boring!
@@leahrowden3939 No it isn't!
I'm 34 by the way...
christopher lockery How dare you say that?!
@@leahrowden3939 Well we can agree to disagree...
If anything you've got a good taste in music.
Brilliant !!!!! Many thanks, John.
Oh how history has not been kind to vintage British television, so thank the Lord that this episode never became a television casualty like so much of its kind! 😊
these were shot by the BBC film unit so a stronger chance for survival over video tape
Strange how Pinky and Perky and Bill and Ben were both rebooted in the 2000's
Yes. Very badly, unfortunately.
Bringing up little tories during the 50s and 60s
I was told that there was almost an uprising when Children's Hour was reduced to 55 minutes, to give time for Shipping Forecasts. (What ever they were!)
Fascinating. This was my childhood.
I tried sharing this on FB and it wouldn't let me, saying it had content that people had reported as being abusive, what narrow mind people have, this is pure innocence, it's only abusive if you have twisted thoughts. :(
.
The dancing piggies 🐷 made my day!
+Carlos Leiva ... Those dancing piggies look like Pinkie and Perky - two legendary piggy puppets.
Love the Novachord; it just matches perfectly.
@@SuperGingernutz They sure do look like they belong together...
Their names were Pinky and Perky
Good heavens, you could cut diamonds with her accent
I remember all of that great stuff. lol.
Yes indeed. Ms. Gay was very attractive and made an impression of great modesty and poise - sorely missed qualities in today's world. Very attractive indeed. I must have been about 5 years of age when she recorded this film and, in this connection, I must make a very delicate confession(!). At THAT time, when she was shown in close-up, my nose was pressed - very tightly - to the television screen. I was hoping for a fleeting, feather-like contact with her countenance. But - woe is me - this was never to be! That's why I've got another profound confession to make ..... I've recently spent hours upon hours, repeating the above proceedure between 0:36-0:58 !
My best wishes now, belatedly, to Ms. Gay.
Regards,
Horatio Nelson.
She is now 85 and still lives in Hampstead London
As a council estate child I watched these children’s programmes and copied the way they spoke. I was “educated” to raise myself out of what would today be considered a deprived area. This was what the BBC was supposed to do. These days it’s programmes are dumbed down to the lowest level of society who will never have anything to aspire to and be kept down which is probably the plan all along.
I worked with Nat Jackley as a stooge, I was ASM in Music Hall at the Palace in Brighton.
it was the end of the "end of the pier" at the end of the pier then we transferred to th Windmill in Great Yarmouth, Jack Jay's theatre. Promotors were Arthur Lane and Audrey Lupton, I would love to hear ny stories about Nat Jackley and his world, Nat was a great chap!
Does anyone else remember 'The Magic Feather'? A kind of western puppet show which was my favourite.
Hi Michael, I remember back in the mists of time a children's show called 'Four Feather Falls' which was a very early Gerry Anderson Production (he of thunderbirds etc fame) which was based on a Western puppet character, probably in the early sixties, but I cant say I have ever heard of ''The Magic Feather, perhaps others have.
I am chuckling at the thought of the English performers and pop stars I loved to watch as a child on US TV in the 70s themselves watching these programmes when they were children in the 50s. I guess until 1955, this was the only game in town for kids like Michael Palin and David Bowie, eh?
Yes they watched these programmes.
The Hammond organ never fails to bring a mid-20th drive
Memories!!
Pinky and Perky, how right you are Matt571. (Did anyone like them ?)
Besides all that, what a charming post. thank you David Jones.
Yes, I remember all this stuff, even though by the time we got a telly I was a bit too old for most of it. These shows were recorded, and on endless rotate for much of the fifties. Schedule in 1957:
Mondays: Picture Book
Tuesdays: Andy Pandy
Wednesdays: Bill and Ben
Thursdays: Rag, Tag and Bobtail
Fridays: The Woodentops.
Picture Book had a tie-in publication called "Making Things With Patricia Driscoll" (one of the presenters). My sister was given a copy.
That over-long 30-second intro at the beginning of this clip must have saved hundreds of pounds' worth of script writing and filming over the years. (ITV had something similar - a circular railway with a train carrying all sorts of figures.)
Don't remember ever seeing Jennifer G; before my time, I guess. Likewise the Penguins. Have to agree they didn't look much chop. Pinky and Perky never appealed either, until they "got with it" and started having the puppets dance and mime to current pop hits. (From 1964 on there was even a puppet beat group on their show, called The Beakels.)
Looks as though some of the characters Jennifer mentions haven't survived on film. Hank was a cowboy with a cheeky nephew called Cassie and a cliche-Mexican enemy, whose name I forget. And there was Prudence Kitten, who appeared to understand everything her human co-performer said, but only ever answered "miaow".
Even in our pre-TV days I'd heard of Muffin the Mule. The girl next door had a Muffin puppet, which I was once allowed to borrow for a few days (and which had to be hastily returned when I started whacking it in frustration at being unable to make it walk or dance properly!!).
I maybe two years late to reply to you. But I would like to say, that I'm pretty sure that Hank the Cowboy's Mexican rival was actually called 'Pete'. I know this because I just watched the 'Dinosaur' episode today here on RUclips.
@@0b13F4st3 Ha ha, yes .... Mexican Pete! A sly nod perhaps to a certain well-known bawdy ballad
(which we well-sheltered 1950s kids would naturally have known nothing about)?
And to think she did that voxpop at a primary school in Birmingham for the 1964 General Election that appears on "From Headlines to Tight Lines" the story of "ATV Today".
That is the only other bit of footage that I have seen of her and she only appears briefly at the end.
2:58 the melody was played on what I believe a Hammond Series 1 organ on a drawbar preset.
My goodness those Penguins were seriously NAFF puppets, weren't they? Things is, I remember being about seven and thinking they were not up to much even back then. Children do have an eye for quality and can tell when they don't get it,.... (a mantra within children's broadcasting.)
It is amazing how film has improved over the years.
This could be the first BBC puppet show for kids
She sounds a bit like the Queen.
The Queen sounds like a Teesside docker by comparison.
@@gwishart 😂👍
The Sad Story of Henry 1953
the old cbbc
Those Flowerpot men reminded me of Teletubbies.
There was even talk from concerned parents at the time regarding fears that kids would only be able to speak Bill and Ben Lingo..
Just like what later happened with the Teletubbies...
Before Jim Henson, puppeteers had to take what they could get to make their characters look charming without being too uncanny, with interesting results
If anyone has any meet the penguins clips it would be appreciated, my grandma would love to watch before she dies
I was born in 1958 so I really don't remember anything until the 60's I suppose
Mary Whitehouse must have had a warped imagination when she complained about Andy and Teddy sharing a basket.
Baby channel !!! 😭😊☺️😍🎉❤
I can barely find any information on "Meet the Penguins". Anyone have some info on it?
8:07 Muffin the Mule Song
Who remembers the BBC television serial of Heidi shown in the 1950's. She was played by a little girl with short curly hair and I wonder if anyone knows her name and if the series is available on video or dvd ?
SHIRLEY WILLIAMS I remember it being on.
SHIRLEY WILLIAMS "Heidi" was shown live on BBC in 1954 and starred Julia Lockwood in the title role. She was the daughter of the British film star Margaret Lockwood. As the series was live it is unlikely there are any recordings as this was an age before such things had been thought of!!
+SHIRLEY WILLIAMS
I do remember the series, and in particular the Swiss folk song "The Old Chalet" which featured in it. I expect somebody here has the whole thing recorded on DVD!
Ian Hawthorn Thain y
+Sue Hunt
Unfortunately Alan is probably right. The only means of recording in those days was film, film was expensive, and was therefore normally reserved for programmes considered to be of historic importance. Childrens' TV seldom figured on that list. I have however seen film of Annette Mills and Muffin the Mule (though never a mention of the puppeteer Anne Hogarth), and some people seem to have unexpected clips tucked away. So keep looking. Something may turn up one day.
There was no CBeebies,no cbbc, no duggee ,no numberblocks,no Alphablocks, no everything.
gosh, you could say weeed then without the risk of arrest.
weeeeed
I used to be afraid of Pinky & Perky. I didn't mind the Daleks, it was those two pigs that made me hide.
Why have they included Pinky and Perky? They didn't come onto the BBC until the late 50s, way after Jennifer Gay was the BBC Children's announcer.
oh boy, imagine having the last name "Gay" in this day and age
Gay was her middle name from her mother's maiden name. Don't forget that it means 'bright and cheerful', which she was.
Ah yes, I remember watching and listening to these southerners with their speech defects - Watch with Mother, Listen with Mother and the rest. Even after years, they couldn't manage ordinary pronunciation. The BBC, based and operating almost entirely in London, was a refuge for the terminally ineloquent.
And if your a Scot, Welsh or Irish forget it.
wait.. how many noddy tv adaptiojs are there and what are their names?
But Noddy isn't on there!
0:36
the card WAS TILTING
Pinky and Perky!😂
It appears that my former comment on this video has been misinterpreted and misunderstood, so I have removed it.
what was your former comment on this video?
@@iiTrendyz Hmm, i'm not reposting it as it appeared to offend some users. I was commenting on the hostess and her charm, style and presentation.
So nostalgic, but they DID get away with some terrible rubbish back then. Pinky & Perky! Grim, but if you were drunk or worse, you could laugh yourself crazy at the awfulness of it.
0:37 Ah, who’s that?!
Pinky & Perky the camp pigs & the nosie cow,Bill and Ben the flower pot men, little weed,and the Wooden Tops.
Kgs
When you think of just how rotton the BBC has become.
All of TV is crap now.
BBC been rotten since 1926 and even protected the likes of Jimmy Saville from the 60s on wards
ok
BBC could have launched Children’s Television in the 1980s, not the 1950s.
/
Why is Called Ms.Gay
BBC tv post Brexit.
😂
1950’s Children’s BBC is boring!
No wonder kids prefered The Adventures Of Robin Hood, and The Buccaneers on ITV!
Trevor Dance Whatever.