Mr. Squiggle

Mr. Squiggle
Mr. Squiggle from the 1990s
Also known as	'Mr. Squiggle & Friends'
Genre	Children's television series, Science fiction
Created by	Norman Hetherington
Starring	Gina Curtis Patricia Lovell Jane Fennell Roxanne Kimmorley Rebecca Hetherington
Voices of	Norman Hetherington
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	41
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	Black & White (1959–1975) Colour (1975–1999)
Audio format	Mono (1959–1979) Stereo (1980–1999)
Original release	1 July 1959 – 9 July 1999

Mr. Squiggle is an Australian children's television series, and the name of the title character from that ABC show. The show was presented on television in many formats, between 1959 and 1999, from five-minute slots to a one-and-a-half hour variety show featuring other performers, and has had several name changes, originally airing as Mr. Squiggle and Friends. At its height, the program was one of the most popular children's programs in Australia and toured theatre and conventions, entertaining several generations who grew with the program. It became one of the longest running children's programs on Australian television.

History

Mr. Squiggle was created by Norman Hetherington, OAM and the character first appeared on the Children's TV Club on ABC TV,^[1] but was spun off into his own programme which first aired on 1 July 1959. Hetherington voiced and operated all of the show's puppets, while his wife Margaret wrote the scripts.

The basic premise of the show remained the same: children wrote in with their "squiggles" and Mr. Squiggle would turn them into recognisable drawings by connecting lines with his pencil nose. More often than not, the picture would be drawn upside down (Hetherington manipulated the puppet from above by viewing the drawing upside down), and then Mr. Squiggle would gleefully declare: "Upside down! Upside down!" – asking his assistant to turn the picture the right way up and reveal the completed drawing.

External images
Photograph of Norman Hetherington's original "Mr. SQUIGGLE" model. Source: National Archives of Australia
Photograph of Norman Hetherington's original "Mr. SQUIGGLE" model, from the front, waving. Source: National Archives of Australia
Photograph of Norman Hetherington's original "Mr. SQUIGGLE" model, from the side, waving. Source: National Archives of Australia
Norman Hetherington's 1962 application to register the Copyright for the "Mr. SQUIGGLE" puppet. Source: National Archives of Australia
Mr SQUIGGLE Costume, used at the "Journey of a Nation" Centenary of Federation parade, Sydney, Australia, 2000. Source: Powerhouse Museum

The last episode went to air just over 40 years after the first, on 9 July 1999. The last episode was produced in 1997, however, it was not until 2001 that the contract with the ABC concluded. After the show ceased production, the entire cast of puppets from 'Mister Squiggle and Friends' were owned by the show's creator, Norman Hetherington.^[2] They have been loaned for display at exhibitions, such as at the National Film and Sound Archive and as part of the "50 Years of TV" exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in 2007. Hetherington and his puppets appeared on the ABC's Collectors TV series in 2010.

Characters

Mr. Squiggle is a marionette with a pencil for a nose, who visits his friends from his home at 93 Crater Crescent on the Moon, flying in his pet rocket (named Rocket). In every episode he would create several pictures from "squiggles" sent in by children from around the country. Mr Squiggle is a cheery, scatter-brained character who is often distracted and occasionally goes for "space-walks", leading his assistant to calm him down and get him to focus on the task of drawing.

Mr. Squiggle was helped by a human assistant in all of the show's incarnations; they included Miss Gina (Gina Curtis), Miss Pat (Pat Lovell), Miss Jane (Jane Fennell), and later series featured Roxanne (Roxanne Kimmorley) and Rebecca (Rebecca Hetherington, Hetherington's daughter).

Other puppet characters that appeared in the show included:

Blackboard, the grumpy blackboard that Mr. Squiggle uses for an easel, whose catchphrases are "Hurrry up", "Hmmph", "Double hmmph" and "Booorrriing".
Gus the Snail, who had a TV for a shell and later, a flower pot, often tells "Knock, Knock" jokes.
Bill the Steam Shovel, who likes to tell corny jokes and belches steam out of his "nose" when he laughs.

Comedians Mikey Robins and Merrick Watts played one of the show's characters, Reg Linchpin, for a year from 1989 to 1990.^[3] Other notable guest performers on the show included actor Paul Chubb and magician Timothy Hyde. One well-known presenter, actress and film producer Patricia Lovell, AO, MBE died in 2013, at the age of 83.

Footnotes

↑ Timeline – 50 Years of Kids TV, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
↑ "Mr Squiggle rockets to 50th birthday". ABC Online. 2009-07-01.
↑ Quinn, (2001).

References

External links

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