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Supermarionation
Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and " animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) 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. The term "Supermarionation" was first used during the production of ''Supercar'', whose final 13 episodes were the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with " Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electric moving parts). Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series ''The Adventures of Twizzle'' (1957–58). ''Torchy the Battery Boy'' (1960), ''Four Feather Falls'' (1960), ''Supercar'' (1961–62) and ''Fireball XL5'' (1962–63) followed later, both series breaking into the U.S. television market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, '' Thunderbirds''. Other television productions of the 1960s include '' Stingray'', ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and ''Joe 90''. Anderson also wrote and produced several feature films. Following a shift towards live-action productions in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Feather Falls
''Four Feather Falls'' is a British television programme, the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television (now ITV Granada). 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 Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced, broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff. The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson. One of the feathers allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog, and the fourth feather could summon Kalamakooya. Tex's speaking voice was provided by Nicholas Parsons, and his singing voice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supercar (TV Series)
''Supercar'' is a British children's television series produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis' AP Films (APF) for ATV and ITC Entertainment. Thirty-nine episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV, in Canada on the CBC, and in the US in syndication (the first Anderson series to be shown overseas) debuting in January 1962. The series uses Supermarionation, based on the complex and difficult Czech style of marionette puppetry. The creation of the series was credited to Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill, but it incorporates elements of ''Beaker's Bureau'', a series proposed to the BBC by Hugh Woodhouse that was never produced. Anderson would later claim that the whole point of having a series based on a vehicle was to minimize having to show the marionettes walking, an action which he felt never looked convincing. The star of the series was ''Supercar'', a multi-environment craft invented by Professor R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the " Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s and 1980s ''James Bond'' and '' Superman'' film series. Biography Early years Derek Meddings was born in St Pancras, London, England. Both Meddings' parents had worked in the British film industry: his father as a carpenter at Denham Studios and his mother as producer Alex Korda's secretary and actress Merle Oberon's stand-in. Meddings went to art school and, in the late 1940s, also found work at Denham Studios, lettering credit titles. It was there that he met effects designer Les Bowie and joined his matte painting department. During the 1950s, Meddings' work with Bowie included the creation of Transylvanian landscapes for Hammer Films and a "string and cardboard" invention that proved useful when Meddings was hired for Gerry An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Gray
Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson. Life and career Born into a musical family in Blackburn, Lancashire, Gray was encouraged to pursue a musical career from an early age. Starting at the age of five – with piano lessons – he studied diligently and became a student at the Manchester Royal College of Music and at Blackburn Cathedral. He studied composition under the Hungarian born émigré composer Matyas Seiber. Gray's first professional job was for B. Feldman & Co. in London, where he gained experience in scoring for theatre and variety orchestras. From there, he joined Radio Normandy as a composer-arranger. After serving for six years with the Royal Air Force during World War II he returned to the music industry to work with such names as Vera Lynn and Hoagy Carmichael. In 1956 Gray joined Gerry Anderson's AP Films and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermarionation (band)
Supermarionation are a three-piece alternative rock band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland in January 2008 by David Curry, Samuel Stevenson and Steven Tonge. Following their live début in Edinburgh in July 2009, their first release, ''On the Fly'', arrived in December 2010 on their own Six Take No Records imprint with a second EP, ''Amongst the Northern Lochs'', following in October 2011. History The band were formed when Steven and David, acquaintances from their university days, met up in January 2008 at a James Yorkston gig in Edinburgh with a mutual friend and, feeling they could do better than one of the support acts, decided to form a band with David on drums and Steven on guitar and vocals. Steven then recruited Samuel, with whom he'd studied for a PhD, as a bass player and rehearsals began in March 2008. Initially covering songs by artists such as Neil Young, Ben Kweller and Matthew Sweet, the band played their first gigs over the summer of 2009 and quickly realised the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AP Films
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette television series – most significantly '' Thunderbirds'' – produced for British ITV network companies Associated-Rediffusion, Granada, ABC and ATV. At its height, the company employed more than 200 staff. Origins Established in 1956 by editor-director Gerry Anderson and cinematographer Arthur Provis, following the liquidation of their employer Polytechnic Films, AP Films was set up. They took with them producer Reg Hill, cinematographer John Read and secretary, then known as Sylvia Thamm. Thamm would later become Anderson's second wife. The company was created with the intention of it becoming a conventional film production house. With no commissions and funds running low, APF were approached with an offer of collaboration ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marionette
A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose. Etymology In French, ''marionette'' means "little Mary". In France, during the Middle Ages, string puppets were often used to depict biblical events, with the Virgin Mary being a popular character, hence the name. In France, the word ''marionette'' can refer to any kind of puppet, but elsewhere it typically refers only to string puppets. History Ancient times Puppetry is an ancient form of performance. Some historians claim that they predate actors in theatre. There is evidence that they we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In addition to serving as co-creator and co-writer on their TV series during the 1960s and early 1970s, Anderson's primary contribution was character development and costume design. She regularly directed the fortnightly voice recording sessions, and provided the voices of many female and child characters. She also helped develop the shows and characters, in particular creating the iconic characters of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, Lady Penelope and Aloysius Parker, Parker in ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds''. Early life Anderson was born in Camberwell, London, England on 25 March 1927. Her father, Sidney Thomas, was a champion boxer, and her mother, Beatrice (), a dressmaker. After graduating from the London School of Economics wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christine Glanville
Christine Glanville (born Nancy Christine Fletcher; 28 October 1924 – 1 March 1999) was an English puppeteer who spent much of her professional life contributing to television series produced by Gerry Anderson. Career Glanville became involved in the film industry in war service at Elstree Studios and studied art during her free time. After the Second World War she joined a puppet theatre company with which her parents were connected, Ebor Marionettes. Glanville joined AP Films in 1957 and worked on all its series, as well as the later Supermarionation presentations of Anderson's Century 21 Productions. She worked closely with fellow puppeteer Mary Turner. In addition to her primary role of lead puppet operator, Glanville was often responsible for the design and construction of the puppets themselves ('' Thunderbirds''; 1965–66) and sculpted marionettes of Scott Tracy, Alan Tracy, and Tin-Tin Kyrano. The likeness of Mrs Appleby, a supporting character that appeared in '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legend Books
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. History Random House was founded in 1927 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the Modern Library imprint from publisher Horace Liveright, which reprints classic works of literature. Cerf is quoted as saying, "We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random," which suggested the name Random House. In 1934 they published the first authorized edition of James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' in the Anglophone world. ''Ulysses'' transformed Random House into a formidable publisher over the next two decades. In 1936, it absorbed the firm of Smith and Haas—Robert Haas became the third partner until retiring and selling his share back to Cerf and Klopfer in 1956 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower Pot Men
''Flower Pot Men'' is a British programme for young children produced by BBC Television. It was first transmitted in 1952, and repeated regularly for more than twenty years. A reboot of the show called ''Bill and Ben'' was produced in 2001. This 2001 reboot/remake, was first initiated by Mark Lovick, a producer/director from Sydney, Australia, in the 1990s, with Laurence Harbottle, legal trustee of the Freda Linstrom Estate, London. However, this arrangement was curtailed, before the copyright expired. Original series The original programme was part of a BBC children's television series titled ''Watch with Mother'', featuring a different programme each weekday, most of them involving string puppets. The ''Flower Pot Men'' was the story of Bill and Ben, two little men made of flower pots who lived at the bottom of an English suburban garden. The characters were devised by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird in the 1950s. The puppeteers were Audrey Atterbury and Molly Gibson. The v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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