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Sooty is a British
children's television
Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
media franchise created by
Harry Corbett
Harry Corbett OBE (28 January 1918 – 17 August 1989) was an English magician, puppeteer and television presenter. He was best known as the creator of the glove puppet character Sooty in 1952.
Biography
Corbett was born in Bradford, W ...
incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional
glove puppet
Glove puppetry () is a type of opera using cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou of China's Fujian province, and historically practised in the Min Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Chaosh ...
character introduced to television in 1955, with the franchises focused around the adventures of the character – a
mute
Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak.
Mute or the Mute may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart
* ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky, performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and squirts his handler and other people with his water pistol, including on other television programmes he guest stars on. The franchise itself also includes several other puppet characters who were created for television, some of whom became the backbone to performances, and features additional elements including an animated series, two spin-off series for the direct-to-video market, and a selection of toy merchandising.
The franchise remained in the ownership of Corbett until his retirement in 1976, before being passed on to his son
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
. The rights to the franchise were placed on sale and sold in 1996, with Matthew later retiring and handing over control of the puppet characters to
Richard Cadell
Richard Cadell (born 23 March 1969) is a British illusionist, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter, best known for being the in-vision presenter and the hand of puppet Sooty since succeeding Matthew Corbett in 1998.
He is a Gold Star Member of th ...
in 1998. After the franchise suffered some setbacks in 2004, Cadell bought the rights in 2007 and has since focused on ensuring the survival of the brand with new stage shows and television programmes.
Background
The ''Sooty'' franchise is focused upon the adventures of Sooty, a fictional
glove puppet
Glove puppetry () is a type of opera using cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou of China's Fujian province, and historically practised in the Min Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Chaosh ...
character created by magician and puppeteer
Harry Corbett
Harry Corbett OBE (28 January 1918 – 17 August 1989) was an English magician, puppeteer and television presenter. He was best known as the creator of the glove puppet character Sooty in 1952.
Biography
Corbett was born in Bradford, W ...
in the 1950s, alongside his other friends Sweep and Soo.
Although fundamentally focused upon programmes for British
children's television
Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
, ''Sooty'' also incorporates stage shows, both of which make use of a mixture of slapstick comedy, prop comedy – ranging from gunge, cream pies and water pistols – magic tricks, and music. All routines in both are primarily aimed at providing family-friendly entertainment suitable for young children. In addition, the franchise also include merchandising, ranging from annuals to toys. One such product that was sold was a toy musical instrument – referred to as a "xylophone", but in reality a
toy glockenspiel – based upon the same instrument use by Sooty up until the 1980s.
Creation
The creation of the franchise is traced back to 1948, when Corbett came across an all yellow bear
glove puppet
Glove puppetry () is a type of opera using cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou of China's Fujian province, and historically practised in the Min Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Chaosh ...
during a holiday in
Blackpool. Purchasing the item, he made use of it to entertain his children during that time, including his newborn son
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
, naming the puppet Teddy. In time, his use of the puppet to entertain children with a variety of comedic routines and magic tricks earned him a place on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's talent competition, ''Talent Night'', being held at
Belle Vue, Manchester
Belle Vue is an area of Manchester, England, east of the city centre, bordered by the Hope Valley Line on the east and the Glossop Line on the west. Belle Vue is part of the electoral ward of Longsight. Belle Vue railway station lies on the ...
in 1952. Corbett proved popular with viewers and became the overall winner, landing him a job as a regular performer on the BBC children's show ''Saturday Special'', where his puppet immediately appealed to children, turning him into an overnight success. When the BBC offered him his own programme – to begin with, consisting of a few episodes at 12
guineas each – he opted to redesign Teddy's appearance to make him stand-out on
black and white television
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
screens. The overall change involved the use of black dust (or 'soot') upon the ears and nose, which inspired Corbett to change the puppet's name from Teddy to Sooty. The new look cemented the foundations of the franchise.
Characters
The franchise focuses primarily on three different characters, with the most prominent being the titular character themselves – Sooty. Corbett's design for the character was that all his puppets were yellow bears who bore the distinct features of black ears and nose. When portrayed in performances on television and stage shows, the character was cheeky and naughty, fond of playing practical jokes, but was also kind-hearted and good. Part of the character's design that Corbett devised, was for Sooty being
mute
Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak.
Mute or the Mute may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart
* ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
in his appearances and thus communicating with others by 'whispering' in their ear, to which the recipient often repeats what was said for the audience to understand. The character often retains two items that are iconic in his appearance: a magic wand, which he uses for spells conducted to the catchphrase of "Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!" – which Corbett devised – and tapping it to "
Shave and a Haircut
"Shave and a Haircut" and the associated response "two bits" is a seven-note musical call-and-response couplet, riff or fanfare popularly used at the end of a musical performance, usually for comedic effect. It is used melodically or rhythmic ...
"; and a water pistol, which symbolises his cheekiness by often being used to soak others around him – including on programmes he is a guest on, such as soaking talk show hosts. On television programmes, the presenter – Sooty's owner and main puppeteer – often acts as narrator for scenes involving the character and other puppets, thus providing a 'voice' for Sooty during their narration to portray the character speaking normally with other puppet characters.
The other two characters in the franchise were created to accompany Sooty in performances, effectively forming the backbone of television and stage shows, and were created by Corbett. The first character, Sweep, was designed to be a dog and friend of Sooty, who would be portrayed as being dim-witted but good-natured, who would often make mistakes that would cause problems for others, often get his own back on others when tricked, and have an obsession with bones. An aspect of the character's design was his voice – in performances he would speak in a high-pitched squeak that would have some form of sentences, but would often be translated by the main puppeteer for audience to understand more clearly. The concept was created by Corbett's brother Leslie Corbett through the use of a
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
reed, and became a permanent element of the character upon his debut. The second character, Soo, was designed as a panda bear, who would be portrayed as sweet, shy, and mainly responsible, acting as a motherly character to the other two. In later years, the character tends to sometimes hate being tricked by the others, but does not mind enjoying a laugh when someone else is being tricked. Unlike the other two, Soo was designed to have a voice, in order to provide ease in production of television episodes.
Television history
Harry Corbett era
After his initial performances with his puppet between 1952 and 1955, Harry Corbett introduced Sooty officially with his own programme, ''
Sooty
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 1955, with the ...
''; the title was changed to ''
The Sooty Show
''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 a ...
'' in 1967. The programme, run on
BBC 1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
between 1955 and 1967 and made as a replacement for ''
Muffin the Mule
Muffin the Mule is a puppet character in a British 1946-1955 television programme for children. The puppet had been made in 1933 for Hogarth Puppets. The original TV programmes featuring the animal character himself were presented by Annette ...
'', focused primarily on a series of comedic sketches involving Sooty conducting simple tasks or ventures, which would sometimes go wrong and result in a mess that they would need to deal with. The show expanded on the routines used in episodes by featuring slapstick humour suitable for young children, magic tricks, and the inclusion of songs and music. The glove puppet gained a sufficient profile from television exposure that his likeness became a feature on charity collection boxes used by the
Royal National Institute of Blind People
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss.
History
The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had eye ...
in the late 1950s.
Corbett expanded on the programme further with the inclusion of story-telling, and the creation of additional characters that would co-star with Sooty. The two most prominent additions were made during his tenure with the BBC: Sweep in 1957, handled by his brother Leslie Corbett; and Soo in 1964, voiced by his wife Marjorie and brought in after backlash on the BBC's desire not to include a female character. In 1967, Corbett fell into disagreement with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, in particular with the new controller of BBC 1 that year,