Muffin’s tops
MARION McMULLEN LOOKS AT HOW A WOODEN MULE BECAME THE ORIGINAL PUPPET STAR OF KIDS’ TV 75 YEARS AGO
IT was a cheerful theme tune that put a smile on the faces of youngsters across the country.
“Here comes Muffin, Muffin the mule. Dear old Muffin playing the fool. Here comes Muffin, everybody sing. Here comes Muffin the mule.”
There was only one hour of programmes a week for children back in 1946 and Muffin quickly became a star with young viewers.
Children’s Hour – sometimes called For The Children – began broadcasting live 75 years ago on a Sunday morning, with Muffin The Mule making his debut on October 20.
The Radio Times explained the limited scheduling at the time saying: “the afternoon programme is over before the return from school and the night programme interferes with home lessons and bedtime”.
The BBC’s television service had been suspended in 1939 for wartime defence reasons. The last programme to be seen was a Mickey Mouse cartoon and the same cartoon – called Mickey’s Gala Premiere – was seen at the re-opening of television in 1946.
The BBC spent a total of £716,666 on its television service following the relaunch, but radio was still seen as vastly more important, with the budget for radio programmes reaching £6,556,293.
Television made a comeback with a show that included ballet star Margot Fonteyn, harpist John Cockerill and a talk by cartoonist David Low.
But the first major children’s television star was born with the introduction of piebald wooden puppet Muffin the Mule.
His partner was Annette Mills, the older sister of British actor Sir John Mills. She accompanied Muffin on the piano and the duo’s winning partnership would last for nine years.
The show was also the first children’s programme to be broadcast from the BBC’s new television studios at Lime Grove in London as part of a groundbreaking post-war children’s television service.
The lovable four-legged puppet began life in 1933, as part of an act for the Hogarth Puppet Theatre, but spent years languishing in a cupboard until his big TV break came along, and he merrily danced on top of a piano as Annette played and sang.
His clip-clopping dance moves enthralled an entire generation of post-war youngsters and his success paved the way for future puppet stars like Andy Pandy, The Woodentops, Bill & Ben, Sooty, Pinky and Perky, Thunderbirds and Kermit and The Muppets.
The revolutionary 20-minute show continued until Annette’s death in 1955 and then briefly transferred to ITV. Annette, the grandmother of Coronation Street’s Susie Blake, was a former dancer, but was forced to retire after suffering injuries in a bad car crash when she was travelling back from entertaining troops in France.
She created Muffin with Ann Hogarth, who operated Muffin. Later his friends Monty the monkey and Louise the lamb joined him on the shows.
Ann wrote the scripts and worked the puppets from behind a little screen while Annette wrote, performed and sang the songs.
Annette went on to further success in 1950 with Prudence Kitten and brought out several Muffin books and recordings. She was also responsible for the novelty song Boomps-a-daisy, which was first recorded by Joe Loss and his Orchestra in 1939.
Muffin The Mule was so popular that his stories were even published in the Soviet Union in 1958. The power of TV led to a whole host of Muffin toys and merchandise, a comic strip and even clothing.
The undeniable success of Muffin saw children’s television continue to go from strength to strength in the 1950s. The BBC appointed Freda Lingstrom as head of the new department.
Early shows included a children’s variety-style programme called Whirlgig that featured another puppet, Sooty, and an animated easel called Willoughby. Huw Wheldon presented All Your Own, edited by Cliff Michelmore.
Huw leaned on a harpsichord in one programme that had been made entirely out a matchsticks by a child. It promptly collapsed, but Huw merely remarked to the young creator “I’m sure you can stick it together again” .
Muffin came out of retirement after several decades to entertain a new generation of young viewers when the rights to Muffin the Mule were brought by Maverick Entertainment in 2003.
His Noughties cartoon update on children’s channel Cbeebies featured characters like Peregrine the penguin, bloodhound Peter and Doris Mouse.
The modern-day Muffin was created using 2D computer animation and David Holt voiced the animal star and several other characters in the show.
The new version was even translated into Welsh in 2005 as Myffin y Mul.
The 28 new episodes saw Muffin getting fit with his own football team Mules United, getting busy during harvest time at Mu f f i n ham and organising a photo shoot... and there was not a string
in sight.
The lovable puppet began life in 1933 as part of an act for the Hogarth Puppet Theatre