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Radio: Stars on Strings

4 minute read
TIME

Thousands of British children crowded around TV sets at week’s end to hear Muffin the Mule make his New Year resolution. As curly-haired Mistress-of-Ceremonies Annette Mills appeared at her piano and ran through the opening bars of We Want Muffin, watching children squirmed with anticipation. Then Muffin, a black & white puppet with a straggly mane and a shabby velvet saddle, came clattering across the piano. As always, he blundered about, got his foot tangled in Annette’s teacup, finally collapsed in a dither of excitement. As always, the TV audience shrieked with pleasure. Then Muffin solemnly announced his resolve for 1949: “Be kind to humans.”

Lamb & Pup. For two years, Muffin the Mule has been enchanting Britain’s old & young. He is supported by a large cast, including a “terribly brainy” penguin who “gets somewhat irritable over other peopie’s muddles,” and a fluffy, conceited little lamb, privately described by Annette as “possibly a bit of a bitch, but so young it doesn’t matter.” Other supporting players are Oswald the Ostrich, Willie the Worm, Sally the Seal, Peter the Pup, Poppy the Parrot, and two “rather common” field mice named Morris and Doris.

Norman Collins, BBC’s television chief, thinks Muffin appeals to everyone, including grownups, because his “grandiose ideas always go wrong, and, in that sense, he is the epitome of a whole field of human experience.” The London Observer’s radio critic has written learnedly of Muffin’s “fresh, inventive, convivial” antics. Anthony Smith, one of Muffin’s fans, puts the matter more simply: “I am four years old,” he wrote. “I love Muffin.”

Rabbit & Witch. U.S. television screens also swarm with puppets, and U.S. moppets also react enthusiastically. Probably the most popular U.S. marionette is NBC’s Howdy Doody,* a drawling, cow-country character who cavorts through a half-hour show with M.C. Bob Smith. In Chicago, Burr Tillstrom’s Kukla, Fran and Ollie is not only the best children’s show but has been called the best show of any kind on Midwestern TV. Puppets Kukla and Ollie are, respectively, a small boy and a kindly, one-toothed dragon. Fran is blonde Actress Fran Allison, the only human to appear regularly on the show. Even the patrons of Chicago’s bars have come to like Kukla’s witty, natural dialogue and such supporting puppets as Beulah the Witch and Fletcher the Rabbit, who has trouble keeping his ears up.

In Lucky Pup CBS has the most literate children’s show on Eastern TV. A considerable part of its adult-appeal is supplied by telegenic Doris Brown, who introduces the various characters: Lucky Pup, a dog playboy with a $5,000,000 inheritance; Foodini, an evil but outstandingly inefficient magician; Pinhead, an amiable stooge, and Jolo, a clown.

Mermaid & Dragon. Runners-up to these leaders are Pixie Playtime, on Manhattan’s WPIX, featuring Peter W. Pixie, assisted by a Mae West-like mermaid and a witch who tortures victims by telling them old radio jokes; Little Bordy, a puppet disc jockey; the Suzari Marionettes on ABC’s The Singing Lady; Du Mont’s woodenheaded Oky-Doky; and Mr. Do-Good and Judy Splinters, a pair of West Coast contenders. Du Mont’s popular Small Fry Club, which has previously depended on animated cartoons, movies and interminable commercials, is next week adding to its cast a puppet named Pirro.

The fact that TV children’s programs are so generally good is regarded by most parents as a happy byproduct. What matters is the revolution caused by TV in pre-bedtime habits. Instead of racing noisily through the house, kids now sit and stare and listen in sober silence. It may or may not be good for the children—but it is certainly a welcome change for mothers & fathers.

*In current TV Hooperatings, Howdy Doody ranks sixth, above the Chevrolet Tele-Theater and just below the Original Amateur Hour.

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