Teddy bear dog costume series#

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 screens. 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.

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's talent competition, Talent Night, being held at Belle Vue, Manchester in 1952. Purchasing the item, he made use of it to entertain his children during that time, including his newborn son Peter, naming the puppet Teddy. The creation of the franchise is traced back to 1948, when Corbett came across an all yellow bear glove puppet during a holiday in Blackpool. 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. In addition, the franchise also include merchandising, ranging from annuals to toys. All routines in both are primarily aimed at providing family-friendly entertainment suitable for young children. Although fundamentally focused upon programmes for British children's television, 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. The Sooty franchise is focused upon the adventures of Sooty, a fictional glove puppet character created by magician and puppeteer Harry Corbett in the 1950s, alongside his other friends Sweep and Soo. Sooty 'xylophones' (which are actually glockenspiels) 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. The rights to the franchise were later placed on sale and sold in 1996, with Matthew later retiring and handing over control of the puppet characters to Richard Cadell in 1998. The franchise remained in the ownership of Corbett until his retirement in 1976, before being passed on to his son Matthew.

Teddy bear dog costume series#

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 originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in 1955, with the franchises focused around the adventures of the character – a mute yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky, performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and infamously squirts his handler and other people with his iconic water pistol, including on other television programmes he guest stars on. Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows.