Bagpuss
Encyclopedia
Bagpuss is a 1974 UK children's television series
, made by Peter Firmin
and Oliver Postgate
through their company Smallfilms
. The title character is "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams". Although only 13 episodes of the show were made, it remains fondly remembered, and has often been repeated in the UK.
When Emily had left, Bagpuss would wake up. The programme shifted from sepia to colour stop motion
film, and various toys in the shop would also come to life: Gabriel the toad
(who, unlike most Smallfilms characters, could move by a special device beneath his can without the use of stop motion animation) and a rag doll
called Madeleine. The wooden woodpecker bookend became the drily academic Professor Yaffle (based on the philosopher Bertrand Russell
, whom Postgate had once met), while the mice carved on the side of the "mouse organ" (a small mechanical pipe organ
which played rolls of music) woke up and scurried around, singing in high-pitched voices. Sandra Kerr
and John Faulkner provided the voices of Madeleine and Gabriel respectively, and put together and performed all the proper songs. All the other voices (including the narrator and one out-of-tune mouse) were provided by Oliver Postgate
, who also wrote the stories.
The toys would discuss what the new object was; someone (usually Madeleine) would tell a story related to the object (shown in an animated thought-bubble over Bagpuss's head), often with a song, which would be accompanied by Gabriel on the banjo
(which often sounded a lot more like a guitar
), and then the mice, singing in high pitched squeaky harmony as they worked, would mend the broken object. The newly mended thing would then be put in the shop window, so that whoever had lost it would see it as they went past, and could come in and claim it. Then Bagpuss would start yawning again, and as he fell asleep the narrator would speak as the colour faded to sepia and they all became toys again.
The first antique village vignette is a cropped image of Horrabridge
taken in 1898 whilst the shop window itself was at the Firmin family home in Blean
.
. Bagpuss is an actual cloth cat, but was not intended to be such an electric pink. "It should have been a ginger marmalade cat but the company in Folkestone
dyeing the material made a mistake and it turned out pink and cream. It was the best thing that ever happened," said Firmin.
Madeleine the rag doll was made by Firmin's wife, Joan, with an extra long dress to hold their children's nightdresses, but Postgate decided it would serve better as one of the characters.
Gabriel the Toad was the only character in the series who could move freely without the use of stop-frame animation. Scenes featuring him playing the banjo and singing would have taken quite a bit of time, so Peter Firmin created a mechanism that helped him control Gabriel through a hole in his can.
Bagpuss has now retired to the Rupert Bear Museum in Canterbury
, UK
(part of the Museum of Canterbury
), together with other characters and Emily's shop window.
Most of the stories and songs used in the series are based on folk songs and fairy tale
s from around the world. The round sung by the mice (starting with the words "We will fix it...") is to the tune of "Sumer is icumen in
", dating from the Middle Ages
.
awarded an honorary degree
to Oliver Postgate. He stated that the degree was really intended for Bagpuss, who was subsequently displayed in academic dress.
In 1999 the series came first place in a BBC poll selecting the nation's favourite children's show. It also came fourth in the 2001 Channel 4
poll The 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows.
In 2002 and 2005 a stage show of Bagpuss songs toured UK folk festival
s and theatres with original singers Sandra Kerr
and John Faulkner, along with Kerr's daughter Nancy Kerr
and her husband, James Fagan.
Bagpuss appears in The Official BBC Children in Need Medley
, which was released on 21 November 2009.
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...
, made by Peter Firmin
Peter Firmin
Peter Arthur Firmin is an English artist and animator. He was the founder of Smallfilms, along with Oliver Postgate. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, The Saga of Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers, Bagpuss and Pogles' Wood.-Early life:He trained at...
and Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate was an English animator, puppeteer and writer.He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes...
through their company Smallfilms
Smallfilms
Smallfilms was a British company that made animated television programmes for children, from 1959 to the 1980s. It was a partnership between Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin . Several very popular series of short films were made using stop-motion animation, including The Clangers, Noggin the Nog,...
. The title character is "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams". Although only 13 episodes of the show were made, it remains fondly remembered, and has often been repeated in the UK.
Format
Each programme would begin the same way: through a series of sepia photographs, the viewer is told of a little girl named Emily (played by Emily Firmin, the daughter of illustrator Peter Firmin), who owned a shop. However, it did not sell anything: instead, Emily would find lost and broken things and display them in the window of the shop, so their owners could one day come and collect them. She would leave the object in front of her favourite stuffed toy — the large, saggy, pink and white striped cat named Bagpuss, who was based on Postgates friend William Baguley. She would then recite a verse:When Emily had left, Bagpuss would wake up. The programme shifted from sepia to colour stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
film, and various toys in the shop would also come to life: Gabriel the toad
Toad
A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...
(who, unlike most Smallfilms characters, could move by a special device beneath his can without the use of stop motion animation) and a rag doll
Rag doll
A rag doll is a children's toy. It is a cloth figure, a doll traditionally home-made from spare scraps of material. They are one of the most ancient children's toys in existence; the British Museum has a Roman rag doll, found in a child's grave dating from 300 BC.Rag dolls have featured in a...
called Madeleine. The wooden woodpecker bookend became the drily academic Professor Yaffle (based on the philosopher Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, whom Postgate had once met), while the mice carved on the side of the "mouse organ" (a small mechanical pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
which played rolls of music) woke up and scurried around, singing in high-pitched voices. Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr is an English folk singer.Sandra Kerr was born in Plaistow, Newham, London. She was a member of The Critics Group from 1963 to 1972.She sings and plays English concertina, guitar, appalachian dulcimer and autoharp....
and John Faulkner provided the voices of Madeleine and Gabriel respectively, and put together and performed all the proper songs. All the other voices (including the narrator and one out-of-tune mouse) were provided by Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate was an English animator, puppeteer and writer.He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes...
, who also wrote the stories.
The toys would discuss what the new object was; someone (usually Madeleine) would tell a story related to the object (shown in an animated thought-bubble over Bagpuss's head), often with a song, which would be accompanied by Gabriel on the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
(which often sounded a lot more like a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
), and then the mice, singing in high pitched squeaky harmony as they worked, would mend the broken object. The newly mended thing would then be put in the shop window, so that whoever had lost it would see it as they went past, and could come in and claim it. Then Bagpuss would start yawning again, and as he fell asleep the narrator would speak as the colour faded to sepia and they all became toys again.
Title sequence
The scene is set at the turn of the century with Emily Firmin playing the part of the Victorian child EmilyThe first antique village vignette is a cropped image of Horrabridge
Horrabridge
Horrabridge is a village in West Devon, England with a population of 2,115 people in 2006, down from 2,204 in 1991. It is located approximately 12 miles north of the city of Plymouth and 4 miles south of Tavistock and is within the Dartmoor National Park....
taken in 1898 whilst the shop window itself was at the Firmin family home in Blean
Blean
Blean is located in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is the name of the civil parish as well as the village within it: the latter is scattered along the road between Canterbury and Whitstable, in the middle of what was once the extensive Forest of Blean.The village name of Blean is...
.
Episodes
The titles of the thirteen episodes each refer in some way to the object Emily found.| Episode | Title | Original airdate | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Some splints of wood are shaken out of a bottle by the mice. Bagpuss tells a story about mermaids and the magic repairs the model ship. The mice put it back into the bottle and raise the sails. | ||
| 2 | The Owls of Athens | 19 February 1974 | A dirty rag reveals a picture of an owl once cleaned. Madeleine recounts a story which explains why the owls sound like they do. Gabriel recounts in song the story of a king who needed a cushion to sit on. |
| 3 | The Frog Princess | 26 February 1974 | Assorted jewels, which initially are thought to represent a cat and mouse but which Gabriel decides were the crown jewels of a frog princess. |
| 4 | The Ballet Shoe | 5 March 1974 | Put to inventive use by the mice, and the subject of a very silly song about its possible use as a rowing boat. |
| 5 | The Hamish | 12 March 1974 | A tartan Tartan Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns... porcupine pincushion Pincushion A pincushion is a small cushion, typically 3–5 cm across, which is used in sewing to store pins or needles with their heads protruding so as to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them organized.... , and a legend of a small, soft creature from Scotland. |
| 6 | The Wise Man | 19 March 1974 | A broken figurine of a Chinese man (the Wise Man of Ling-Po, Yaffle explains) and a turtle. |
| 7 | The Elephant | 26 March 1974 | An elephant Elephant Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct... missing its ears. |
| 8 | The Mouse Mill | 2 April 1974 | A wooden toy mill Mill (grinding) A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water... demonstrated by the mice to make chocolate biscuits out of butterbean Butterbean Butterbean may refer to:* Another name for a lima bean* Another name for a runner bean, used primarily in the highlands of the Blue Ridge Mountains- People :* Bob Love , nickname of retired American professional basketball player... s and breadcrumbs. This turns out to be a mischievous fraud. Gabriel and Madeleine sing a song about a farmer in a mill, which makes even stern old Professor Yaffle cry. |
| 9 | The Giant | 9 April 1974 | A statuette, and a lesson about how sizes are relative. |
| 10 | Old Man's Beard | 16 April 1974 | A tangly plant (Clematis vitalba Clematis vitalba Clematis vitalba is a shrub of the Ranunculaceae family.-Description:Clematis vitalba is a climbing shrub with branched, grooved stems, deciduous leaves, and scented greeny-white flowers with fluffy underlying sepals... seeding). |
| 11 | The Fiddle | 23 April 1974 | A fiddle Fiddle The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music... that plays itself, and a leprechaun Leprechaun A leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Like other fairy creatures, leprechauns have been linked to the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology... . |
| 12 | Flying | 30 April 1974 | A basket that the mice attempt to turn into a flying machine. |
| 13 | Uncle Feedle | 7 May 1974 | A piece of cloth, destined to be a house for a rag doll. |
Production
The programmes were made using stop-frame animationStop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
. Bagpuss is an actual cloth cat, but was not intended to be such an electric pink. "It should have been a ginger marmalade cat but the company in Folkestone
Folkestone
Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
dyeing the material made a mistake and it turned out pink and cream. It was the best thing that ever happened," said Firmin.
Madeleine the rag doll was made by Firmin's wife, Joan, with an extra long dress to hold their children's nightdresses, but Postgate decided it would serve better as one of the characters.
Gabriel the Toad was the only character in the series who could move freely without the use of stop-frame animation. Scenes featuring him playing the banjo and singing would have taken quite a bit of time, so Peter Firmin created a mechanism that helped him control Gabriel through a hole in his can.
Bagpuss has now retired to the Rupert Bear Museum in Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(part of the Museum of Canterbury
Museum of Canterbury
The Canterbury Heritage Museum, formerly the Museum of Canterbury, is a museum in Stour Street, Canterbury, South East England, telling the history of the city. It is housed in the 12th century Poor Priests' Hospital next to the River Stour. The museum exhibits the Canterbury Cross and contains a...
), together with other characters and Emily's shop window.
Most of the stories and songs used in the series are based on folk songs and fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s from around the world. The round sung by the mice (starting with the words "We will fix it...") is to the tune of "Sumer is icumen in
Sumer Is Icumen In
"Sumer Is Icumen In" is a traditional English round, and possibly the oldest such example of counterpoint in existence. The title might be translated as "Summer has come in" or "Summer has arrived"....
", dating from the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
Recognition
In 1987 the University of Kent at CanterburyUniversity of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
awarded an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
to Oliver Postgate. He stated that the degree was really intended for Bagpuss, who was subsequently displayed in academic dress.
In 1999 the series came first place in a BBC poll selecting the nation's favourite children's show. It also came fourth in the 2001 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
poll The 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows.
In 2002 and 2005 a stage show of Bagpuss songs toured UK folk festival
Folk festival
A Folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music.-Canada:Alberta*Calgary Folk Music Festival*Canmore Folk Music Festival*Edmonton Folk Music Festival*Jasper Folk Festival*Wild Mountain Music FestOntario*Barriefolk...
s and theatres with original singers Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr is an English folk singer.Sandra Kerr was born in Plaistow, Newham, London. She was a member of The Critics Group from 1963 to 1972.She sings and plays English concertina, guitar, appalachian dulcimer and autoharp....
and John Faulkner, along with Kerr's daughter Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr is an English folk musician, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott....
and her husband, James Fagan.
Bagpuss appears in The Official BBC Children in Need Medley
The Official BBC Children in Need Medley
"The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" is a cross-over single by Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band. It is the official Children in Need Single for 2009, and was released on 21 November 2009. The song was shown for the first time on Children in Need 2009. The cover art is a parody of the cover...
, which was released on 21 November 2009.
External links
- Bagpuss at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- The Smallfilms Treasury's Bagpuss site
- British Film Institute Screen Online
- BBC News reports on the Rupert Bear Museum