"Little Blue" (almost forgotten 1970's UK kids' TV)

[Jamie123]

By brother and I used to love this show. Those who think they remember it say was animated, but it wasn't really. Only the opening title sequence (which explained how the main character got his name) was animated. The show itself consisted of audio accompanied by still pictures. (This was quite common at a time when animation was much more expensive than now: Joe, The Wuffits and Teddy Edward used exactly the same format.)

The premise: Mrs. Jellybun and her son "Little Blue" are anthropomorphic elephants (which you may consider an overused trope considering Babar, Bump, Edward Trunk and Mumfi). They are somewhat larger than the humans they live amongst, but nowhere near the size of actual elephants. They live in an ordinary house and wear ordinary clothes, and their pachydermic nature is never mentioned, though it is alluded to when Mrs. Jellybung gets sensitive about her size, or Little Blue bursts the ball while attempting to play soccer.

The narration and all the voices were by Harold Purcell, who also wrote the stories along with his wife Iris. He had such a deep, resonant, very English voice. He could make it go up, such as when he was Little Blue's lisping teacher Miss Merryweather (who later became Mrs. Gittings after she married the woodwork teacher Mr. Gittings) and even lower when he was Little Blue's mother. I loved the way Mrs. Jellybun spoke: she was quite laconic and always addressed Little Blue as "boy".

What I like best about Little Blue is he's no soppy namby-pamby ultra-virtuous goody-goody like that detestable elephant "hero" Mumfi. He (Little Blue) tries his best, but is still embarrassed to be seen with his mom when his friends are around. He surreptitiously continues to drink soda on a plane after he's been told to stop. ("It will make you want to go, boy!") He doesn't like it when his not-so-best friend Geoffrey picks on him, but finds it amusing when he (Geoffrey) picks on other people. Aside from his elephantine appearance, Little Blue is like any other kid. This kind of realism, combined with the bizarre surrealism does make it funny.

We never (to my memory) learned what happened to Mr. Jellybun, although Mrs. Jellybun does have a brother Uncle Oompah who occasionally appeared. I have linked a playlist of the only three three episodes I have found on YouTube. This was a glorious underrated gem from the 1970s and I wish there was more to be had...

 

Edited August 31, 2024 by Jamie123

[Vort]

9 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

The show itself consisted of audio accompanied by still pictures. (This was quite common at a time when animation was much more expensive than now: Joe, The Wuffits and Teddy Edward used exactly the same format.)

I remember some really cheap animation that combined minimalist, practically still-frame, animation with a filmed mouth superimposed on the character's face. It was one of the most bizarre and frankly disturbing things I have ever seen on television.

[Jamie123]

19 minutes ago, Vort said:

I remember some really cheap animation that combined minimalist, practically still-frame, animation with a filmed mouth superimposed on the character's face. It was one of the most bizarre and frankly disturbing things I have ever seen on television.

You're not thinking of this by any chance?

[Ironhold]

20 minutes ago, Vort said:

I remember some really cheap animation that combined minimalist, practically still-frame, animation with a filmed mouth superimposed on the character's face. It was one of the most bizarre and frankly disturbing things I have ever seen on television.

It's been a thing with animation for a while. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutch_Cargo

Some of the earliest cartoon television shows, like Clutch Cargo, did this to save on animation. 

[Ironhold]

2 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

You're not thinking of this by any chance?

Probably more like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_Rabbit

At one point animation studios actually *did* have real people's mouths depicted doing the talking so that they didn't have to animate the mouths. 

[Jamie123]

20 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

At one point animation studios actually *did* have real people's mouths depicted doing the talking so that they didn't have to animate the mouths. 

I don't believe I've ever seen that. Yes it does sound creepy.

[Ironhold]

On 8/31/2024 at 5:21 PM, Jamie123 said:

I don't believe I've ever seen that. Yes it does sound creepy.

If you still have access to YouTube, look for either Crusader Rabbit or Clutch Cargo, the two shows most associated with this trend. Episodes should be afoot, although I don't know if they're public domain or not. 

[Jamie123]

On 9/1/2024 at 11:29 PM, Ironhold said:

If you still have access to YouTube, look for either Crusader Rabbit or Clutch Cargo, the two shows most associated with this trend. Episodes should be afoot, although I don't know if they're public domain or not. 

I found Crusader Rabbit. I somehow thought you meant a live action filmed mouth superimposed on the drawing. Now that would have been creepy!

On the subject of cheapo cartoons, I can't help remembering the Captain Kremmen segments from the Kenny Everett show c.1978:

Trigger warning: racist humour.

[Ironhold]

11 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

I found Crusader Rabbit. I somehow thought you meant a live action filmed mouth superimposed on the drawing. Now that would have been creepy!

If you find Clutch Cargo, you'll literally see exactly that.

How it worked was that the animators would leave a blank spot where the character's mouth would be, and the live footage was then superimposed over that opening. 

[Jamie123]

7 hours ago, Ironhold said:

If you find Clutch Cargo, you'll literally see exactly that.

How it worked was that the animators would leave a blank spot where the character's mouth would be, and the live footage was then superimposed over that opening. 

Found it: 

(Why are US city cops always Irish?)

I knew it reminded me of something. Who could ever forget...

[Jamie123]

I remember once years ago trying to explain Spongebob Squarepants to a colleague who (then) had no kids and had never heard of him. His observation (based on my description) was that it wouldn't be much use trying to give Spongebob Squarepants a wedgie!

[Ironhold]

7 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

Found it: 

(Why are US city cops always Irish?)

At one point in time the political machines in various major cities would make it a point to give immigrant families various public works jobs in order to ensure that these families would give their vote to the individuals who were part of those machines. 

Well, "police officer" was one of those public works jobs often given to immigrants, and in those cities that had a large population of Irish immigrants it meant that a correspondingly large percentage of police officers thus became Irish, with their sons following them onto the force. 

[Jamie123]

1 hour ago, Ironhold said:

correspondingly large percentage of police officers thus became Irish, with their sons following them onto the force.

It's right there in the Pogues song:

Quote

The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay 

And the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day!