Hank the Cowboy and Silver King (Sacul)
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Hank the Cowboy and Silver King (Sacul) |
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A very rare painted lead model of of "Hank the Cowboy", and his horse, "Silver King", made by Sacul.
Hank the Cowboy and Silver King were characters created by Francis Coudril , and appeared on the BBC children's television program "Whirligig"· "Hank" generated a prolific amount of merchandise, partly due to Coudril's skill as a commercial artist in 2D and 3D design (as well as his skill in "fine" arts).
Hank the Cowboy appeared in popup books, on records, and even on "Hankies".
Some of the other characters in the "Hankverse" were Mexican Pete, Cassy, Freddie Parrot and Little He-He.
Cultural references
The "Hank The Cowboy" toys would seem to be at least a loose inspiration for the some of the toy characters of the Disney/Pixar "Toy Story" animated films.
Toy Story's "Woody" seems to correspond to "Hank", his horse "Bullseye" to Hank's "Silver King", "Jessie" to Hank's girlfriend "Cassie", and Toy Story's "Stinky Pete" to the Hankverse's "Mexican Pete".
External references
- Whirligig (turnip.net)
- Francis Coudrill, and Frank the Cowboy, (Peter Rice)
- Francis Coudrill (Wikipedia)
- Norman Joplin, The Great Book of Hollow-cast Figures ISBN 1872727786 p.395
