Category:Pelham Puppets

Pelham Puppets was started by by Bob Pelham, who was studying to be an architect before World War Two. During the war, Bob would entertain his comrades with a “Wonkey Donkey” marionette, and after the war was over he went into business producing puppets.

Parts and materials were hard to come by in the post-war austerity, and Bob used his ingenuity to turn army surplus parts and materials into puppets. Wooden toggles, ammunition box partitions and even rubber respirator tubes were all recycled as puppet parts, and jumble sales and rubbish bins were trawled for interesting pieces that could be pressed into service.

Puppet fabrics were often hand-dyed parachute material, and were sometimes taken from old fabric sample books and jumble sales.

Pelham founded Wonkey Toys in 1947, which became Pelham Puppets in ’48, and the business name continued until 1997. As the popularity of the puppets increased, and marionettes played an increasingly important part of children’s tv programming, Pelham produced licensed versions of Muffin the Mule, The Bookworm Family, Noddy and Bigears, as well as some early Gerry Anderson characters such as Torchy the Battery Boy, Snoopy, and some Disney characters.

They then went on to produce automated marionette displays, and a full-size marionette model, “Bimbo”.

Pelham's puppets were hand-made, and the technology went through various stages, with the early lead and war-surplus parts being replaced by more custom metal and plastic fittings.

External Links

• www.pelhampuppets.uk.com
• "Pelham Puppets: A collectors' guide" (Crowood Collectors' Series) ISBN 9781847970558