Norman Hetherington
Encyclopedia
Norman Frederick Hetherington OAM
(29 May 1921 – 6 December 2010) was an Australia
n artist, etcher, cartoon
ist (known as "Heth"), puppeteer, and puppet designer.
He is best remembered today as the creator of the long-running Australian children's television show Mr. Squiggle, and as the sole operator and voice of its star performer, the Mr. Squiggle marionette
.
in 1918, and Norman Frederick Hetherington was born on 29 May 1921 in Lilyfield
.
He grew up at 35 Meryla Street, Burwood
. He attended primary school at Burwood Public School from 1927 to 1933, and secondary school at Sydney's Fort Street Boys' High School
from 1934 to 1937. He studied art, full-time, at East Sydney Technical College (now known as the National Art School
), from 1937–1938; and, because he had taken a position with one if Sydney's largest advertising agencies, Lintas (Lever International Advertising), he transferred to part-time studies, studying at night from 1939 to 1941 (when he enlisted in the army).
In 1958, he married Margaret (née Purnell); she would later write all of the scripts for Mr. Squiggle. They moved to the Sydney suburb of Mosman
in 1960, and Hetherington remained there until his death.
The couple's children are Stephen (1959-), an academic philosopher, and Rebecca (1962-), a television presenter, and one time associate producer on radio 2UE.
The Entertainment Unit also included actor Michael Pate
, and comedian George Wallace Junior.
When he was only 15, and still a student at Fort Street Boys’ High School, Hetherington sold his first cartoon to The Bulletin
magazine. He contributed to The Bulletin from time to time over the next few years; and he even continued to do so whilst he was in the army.
As a freelance cartoonist he sold work to magazines that included Man, Man Junior, Army, Humour and Quiz: "His modus operandi was to approach the best paying magazine first and continue on until he got down to the worst paying with whatever was left of his work".
He was discharged from the army in May 1946, and was immediately asked to join the full-time Bulletin staff; he continued to work for The Bulletin until 1961 (when all of the staff were sacked by Frank Packer
, its new owner). He had worked alongside such luminaries as Norman Lindsay
, Ted Scorfield and Percy Lindsay
.
Consequently, for example, a signature of "Heth 42" (see the advertisement at right), would identify Hetherington as the artist of the work, and 1942 as the year in which it had been drawn; whilst the self-portrait (above right), was drawn in 1946.
In the late 1940s, however, he changed his manner of signing his cartoons; it was no longer written horizontally, and it no longer displayed the year's last two digits.
Whilst the signature "Heth" was still exclusively written in capital letters; it now took the form of "HETH", rather than "HETH".
Also, the letters were now rotated sideways, and the signature was written vertically running down the page from the top-left to the bottom-right (see left); and was read with one's head tilted to the right.
Many of those who were not aware of this imagined he was signing his work with (non-rotated) imitations of a number of Chinese characters
such as, for example, 大, or 土, or 士, or 壳, or 正, or 走, or 天, or 因 which are also, by tradition, written down the page, vertically, in this form (rather than horizontally, across the page)
, that needed to be read with one's head tilted to the left.
magazine called Popular Science Monthly, which contained instructions for making a puppet out of used bicycle inner tubes.
In a 1971 interview, he told Marie Toshack that he made his first "professional puppet" in 1952. It was a clown, made specifically for a puppet show called "The Reluctant Dragon", at the old Mercury Theatre.
Even in these first shows, critics were remarking on the "wit, whimsy, and lively inventiveness" of his performance with his marionettes, and were very impressed with the skill and craftsmanship with which his puppets had been created.
In a 1977 interview, Hetherington explained to Sue Molloy that his interest in marionettes "was the outcome of a professional interest in cartoons, and amateur interest in theatre and a hobby of puppets", remarking that, in his view, "puppets are only three-dimensional cartoons".
Driven by the support, encouragement and guidance of Mrs. Matheson, Hetherington became involved, along with Richard Bradshaw
, and Edith Constance Murray (née Blackwell) (1897–1988), with regular performances at the sisters' Clovelly Puppet Theatre (which they had established in 1949), which staged puppet shows every Saturday, in an old army hut in Burnie Park, Clovelly.
Describing it as "a nurturing ground", Hetherington said that this was where and when his puppetry changed from being just a hobby into a life-long interest.
In November 1957, he was performing on stage for children during Saturday matinees at Sydney cinemas; and performing at three different locations on the one afternoon . Along with Igor’s Puppets, the Merlya Marionettes performed on stage at the children’s matinees at The Coronet Cinema, Bondi Junction, The Sixways Cinema, at Bondi, and the Randwick Cinema, at Randwick, on Saturday 23 November 1957; and at The Bondi Road Cinema, at Bondi, The Sixways Cinema, at Bondi, and The Woollahra Cinema, at Woollahra on Saturday 30 November 1957. Hetherington (assisted by Annette MacArthur-Onslow) and his puppets also performed live, on television, on Christmas Day 1957.
In the beginning, the shows were often performed at children's libraries. Hetherington was always keen to demonstrate to his young audiences just how easily puppets could be made.
From time to time, his own children participated in his performances for the Australian Theatre for Young People
during the school holidays, and also in the shows that he presented at various Department Stores (Anthony Horden's
, Farmer's, Grace Bros.
, and David Jones
, etc.), such as "Enchanted Scarecrow", "The Magic Tinderbox", "The Moon for Supper", "Nicky's Christmas Snowman".
The photograph of "Smiley" on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald of Tuesday 2 June 1970, provides a beautiful sense of just how wonderfully skilled Hetherington was in designing and constructing puppets, and the detailed, intricate nature of the mechanical devices and the special sets that he designed for his shows, and just how much children loved them.
's television training school some time prior to the introduction of television to Australia , Hetherington began his television career in 1956, creating Nicky and Noodle for the Australian Broadcasting Commission
(ABC); and another series, Jolly Gene and His Fun Machine for Channel Seven
in 1957.
with a pencil for a nose; and, and the character first appeared on the Children's TV Club on ABC TV, as MISTER JOLLY SQUIGGLE by "Heth". Hetherington was granted the copyright (no.8027) for Mr. Squiggle in 1962; and his application stated that he had first created "Mr. Squiggle" on 1 August 1958).
The marionette had a very heavy head, and it was always manipulated by and voiced by Hetherington himself as the sole operator. The gentle politeness of Mr. Squiggle, and the gentle strength of Hetherington's well-modulated voice was immediately attractive to children, at a time when most of the other Australian TV channels had violent, raucous, and brash ventriloquist acts associated with their children's shows.
Exploiting the "fusion" of his skills as both puppeteer and cartoonist, he used the tip of the pencil that formed the puppet's nose to convert "squiggles" that had been sent in to the television station by young viewers into full-realised drawings and cartoons. Most significantly, given all of the mechanics of his marionette's performance, all of these "squiggle" conversions by Mr. Squiggle were always performed with the original children's drawing up-side down.
When asked, in 2009, in one of the "Moment in Time" segments of the ABC TV programme Can We Help?
, on behalf of a viewer, Miriam Webster, whether Mr. Squiggle had lead in his pencil or whether it was "something more extraterrestrial", Norman Hetherington replied: "It started off with a very large felt pen, a very thick felt pen; but, in Studio 23, we were very close to the lights, and the heat would dry up the felt, and it wasn’t very good, so we graduated to crayon, and then to oil chalk, and then [to] chalk."
Initially intended as a temporary fill-in, the show ran on ABC for 40 years, Mr. Squiggle's first appearance on ABC TV was on 1 July 1959, and he drew his last picture on ABC TV on 9 July 1999.
When interviewed by Sarah Collerton in 2009, Hetherington told her that "I taught Mr Squiggle to draw and now he draws better than I do".
In May 1999, Mr. Squiggle was honoured by Australia Post
with his own 45c. postage stamp.
In 1967, Hetherington was consulted by the Foundation; and, with the initial notion of strongly augmenting the work of the Dental Health Educators, he was responsible for establishing the "Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre", starring a new puppet, Smiley ("a little boy who gets toothache because he has not looked after his teeth properly"), that delivered performances based on a script that had been produced in collaboration with the Foundation, that featured all of its desired preventive dentistry messages. The first performance — which, it had been decided by that time, would run "in parallel with" (rather than "as part of") the dental health educator programme — was in February 1968, with the specific target of the younger, primary school children.
The shows were performed with two puppeteers, with the assistant operating Smiley, and Hetherington everything else. The show, and its associated Good Teeth Club — to which Hetherington, having emerged from behind the puppet stage, would invite the delighted children to join at the end of each of his performances (Anon, 1970) — was immensely popular with the school children immediately it began its operation.
The Foundation was overjoyed to discover that evaluations showed that, even after six months, the children could remember 70% of the dental health messages associated with the show (Woolley, 1980).
In 1970, as part of a weekend workshop conducted by the Australian Dental Association
and the Dental Health Education and Research Foundation at Sydney University, Hetherington demonstrated his work to the assembled dentists, by allowing them to observe him deliver an entire performance to a group of children from Newtown North Primary School. They were all greatly impressed with his work.
Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre operated from 1968 to 1985; and, although it began in suburban Sydney, it was making trips into the country by late 1969.
As time passed, Hetherington became less involved in the actual delivery of the performances and often hired other puppeteers to perform the shows. For the four years his son Stephen studied at Sydney University (i.e., from 1977 to 1980), Stephen worked part-time on the show as a puppeteer, and the person who spoke to the children before and after each show. The other puppeteer who teamed with Stephen was Pam Sahm; she operated Smiley.
He was asked to assist them to acquire an understanding of shadow puppet design, train them in the appropriate techniques of puppet manipulation, guide them into a smooth performance, as well as transferring an understanding of puppetry stagecraft (Day, 1981).
Apart from the extensive training he delivered to the students, and the advice that he gave to the entire company on puppetry stagecraft, he was also a very important participant in the joint construction of the final script, the musical improvisations used during the performance, and the comic routines that were woven throughout the entire performance. (Day, 1981).
The eventual performance, the culmination of the entire year’s project/course, was performed by six of the students, along with “eight metre-high puppets made from plywood”, a “life-size monster with expendable heads” and a “foam-rubber monkey”. It was a great success (Day, 1981).
in 1984, and again in 1989, from the Television Society of Australia "for their outstanding contribution to children's television in Australia".
He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia
in 1990 "for service to children's television programmes and puppetry".
In 2005, he was presented with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Art, Design and Education (College of Fine Arts
, UNSW), for contribution to the media.
, Sydney. At his funeral, the eulogy was delivered by Richard Bradshaw
.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(29 May 1921 – 6 December 2010) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n artist, etcher, cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
ist (known as "Heth"), puppeteer, and puppet designer.
He is best remembered today as the creator of the long-running Australian children's television show Mr. Squiggle, and as the sole operator and voice of its star performer, the Mr. Squiggle marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
.
Family
He was the son of Frederick Hetherington (1883–1951), who was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England — one of the seven children of Thomas Hetherington and Margaret Diana Hetherington (née Ritson) — and Ellen Mary Hetherington (1888–1976) (née Markwell). They were married at BalmainBalmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....
in 1918, and Norman Frederick Hetherington was born on 29 May 1921 in Lilyfield
Lilyfield, New South Wales
Lilyfield is a small suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lilyfield is located 6 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....
.
He grew up at 35 Meryla Street, Burwood
Burwood, New South Wales
Burwood is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Burwood is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of Burwood Council....
. He attended primary school at Burwood Public School from 1927 to 1933, and secondary school at Sydney's Fort Street Boys' High School
Fort Street High School
Fort Street High School is a co-educational, academically selective, public high school currently located at Petersham, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
from 1934 to 1937. He studied art, full-time, at East Sydney Technical College (now known as the National Art School
National Art School
The National Art School is an art school in Sydney, Australia. It is a Public Company Limited by Guarantee with a board of directors. It has Institutional Registration and Course Accreditation supported by the DET Higher Education Directorate....
), from 1937–1938; and, because he had taken a position with one if Sydney's largest advertising agencies, Lintas (Lever International Advertising), he transferred to part-time studies, studying at night from 1939 to 1941 (when he enlisted in the army).
In 1958, he married Margaret (née Purnell); she would later write all of the scripts for Mr. Squiggle. They moved to the Sydney suburb of Mosman
Mosman, New South Wales
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman.-Localities:In February...
in 1960, and Hetherington remained there until his death.
The couple's children are Stephen (1959-), an academic philosopher, and Rebecca (1962-), a television presenter, and one time associate producer on radio 2UE.
War service
He served with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit during World War II.The Entertainment Unit also included actor Michael Pate
Michael Pate
Michael Pate was an Australian actor, writer and director.-Early life:He was born Edward John Pate in Drummoyne, Sydney...
, and comedian George Wallace Junior.
Cartoonist
He had attended classes at the National Art School before the war; and once the war was over, he continued his studies, and attended classes there four nights a week.When he was only 15, and still a student at Fort Street Boys’ High School, Hetherington sold his first cartoon to The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
magazine. He contributed to The Bulletin from time to time over the next few years; and he even continued to do so whilst he was in the army.
As a freelance cartoonist he sold work to magazines that included Man, Man Junior, Army, Humour and Quiz: "His modus operandi was to approach the best paying magazine first and continue on until he got down to the worst paying with whatever was left of his work".
He was discharged from the army in May 1946, and was immediately asked to join the full-time Bulletin staff; he continued to work for The Bulletin until 1961 (when all of the staff were sacked by Frank Packer
Frank Packer
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer, KBE , was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network.-Biography:...
, its new owner). He had worked alongside such luminaries as Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was an Australian artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist, scale modeler, and boxer. He was born in Creswick, Victoria....
, Ted Scorfield and Percy Lindsay
Percy Lindsay
Percival Charles Lindsay was an Australian landscape painter, illustrator and cartoonist, born in Creswick, Victoria. Percy was the first child born to Jane Lindsay and Dr Robert Charles Lindsay...
.
Signature
Early in his career, he signed his cartoons and caricatures with "Heth" and the last two digits of the year.Consequently, for example, a signature of "Heth 42" (see the advertisement at right), would identify Hetherington as the artist of the work, and 1942 as the year in which it had been drawn; whilst the self-portrait (above right), was drawn in 1946.
In the late 1940s, however, he changed his manner of signing his cartoons; it was no longer written horizontally, and it no longer displayed the year's last two digits.
Whilst the signature "Heth" was still exclusively written in capital letters; it now took the form of "HETH", rather than "HETH".
Also, the letters were now rotated sideways, and the signature was written vertically running down the page from the top-left to the bottom-right (see left); and was read with one's head tilted to the right.
Many of those who were not aware of this imagined he was signing his work with (non-rotated) imitations of a number of Chinese characters
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
such as, for example, 大, or 土, or 士, or 壳, or 正, or 走, or 天, or 因 which are also, by tradition, written down the page, vertically, in this form (rather than horizontally, across the page)
Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts
Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. The Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts can be oriented in either direction, as they consist mainly of disconnected syllabic units, each occupying a square block of space...
, that needed to be read with one's head tilted to the left.
Popular Science Monthly
His interest in marionettes began in 1935 when his father, who was the head carpenter for a major shipping line, gave him a copy of an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
magazine called Popular Science Monthly, which contained instructions for making a puppet out of used bicycle inner tubes.
In a 1971 interview, he told Marie Toshack that he made his first "professional puppet" in 1952. It was a clown, made specifically for a puppet show called "The Reluctant Dragon", at the old Mercury Theatre.
Even in these first shows, critics were remarking on the "wit, whimsy, and lively inventiveness" of his performance with his marionettes, and were very impressed with the skill and craftsmanship with which his puppets had been created.
In a 1977 interview, Hetherington explained to Sue Molloy that his interest in marionettes "was the outcome of a professional interest in cartoons, and amateur interest in theatre and a hobby of puppets", remarking that, in his view, "puppets are only three-dimensional cartoons".
The Clovelly Puppet Theatre
In the interview he also revealed that his burgeoning puppet hobby had been further developed, after the war, under the guidance of the psychologist, Doris Mary Matheson (1896–1969), who, along with her sister Elsie Grace Rivett (1887–1964), had founded the Children's Library and Crafts Movement in 1934 (which became the Creative Leisure Movement in 1969).Driven by the support, encouragement and guidance of Mrs. Matheson, Hetherington became involved, along with Richard Bradshaw
Richard Bradshaw (puppeteer)
Richard Bradshaw OAM is an internationally renowned Australian puppeteer.Richard Bradshaw is a one time Artistic Director of the Marionette Theatre of Australia. He is a particularly talented shadow puppeteer who also writes for puppets...
, and Edith Constance Murray (née Blackwell) (1897–1988), with regular performances at the sisters' Clovelly Puppet Theatre (which they had established in 1949), which staged puppet shows every Saturday, in an old army hut in Burnie Park, Clovelly.
Describing it as "a nurturing ground", Hetherington said that this was where and when his puppetry changed from being just a hobby into a life-long interest.
The Meryla Marionettes
During the 1950s, whilst pursuing his own rapidly developing personal interest in puppetry, he created a number of shows with the group he led, the Meryla Puppet Group. He was soon working on his own, as The Meryla Marionettes, with a series of shows that were very popular with children.In November 1957, he was performing on stage for children during Saturday matinees at Sydney cinemas; and performing at three different locations on the one afternoon . Along with Igor’s Puppets, the Merlya Marionettes performed on stage at the children’s matinees at The Coronet Cinema, Bondi Junction, The Sixways Cinema, at Bondi, and the Randwick Cinema, at Randwick, on Saturday 23 November 1957; and at The Bondi Road Cinema, at Bondi, The Sixways Cinema, at Bondi, and The Woollahra Cinema, at Woollahra on Saturday 30 November 1957. Hetherington (assisted by Annette MacArthur-Onslow) and his puppets also performed live, on television, on Christmas Day 1957.
In the beginning, the shows were often performed at children's libraries. Hetherington was always keen to demonstrate to his young audiences just how easily puppets could be made.
From time to time, his own children participated in his performances for the Australian Theatre for Young People
Australian Theatre for Young People
The Australian Theatre for Young People is Australia's flagship youth theatre company and the largest youth theatre in the world. Over 6000 young people aged between three and 26 participate in the company's work across Australia....
during the school holidays, and also in the shows that he presented at various Department Stores (Anthony Horden's
Anthony Hordern & Sons
Anthony Horderns was the largest department store in Sydney, Australia. It was originally established by a free immigrant from England, Anthony Hordern, in 1823, as a drapery shop...
, Farmer's, Grace Bros.
Grace Bros.
Grace Bros was an Australian department store chain, founded in 1885. It was bought by Myer in 1983. There were 25 stores across New South Wales and the ACT, until they were re-branded under the Myer name in 2004.-History:...
, and David Jones
David Jones Limited
David Jones Limited , colloquially known as DJs, is a high-end Australian department store chain.David Jones was founded in 1838 by David Jones, a Welsh immigrant, and is claimed to be the oldest continuously operating department store in the world still trading under its original name. It...
, etc.), such as "Enchanted Scarecrow", "The Magic Tinderbox", "The Moon for Supper", "Nicky's Christmas Snowman".
Puppet Designer
His innovative and creative design and construction skills were such that, from time to time, he was also asked to design puppets for others to operate in their own shows.The photograph of "Smiley" on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald of Tuesday 2 June 1970, provides a beautiful sense of just how wonderfully skilled Hetherington was in designing and constructing puppets, and the detailed, intricate nature of the mechanical devices and the special sets that he designed for his shows, and just how much children loved them.
Television
Having attended the Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's television training school some time prior to the introduction of television to Australia , Hetherington began his television career in 1956, creating Nicky and Noodle for the Australian Broadcasting Commission
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
(ABC); and another series, Jolly Gene and His Fun Machine for Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
in 1957.
Mr. Squiggle
In 1958, Hetherington created Mr. Squiggle, a moon-dwelling marionetteMarionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
with a pencil for a nose; and, and the character first appeared on the Children's TV Club on ABC TV, as MISTER JOLLY SQUIGGLE by "Heth". Hetherington was granted the copyright (no.8027) for Mr. Squiggle in 1962; and his application stated that he had first created "Mr. Squiggle" on 1 August 1958).
The marionette had a very heavy head, and it was always manipulated by and voiced by Hetherington himself as the sole operator. The gentle politeness of Mr. Squiggle, and the gentle strength of Hetherington's well-modulated voice was immediately attractive to children, at a time when most of the other Australian TV channels had violent, raucous, and brash ventriloquist acts associated with their children's shows.
Exploiting the "fusion" of his skills as both puppeteer and cartoonist, he used the tip of the pencil that formed the puppet's nose to convert "squiggles" that had been sent in to the television station by young viewers into full-realised drawings and cartoons. Most significantly, given all of the mechanics of his marionette's performance, all of these "squiggle" conversions by Mr. Squiggle were always performed with the original children's drawing up-side down.
When asked, in 2009, in one of the "Moment in Time" segments of the ABC TV programme Can We Help?
Can We Help?
Can We Help? is a factual Australian television series hosted by Peter Rowsthorn.It is in its sixth season in 2011 and is broadcast on ABC1 at 6.00pm on Saturdays. The program is driven by viewer questions and requests for help in regards to a wide range of subjects...
, on behalf of a viewer, Miriam Webster, whether Mr. Squiggle had lead in his pencil or whether it was "something more extraterrestrial", Norman Hetherington replied: "It started off with a very large felt pen, a very thick felt pen; but, in Studio 23, we were very close to the lights, and the heat would dry up the felt, and it wasn’t very good, so we graduated to crayon, and then to oil chalk, and then [to] chalk."
Initially intended as a temporary fill-in, the show ran on ABC for 40 years, Mr. Squiggle's first appearance on ABC TV was on 1 July 1959, and he drew his last picture on ABC TV on 9 July 1999.
When interviewed by Sarah Collerton in 2009, Hetherington told her that "I taught Mr Squiggle to draw and now he draws better than I do".
In May 1999, Mr. Squiggle was honoured by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
with his own 45c. postage stamp.
Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre
In March 1962, the Dental Health Education and Research Foundation was established at the University of Sydney to promote the philosophy and practice of preventive dentistry and, in particular, communicate positive dental health messages to the general population. Preliminary studies had convinced the Foundation that "dental health literature of a hand-out nature was virtually useless unless it was used to supplement information or knowledge already passed on to the recipient by a dentist or some other authoritative person". Moreover, it was soon found that the presence of Dental Health Educators in primary schools, instructing children up to 12 years in such things as diet, oral hygiene and plaque control, was not as effective as it had been anticipated.In 1967, Hetherington was consulted by the Foundation; and, with the initial notion of strongly augmenting the work of the Dental Health Educators, he was responsible for establishing the "Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre", starring a new puppet, Smiley ("a little boy who gets toothache because he has not looked after his teeth properly"), that delivered performances based on a script that had been produced in collaboration with the Foundation, that featured all of its desired preventive dentistry messages. The first performance — which, it had been decided by that time, would run "in parallel with" (rather than "as part of") the dental health educator programme — was in February 1968, with the specific target of the younger, primary school children.
The shows were performed with two puppeteers, with the assistant operating Smiley, and Hetherington everything else. The show, and its associated Good Teeth Club — to which Hetherington, having emerged from behind the puppet stage, would invite the delighted children to join at the end of each of his performances (Anon, 1970) — was immensely popular with the school children immediately it began its operation.
The Foundation was overjoyed to discover that evaluations showed that, even after six months, the children could remember 70% of the dental health messages associated with the show (Woolley, 1980).
In 1970, as part of a weekend workshop conducted by the Australian Dental Association
Australian Dental Association
The ', established on 19 June 1928, is an Australian professional organisation of dentists which has as its aim the encouragement of the dental health of the public and the promotion of the art and science of dentistry. There are Branches of the Association in all States and a Provisional Branch in...
and the Dental Health Education and Research Foundation at Sydney University, Hetherington demonstrated his work to the assembled dentists, by allowing them to observe him deliver an entire performance to a group of children from Newtown North Primary School. They were all greatly impressed with his work.
Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre operated from 1968 to 1985; and, although it began in suburban Sydney, it was making trips into the country by late 1969.
As time passed, Hetherington became less involved in the actual delivery of the performances and often hired other puppeteers to perform the shows. For the four years his son Stephen studied at Sydney University (i.e., from 1977 to 1980), Stephen worked part-time on the show as a puppeteer, and the person who spoke to the children before and after each show. The other puppeteer who teamed with Stephen was Pam Sahm; she operated Smiley.
Javanese Shadow Puppet Theatre
Given his wide range of appropriate skills and experience, Hetherington was invited to work with a group of undergraduate students (ranging from second to fourth year) from the (then) Department of Indonesian and Malayan Studies at the University of Sydney, over the entire three-term year of 1980, in the task of preparing them for a performance of "Irawan Rabi”, or “Irwan’s Wedding”, as it had been adapted for a western audience by James R. Brandon, in the manner of the traditional Javanese shadow puppet theatre (or wayang kulit) (Day, 1981).He was asked to assist them to acquire an understanding of shadow puppet design, train them in the appropriate techniques of puppet manipulation, guide them into a smooth performance, as well as transferring an understanding of puppetry stagecraft (Day, 1981).
Apart from the extensive training he delivered to the students, and the advice that he gave to the entire company on puppetry stagecraft, he was also a very important participant in the joint construction of the final script, the musical improvisations used during the performance, and the comic routines that were woven throughout the entire performance. (Day, 1981).
The eventual performance, the culmination of the entire year’s project/course, was performed by six of the students, along with “eight metre-high puppets made from plywood”, a “life-size monster with expendable heads” and a “foam-rubber monkey”. It was a great success (Day, 1981).
Awards
Hetherington and his wife received several honours and awards, including the Penguin AwardPenguin Award
The Penguin Award is an annual award given for excellence in broadcasting by the Television Society of Australia. It was founded in 1954.The award trophy depicts an ear listening to a television tube, but strongly resembles a penguin....
in 1984, and again in 1989, from the Television Society of Australia "for their outstanding contribution to children's television in Australia".
He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
in 1990 "for service to children's television programmes and puppetry".
In 2005, he was presented with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Art, Design and Education (College of Fine Arts
College of Fine Arts
The College of Fine Arts is the creative arts faculty of the University of New South Wales and is located on Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney, Australia.- History :...
, UNSW), for contribution to the media.
Death
After a long illness, Hetherington died on the morning of 6 December 2010 in GreenwichGreenwich, New South Wales
Greenwich is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Greenwich is located 7 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Lane Cove.The suburb occupies a peninsula on the northern...
, Sydney. At his funeral, the eulogy was delivered by Richard Bradshaw
Richard Bradshaw (puppeteer)
Richard Bradshaw OAM is an internationally renowned Australian puppeteer.Richard Bradshaw is a one time Artistic Director of the Marionette Theatre of Australia. He is a particularly talented shadow puppeteer who also writes for puppets...
.
Tributes
Many artists, cartoonists, and puppeteers have acknowledged their debt to Norman Hetherington and his work, including:- Christine Assange, Australian puppeteer and mother of Julian AssangeJulian AssangeJulian Paul Assange is an Australian publisher, journalist, writer, computer programmer and Internet activist. He is the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website and conduit for worldwide news leaks with the stated purpose of creating open governments.WikiLeaks has published material...
. - Peter Broelman, Australian editorial cartoonist, caricaturist and illustrator.
- Chris "Roy" Taylor, Herald-Sun cartoonist.http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/dans-the-man-for-bland-new-brand/story-fn6bn88w-1225967195992
- Annette MacArthur-Onslow, author, illustrator of children's books, and one-time assistant to Hetherington (e.g., on Christmas Day 1957).
- Ross McCaughey, Australian cartoonist and book illustrator.
- Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.http://www.sppt.asn.au/company/news/39
- Hilary Talbot, Australian puppeteer and puppet designer.http://spiritsdancing.com/sdblog/2009/02/05/upside-down-upside-down
- Chris "Roy" Taylor, Herald-Sun cartoonist.http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/dans-the-man-for-bland-new-brand/story-fn6bn88w-1225967195992
- Ben Wood, Australian book and magazine illustrator.http://www.benwoodillustrations.com/tag/mr-squiggle-fan-art
Author
- "Heth", Army Daze by Heth: From Civvy to Commando in 40 Easy Laughs, Pinnacle Press (Magpie Series), (Sydney), 1945.
- Hetherington, N., Puppets of Australia, Australian Council for the Arts, (Sydney), 1974.
- Hetherington, N. & Hetherington, M., Mr. Squiggle and the Great Moon Robbery, Australian Broadcasting Commission, (Sydney), 1980.
- Hetherington, N. & Hetherington, M., Hand Shadows, Angus & Robertson, (North Ryde), 1988.
- Hetherington, N. & Hetherington, M., Mr. Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, ABC Enterprises, (Sydney), 1992.
Illustrator
- Blair, D. (ed.), Blown to Blazes and Other Works of J. B. Blair, David Blair, (Sydney), 2007.
- Gardiner, S., Reflections, Wentworth Books, (Surry Hills), 1979.
- Hetherington, M., Mr. Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, ABC Enterprises, (Sydney), 1992.
- Hosking, C., Old Tales in a New Land: Some European Customs and Legends, Angus and Robertson, (Sydney), 1957.
- Pate, M.Michael PateMichael Pate was an Australian actor, writer and director.-Early life:He was born Edward John Pate in Drummoyne, Sydney...
, An Entertaining War, Dreamweaver Books, (Sydney), 1986.