I still think all this spoon business came about because of 'Button Moon'.
Button Moon? What's that?
accidentally modified by Kong on this post instead of one of my own![glow=red,2,300]Button Moon (1980-1987)[/glow]
puppet style: string and hand puppets
creators: Ian Allen & John Thirtle
Playboard Puppets
episodes: 91 x 10mins
Thames TV series
"We're off to Button Moon
We'll follow Mr Spoon..."
Focus your telescope on the inky blackness of Blanket Sky and you'll find the shiny four-holed Shangri-La that is "Button Moon". Each episode we'd blast off for this yellow world with the Spoon family on board their bean tin spaceship.
Mr Spoon, Mrs Spoon, Tina Teaspoon and her pal Egg-bert encountered a giddy assortment of creatures and creations composed of equally colourful, oversize household implements, products and packages.
Chief amongst them were the bottles, Captain Large and Small and Little, and the other manic members of the Bottle Army. Large and Small were forever up to mischief and making a mess of various grand schemes - they were the Laurel and Hardy of Button Moon. Then there was Rag Doll, could be a bit of a nuisance, especially to her pals Freddy Teddy, Sofa and Wibbly Wobbly Man. And there were always lots of folks frequenting the Button Moon Theatre.
But we didn't just meet moon-based folks. Egg-bert's family would regularly visit the Spoon family home. That's Mum Vanilla, and Daddy Egg-bert the ice cream vendor. Winny Wilson was Egg-bert's babysitter, whilst Tina Teaspon would be looked after by the nurse, Miss Johnson. And on occassion, Mr Spoon would set up his telescope to spy upon the menagerie on high, around Blanket Sky...
This highly creative puppet series for younger kids ran for five hugely successful seasons and was swept into the upper echelons of tv cultdom courtesy of its memorable theme tune and those distinct, utensil puppets who were eco-friendly stars on a par with those Wimbledon Wombles.
Mr Spoon and friends were created by Ian Allen and the late John Thirtle of Playboard Puppets (above). Their puppet designs have always been instantly recognizable. On stage and in earlier tv productions puppets were regularly presented against velvet black-drops, masking the performer and allowing the bright simple puppets to shine.
Prior to "Button Moon", Playboard's tv forays had brought us the delights of Mo and Hedge in their self-titled "Playboard" series and lots more black-dropped critters in "Rainbow" and "Playschool".
The Button Moon puppets first appeared in a 1978 Playboard theatre show written by Allen and called "Mr Spoon on Button Moon". The theatrical performances continued alongside the tv shows and beyond, touring theatres and civic halls around the uk for up to eight months a year, with a regular three-week Christmas run at London's Jeannetta Cochrane Theatre. A Button Moon sequel "The Grotty Rotters of Button Moon" premiered there during Christmas 1984.
Now here's an Urban Myth proven correct for once: The Button Moon theme tune was actually sung by ex-"Dr Who" star Peter Davison and his actress wife Sandra Dickinson (Trillion in BBC TV's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). Playboard feature "Dr Who" on their list of TV credits - which is presumably how this bizarre duet came about...?
Twenty years on, "Button Moon" is a continuing success story. There areDVDs, greetings cards and more out there for fans to collect. And trendy students have seized up the show's effervescent ecology. Mr Spoon is now something of a Poster Boy for the environmentally aware, and indeed he would make an excellent campaign mascot for folks or companies on a clean green mission. Bring back Button Moon, we say!
