During the 2nd World War, Capt. Robert Henry Pelham became known among the troops as the ‘Wonky Donkey Officer’ because he made little toy donkeys using wooden beads that were animated by strings attached to a small spring base.
Bob Pelham was 27 years old when he returned home to Marlborough in May 1946. It was not long before he had rented a workshop behind a solicitor’s office in Silverless Street, Marlborough and began to design and create his Wonky Donkeys
The little figures had proved so popular with the troops and within a year Bob employed a number of ex-service men and women and in May 1947 he registered the Company in the name of Wonky Toys Ltd. About 18 months later the name of the Company was changed to Pelham Puppets Ltd in October 1948.
His first four employees were Sid Hiscock and Frank Clements who created the bodies and bases for the figures. Laura Ray was taken on part-time to paint the figures and soon after, Rosemarie Gibaud came to help with assembling and painting. By the close of 1947 they concentrated on making puppets exclusively.
Bob had a friend who ran an Army Surplus depot in Bristol, and he provided him with wooden components of all shapes and sizes. Bob would buy them all up since nobody else wanted them and then he’d work out what to do with them.
Producing puppet heads was one of the greatest problems for Bob. He explained, “At first, I turned them on a lathe but they all came out in different shapes from ovals to squarish rounds. Well, I suppose it did mean their heads were all different and individual!”
After meeting Mr Bunce who owned the coconut shy at the Marlborough Mop Fair, Bob was able to obtain a regular supply wooden balls, so now they didn’t have to turn each one by hand, which took a lot of time and slowed up weekly production – they were able to increase weekly production dramatically.
Each individual face was painted by hand and it took time to develop an in-house design and an identity for Pelham Puppets. The face painting made them very distinctive and unique of course, and they tried out all types of different characters to discover what would prove popular with the buying public.
One character that proved very popular with the public, was “Sandy MacBoozle” – the tipsy Scot with the wooden whisky bottle. This (colourised) photograph, from the Daily Mirror, of Bob with MacBoozle, was published on the 30th of December 1947.
The puppets were sold from the Kingsbury Street premises and they had a window display that attracted many people passing by and he advertised in the local newspaper. For example, this advertisement appeared in the Marlborough Times on 5th December 1947.
However, Bob I knew he would have to persuade the large stores to take them if the business was to expand. Eventually he persuaded Hamleys in Regent Street, London, to let him demonstrate them himself behind a counter. By explaining how simple they really were to work and showing a somewhat surprised audience their comical antics, the first puppets began to sell.
But sales had to continue, so Dorothy Mercer volunteered to go up to London to continue with the demonstrations for a few weeks. “She liked it so much however,” recalled Bob, “she stayed there for seven years!” After the success in Hamley’s and expansion into other toy shops, business continued to improve and Bob recruited extra staff to meet the demand for the puppets from other toy shops.
Victoria House was certainly an extraordinary place to work. The unusual product they were manufacturing and the happy family atmosphere they enjoyed, created a feeling of group endeavour that formed the basis of the company for years to come.
By 1951 it became clear that more space was going to be needed to manufacture them and a temporary, site was found in Elcot Lane on the outskirts of town. Soon, production of puppets continued from there, and the company offices and shop remained in Kingsbury Street.
About a year later everything was brought together into some large premises on London Road, Marlborough and this became the permanent home for the Pelham Puppets factory for nearly 35 years. During that time the factory expanded to over twice the size and became one of the town’s largest employers.
In the 1950s, the new medium of television was making an impact and puppets were frequently featured on the BBC and the ITV networks. Many puppet characters from children’s TV programmes were produced under license including Mr Turnip, and a whole range characters from Disney films too.
From 1955 a whole new department was created to produce an extensive range of life size puppets. This began with the creation of Bimbo the Clown and led to hundreds of other clowns, and other characters already in production as well as life size animals, birds, pop singers and even a robot.
On May 10th 1955 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Pelham Puppets Stand at the British Industries fair. Bob asked the Queen whether she would like to see a puppet show. Her face lit up with a delighted smile and she said “Oh yes please!” I slipped behind the stage, the curtains were drawn back and my show began.
The Queen came behind the stage and standing beside Mrs Allen, who was the demonstrator from Harrods, and who was helping me operate the puppets, asked her if the puppets were simple to operate. Mrs Allen replied by handing Mitzi to the Queen and after showing her how to hold the control, invited her to try for herself!
Bob recalled, “One of my most treasured possessions is a picture which the press took of the Queen holding the control of Mitzi, utterly enthralled as she finds that she is making the puppet walk across the floor in a most natural way.” The following year, Bob had a calendar made up featuring the photograph of the Queen with Mitzi.
When Bob’s business partner, Arthur Harrison, who had been with him since 1947, resigned, Anne and Bob had been married for four years and in 1956 she became Company Co-Director. She also fulfilled another vital role over the years by calming many of Bob’s worries. He was an artist rather than a businessman and as such, the harsh realities of the world of commerce tended, on occasions to overcome him.
In this, Anne proved her strength by smoothing away the problems, often showing him that his fears were at worst, the normal expectations of commercial reality. As the years passed, so Anne contributed more to the running of the business. It became in every sense, a joint venture and when their children, Michael and Sarah, were born, a family affair. Could anything be more appropriate in a company making puppets for children?
Part Two of the Story of Pelham Puppets continues on the next page.
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