Toonhound - Pingwings

     "This is Berrydown Farm. Quite a lot of people live here...
      Old people sitting, young people busy playing,and middling people
      like me who work. Then there are ducks. They don't seem to do
      anything much except walk about and quack. And of course,
      Minnie the Cat. Minnie is a lady. Hello Minnie. And Gay the
      Goat, if she'll stand still for a minute. And of course, the
      Pingwings... If we can find the Pingwings..."
                                                                                             - intro to The Happy Event

    The Pingwings of Berrydown Farm were a family of small knitted penguin-like
    creatures, standing no more than 6 or 7 inches tall. There was Mr Pingwing,
    Mrs Pingwing and Penny who both wore aprons, Paul who liked to wear a
    hat and new-born Baby Pingwing. The Pingwings films were SmallFilms' first
    model series. Although the Pingwing family were 'animated' for the series, the
    world they lived in, their home in in the barn, the farm and its populance were
    very real. The Pingwings were moved frame-by-labour-intensive-frame against
    this real-time world. They had many small adventures on the farm with the
    things they had found or built. These adventures brought them in to contact
    with the various farm animals, and close contact with the humans, and it's
    this contact and interaction with the world that makes this series work
    so uncannily well. If you didn't know better you'd swear the Pingwings
    actually existed!

    In the first episode, entitled The Happy Event, we learn that Mrs Pingwing
    has laid an egg from which hatches a baby Pingwing. Penny Pingwing breaks
    the news of the 'egg laying' to her father Mr Pingwing whom we find is actually
    pegged up to dry on the washing line. This image stems from Oliver Postgate's
    very first true-life encounter with a Pingwing. How so? Well, during a visit to
    Peter and Joan Firmnin's house in 1960 Oliver happened upon a small knitted
    penguin pegged out to dry by its woolly beak. Gloria, Peter Firmin's sister,
    had knitted it for young Josie Firmin. Oliver was reminded of a type of French
    wool called Pingouin, and a series idea was hatched...

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				Pingwings (1961 - 1964) producers: SmallFilms animation: stop-motion animation filmed in b/w episodes: 10min episodes

	"This is Berrydown Farm. Quite a lot of people live here... Old people sitting, young people busy playing,and middling people like me who work. Then there are ducks. They don't seem to do anything much except walk about and quack. And of course, Minnie the Cat. Minnie is a lady. Hello Minnie. And Gay the Goat, if she'll stand still for a minute. And of course, the Pingwings... If we can find the Pingwings..." - intro to The Happy Event The Pingwings of Berrydown Farm were a family of small knitted penguin-like creatures, standing no more than 6 or 7 inches tall. There was Mr Pingwing, Mrs Pingwing and Penny who both wore aprons, Paul who liked to wear a hat and new-born Baby Pingwing. The Pingwings films were SmallFilms' first model series. Although the Pingwing family were 'animated' for the series, the world they lived in, their home in in the barn, the farm and its populance were very real. The Pingwings were moved frame-by-labour-intensive-frame against this real-time world. They had many small adventures on the farm with the things they had found or built. These adventures brought them in to contact with the various farm animals, and close contact with the humans, and it's this contact and interaction with the world that makes this series work so uncannily well. If you didn't know better you'd swear the Pingwings actually existed! In the first episode, entitled The Happy Event, we learn that Mrs Pingwing has laid an egg from which hatches a baby Pingwing. Penny Pingwing breaks the news of the 'egg laying' to her father Mr Pingwing whom we find is actually pegged up to dry on the washing line. This image stems from Oliver Postgate's very first true-life encounter with a Pingwing. How so? Well, during a visit to Peter and Joan Firmnin's house in 1960 Oliver happened upon a small knitted penguin pegged out to dry by its woolly beak. Gloria, Peter Firmin's sister, had knitted it for young Josie Firmin. Oliver was reminded of a type of French wool called Pingouin, and a series idea was hatched...
			In the 1970s Oliver Postgate wrote two Pingwings books for Kaye & Ward's Starting To Read series - a series of books for learning readers based upon SmallFilm's productions. The Marrow Boat and A Flying Bird were illustrated beautifully by Babette Cole, famous now for her own works like Mummy Laid An Egg and The Silly, Slimy, Smelly and Hairy Books. Babette's SmallFilms connections go back to her time on Bagpuss...
	stories by Oliver Postgate music: Vernon Elliot puppets: Gloria Firmin Oliver Postgate voices: Oliver Postgate Olwen Griffiths On the web Smallfims http://www.smallfilms.co.uk The official site. Clean, clear graphics and interface lead you to sections on most of Oliver and Peter's series - The Pingwings section is still rather 'woolly', however!... Dragons-Friendly Society http://www.dragons-friendly-society.co.uk Smallfilms' very own society site now offers us an exclusive multi-region Pingwings DVD!... index » previous » next »
	© Oliver Postgate / Peter Firmin - Smallfilms / F2000-2005