The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley
CLASSIC BBC KID'S ANIMATION DEVISED & WRITTEN BY MICHAEL BOND
ON THIS PAGE....the spin-off merchandise menu plus news of how you can help and a merchandise overview.
"at a time when manufacturers & others were not yet alive to how much free advertising they were being offered."
This part of Michael's assessment is more than a little curious actually.
Similar series of the period clearly demonstrated that manufacturers were very much alive to the possibilities.
Herbs' contemporaries like the big Gerry Anderson creations,Gordon Murray's Trumpton Trilogy and the Magic Roundabout all showed what was possible.And Watch With Mother predecessor Muffin the Mule had a whole raft of stuff out as early as the 1950's.
Of all of them,the 3 Trumptonshire series were probably the most comparable.
Like The Herbs,they were independantly commissioned by the Beeb for the Watch With Mother slot.They were all made using 3d stop motion animation and enjoyed comparable success.Oh,and like Bond,Mr.Murray had been on Auntie's payroll for most of his working life -although as part of the puppetry department rather than as general cameraman.And both got their series commissioned only a short time after having left.(their decisions btw !)
So plenty of symmetry,but when it came to the merchandising that's where the similarities ended.
Camberwick Green,Trumpton and,to a much lesser degree,Chigley spawned everything from the inevitable books and toys, right through to toothpaste and novelty soaps,and most things in between.
And whilst kitchen sink merchandising meant there were some frankly pretty tacky things produced,at least the cash registers kept ringing.And you don't need to be an accountant to work out who lit the fattest cigar.
Kerrrr......ching !!
OVERVIEW
Despite being incredibly popular,The Herbs weren't the money spinners you might imagine-as Michael Bond himself explains........
"The Herbs had been my first introduction to the world of merchandising,but that had been written for an audience which didn't have any great buying power,and at a time when manufacturers and others were not yet alive to how much free advertising they were being offered.Consequently,the films took a long time to recover their cost.
Relying on the sale of merchandise to pay for the making of a series can be a risky business,and not really what it should be about.The success of the Wombles changed all that and when Paddington went on air it soon became clear that having kicked a ball into play,there was no stopping it.The most that could be hoped for was to try as far as possible to keep it heading in the right direction,avoiding any kind of excess."
Ok.The merchandise did eventually drag the whole project into profit,so it clearly wasn't a disaster.
But it's interesting to draw some comparisons.........
These pages are all part of the site but just not included in the main menu.
OTHER MEMORABILIA consists of Morny Talcum Powder & Soap..........Chad Valley Glove Puppet ..........Bluebird Puppet
...........Letraset ..........H.C.Ford Parsley figure..........Merrythought Parsley stuffed toy..........Sage cushion.
STILL TO BE UPLOADED......JIGSAWS......SAMPLE BOOK INTERIORS......OTHER ASSORTED BITS N PIECES
YOUR CONTRIBUTION
Perhaps rather perversely,I'm not a dedicated Herbs collector (not really much of a collector of anything to be honest)
Some of what I have is leftover from childhood, & some picked up subsequently just to include it here (half-heartedly)
I still have some stuff to upload,and then it's just a case of waiting to see if anything else comes to light.
Everything I haven't sourced myself is credited to those that have.So if you have any photos,scans or item info to add,then why not join them ? All help is very gratefully recd. -email address on Home Page.
So why weren't there more Herbs products produced ?
Well,he also says in that opening statement that he was keen to avoid "any kind of excess" with regard to the Paddington spin-offs.So I can only assume that when it came to The Herbs he was maybe slightly too cautious in who he gave licensing deals to -either that or he fixed the prices too high.Because,despite what he goes on to say,it's really hard to imagine any manufacturer turning him away when he had such a big hit series on his hands.
And claiming that it "had been written for an audience which didn't have any great buying power" is another rather odd assertion when pester-power was as relevant then as it is now.
In fact,with a lot less channels available than today,any successful show had a far greater captive market to sell to.
So you tell me ?
What about the stuff that was actually produced ?
Well,I personally reckon he actually got the quality and range of product just about right -whether by design or not.
Granted that's a purist view rather than a pragmatic one and I wasn't relying on their income to help pay the mortgage. But I suppose it just depends whether you view their worth purely in financial terms.And whether some crude plastic likenesses in a Rice Krispie packet is ever a step too far if the money's right ?
Lord knows.Each to their own I suppose,and I guess we should be so lucky that we'd ever be in that position.
