This has a label saying "Hygenic Toys,made in England by the Chad Valley Co. Limited".But,sadly,that's about all its' owner Dawn can tell us about it.And there's not too much more I can add because it's the only one I've ever seen.
It's slightly surprising there's no copyright date on there somewhere but it has the look of an early,pre 1970 piece.
As the hat and jacket are in far better condition than the body,I suppose it's possible that they're not original and could be homemade replacements.
Plus the jacket's got no buttons -unless it's on back-to-front .
Either way,he's certainly seen some action.And his alcohol consumption seems to have increased since he filmed the series !
A nice,fun item that must've looked great fresh out of the box.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAWN FOSTER-MOORE
The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley
CLASSIC BBC KID'S ANIMATION DEVISED & WRITTEN BY MICHAEL BOND
ON THIS PAGE.....Bits and pieces that may get a page to themselves eventually,but find a home here in the meantime.
Either because there's not a whole lot to say about them.Or because I simply don't have much information to pass on.
And,as ever,if you can help fill in any of the blanks then please do (email address on Home Page)
Talcum Powder and Character "Sculptured Soaps"by Morny
These all carry a copyright mark of "Film Fair 1971 based on the BBC TV Series The Herbs/Adventures of Parsley".
The pics show 1 tin of talc (front and back views) and 2 examples of the same box ie.front and back -with each box containing 2 soaps.
As far as I know,there was just the 1 tin of talc and 1 box of soaps.So if you fancied a soap other than Parsley it looks like you were out of luck.Which is slightly disappointing,because a lot of the other kids tv progs of the period got larger ranges of individually boxed ones.
But the fact no more have come to light doesn't mean they don't exist.So we live in hope.
PHOTO CREDITS:THE 2 TALC ONES COURTESY OF DAWN FOSTER-MOORE AND THE SOAP ONE COURTESY OF TONY CLARK.
MY SINCERE THANKS TO THEM FOR THAT AND ALSO THEIR HELP WITH SOME OF THE OTHER ITEMS BELOW.
I'm never really sure whether something like this should be described as a "toy" or not.
There are "stuffed toys" and "cuddly toys" of course,but this is just a solid object -no 'give',no squeek,nothing.
It was made by H.C.Ford of London,(via Hong Kong).A firm you quite often see mentioned as "HCF" and who produced all manner of similar objects-many of which were for similar kids' tv programmes.
This particular example is about 5" long x 4" tall and may be part of a Herbs set,although I've not seen or heard of any other characters.
The main body is made of hard plastic or resin.It's then covered with a sort of felt-like finish and embellished with fabric. And whilst the word "flock" seems to crop up a lot with these types of figures,I'm not entirely sure whether it's appropriate or not to be honest.
The finish is interesting.With the body looking like it's been spray painted,and the fabric dyed.And all the ones I've seen have been subject to varying degrees of fading.Which begs 2 questions:-
Firstly,how old is it ? Answer- I don't know for sure but 70's is a pretty safe and unadventurous guess.
And,secondly,what would it have looked like new ? Answer- pretty striking I'd imagine !
The mane is a bluey colour and it looks like they used a luminescant tourquiosey paint for the paws,bits of which can also be seen on the body.So Lord knows what the thinking was behind all that.But if it was just to make a pretty funky, psychadelic-looking lion then they suceeded ! And I do like it I have to say.
It'd be great to see a pristine one.Although the chances aren't great because you get the feeling that they're just as susceptible to colour loss through constant touching as through sun bleaching..But maybe there's a box of unsold shop stock sitting in a dark corner somewhere.In the meantime,here's the best I can currently come up with............
Letraset
Ah,good old Letraset.
Is there anything that didn't get immortalised by them ?
Well,The Herbs certainly weren't among them.
Although the ones I personally remember the most were some dinosaur examples which I plastered over anything that was flat and smooth enough to take one -during my juvenile jurassic period.
Anyhow,the multi-character pack,to the far left,has a 1972 copyright and I've made it clickable to appreciate the detail a bit better.And good unopened examples are still quite easy to pick up........
Unlike the individual Parsley one next to it,which is very hard to find -and my thanks to Tony Clark for sending in the pic.
Carrying a 1973 date,it's about 13cm wide and you'd think there must have been other characters.But on the back it only mentions versions featuring the Magic Roundabout, Rupert the Bear and Tom & Jerry.And whilst it was possibly the forerunner to some others,I think it's unlikely as '73 was already quite late in procedings to be bringing them out
The production date and style of the artwork,shows they're clearly inspired more by the sequel.Although Belladonna does feature'despite only only appearing in the one episode.
And whilst it's not hard to imagine young kids liking the soap,I'm not entirely sure where the talc comes in to be honest.
Would a mum buy it in preference to another tin simply because of the artwork.........?
Bayleaf String Puppet There's even less to say about this one sadly,other than it's clearly a string puppet made by "Bluebell' And it's nice to see it with its' box.
Although seeing a toy with strings attached does make you wonder why Pelham Puppets never produced a Herbs range.
And presumably it was simply that they couldn't agree terms,because it's hard to believe it wasn't at least discussed.
But it's good to see these 2 survivors and the search is on for any other characters in the ranges......
PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY CLARK
Sage Cushion
Sadly,I've got no idea who manufactured this or when. Although it surely has to to be the 1970's.And I can almost (almost) imagine it in somewhere like Habitat.
And if you put it in somewhere like that today,without anyone knowing who the character was,I reckon it would still fly out the door (which is more than Sage ever did of course !)
Simply because it's such a colourful,practical item and the sort of thing that just brings a smile to your face.And,Lord knows,we've all felt how he looks at some point in our lives.
Well,I'd buy one at any rate.But as this is the only one I've ever seen,then it's highly unlikely I'll ever get the chance.
Pity.Because it's a great bit of kit.Or should that be "kitsch" ?
PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY CLARK.
Merrythought Parsley
The Parsley effort,to the right,is by revered soft toy maker,Merrythought.
Although,if you ignore the fact it's green then it could be any old lion frankly.
And,personally,I think it looks quite uninteresting when compared to the miniature HCF version above.
But it's undeniably big and soft and cuddly and I'd imagine there were quite a few happy little faces when it was unwrapped.So I suppose that's more than enough reason to stump up the sort of cash the maker's name probably demanded.
Although if it's representative of the Merrythought output then it does makes me wonder what all the fuss is about.
Not that I know doodle squat about soft toys I have to admit.
And the prices people pay at auction these days for manky old teddies are a complete source of bemusement.
So maybe I just need to get in touch with my soft and cuddly side
