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The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley
On this page ..... Items waiting to graduate to their own page when there's enough information to merit it.
Talcum Powder and Character Soaps
These were all produced by a company called Morny and have a 1971 copyright mark.
The pics show 1 tin of talc ( front and back views )
And 1 box of soaps ( 2 examples of the same box,front and back ) - with each box containing 2 soaps.
And these are branded as "Parsley" and not "The Herbs" because they were produced after the sequel.
As far as I'm aware,this was the entire extent of the soap and talc range.
Which is surprising because other kids tv contemporaries got larger ranges of individually boxed characters.
With the 2 that immediately spring to mind being the Magic Roundabout and Camberwick Green.
A fleeting pleasure,yet strangely satisfying.
And,arguably,a bit more fun than some other similarly untaxing pursuits like join-the-dots & painting-by-numbers.
The multi-character pack (clickable),is dated 1972 with the ref. GK 107.
And good,unopened examples aren't that scarce.
But the Parsley one next to it is much rarer.
Dated 1973. Reference no. GK 146. And 25cm x 13cm.
It also appears to have been a one-off.
Because the back only mentions other characters from the Magic Roundabout,Rupert the Bear and Tom & Jerry.
Pic of the back here
Talc and soap were standard fayre for all the similar animated series of the period that had their own range of toiletries.
And so was bath foam.
So it's somewhat of surprise not to see a Herbs version of that.
String Puppets
Whenever you see an old UK toy with strings attached,you tend to think of "Pelham Puppets".
But despite producing tv spin-off ranges for the likes of the Magic Roundabout & the Wombles,
they never got it together with Michael Bond -ie. The Herbs or Paddington Bear.
Thankfully,Bluebell Toys stepped in to fill the void - an independant company based in Southport.
The box measures 12" x 6" but is un-dated. Although it'll be early 70's at the very latest.
From the well known UK producer of teddy bear-related soft toys.
"Mr.Parsley" featured in their line-up from 1973 to 1975.
And,sadly,the only character they ever made from either series.
With a catalogue reference no. of 731.
Listed as 8" tall ( 20cm )
Parsley's TV Dominoes
Another arms-length ebay listing here,as you'll probably have guessed from the pics.But at least it's a start.
Produced in 1970 by Topsail Games. The pieces came in sheets that you pressed out,in a box measuring 11" x 8"
And very much a sister product to their Cling Pic set,with both trying to cash-in on the tv debut of the Adventures of Parsley that same year.
A strangely large box for such a small amount of content.And it was probably the sort of present that looked great wrapped up under the christmas tree .... still great with the wrapping removed .... but not quite so good once you took the lid off !
Photo Acknowledgements. Soaps ..... and Bluebell Puppet ..... courtesy of Tony Clark.
Talc ..... and the mystery Parsley cuddly toy ..... courtesy of Dawn Foster-Denham.
And another Parsley Soft Toy to finish off for now ....
There's no label to identify the manufacturer or the date.
And the only thing we know for sure is that it's quite large,at about 18" long x 13" high.
That said,I'm almost certain it was produced by Pedigree,and dates to the early to mid 70's.
But I've yet to find any hard evidence to back it up.
And,as always,if you can help with this or any of the other memorabilia then please do - email on home page.
Merrythought Parsley
Letraset
Good old Letraset.
Is there anything they didn't turn into transfers in the 70's ?!
4 different characters are mentioned on the box - Sir Basil ... Lady Rosemary ... Bayleaf ... and Knapweed.
All of whom are 2 legged humans of course. Which may expIain the omission of Parsley,Dill & Sage.
Although it's hard to imagine anyone producing a Herbs set without them ... whatever the reason.
