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Pelham Puppets:
The Story by David Leech Part 3

In 1964, at the height of Beatlemania, Bob produced his own pop group, the Pelpoppets. These puppets were among his favourites. Originally dressed in grey suits with velvet trim - in the style of the Beatles - Bob was always keen to show them off whenever he could, even appearing on BBC's 'Blue Peter' programme in 1964.

The Pelpoppets

Accompanied by three employees, Eileen Sims-Neighbour, Sid Long and David Macey, the Pelpoppets performed to Dave Clark’s 5 Glad All Over, a record which had been at No.1 in the pop charts in the weeks before their appearance. Although his characters were to be based on the Beatles, this could have led to copyright problems and, anyway, who could know how long they would maintain their popularity?
Bob himself enjoyed manipulating the drummer and this he did with energy and enthusiasm. The use of a Dave Clark-5 song provided him with opportunity to demonstrate vividly what his drummer could do! To add variety to his range of ‘pop’ singers and not restrict them solely to guitars, a saxophonist was introduced. (Additionally, a trumpet player, double-base player, a violinist and an accordionist were prototyped but never put into production.)
Without the artistic skills of Leeper or Carter-Page, the modelling for sculpted heads fell to Percy Mortimer, who introduced the moulding process to Bob in the early 50s and David Alexander, a talented theatre set-designer and modeller who was responsible for producing earlier No.2 range heads of the vast stable of animal characters (including the Disney range) that continued in production into the 1980s.
Bob Pelham never originated models for heads, but his sketches were used as the basis for many of them. (More details about puppet production will be added to this site later.)

Throughout the sixties and into the 1970s, Pelham Puppets enjoyed a period of steady increase and expansion. 1970 and 1971 brought special awards from France and the UK for Unique and High Quality Product of World-wide Appeal and Reputation.
Pelham Puppets marked their quarter-centenary with a huge party for all employees and others associated with the Company and from the Toy Trade. The continued upward swing and increased trade from Europe and America provided Bob with many good reasons for celebration. In fact, production records show that 328,743 puppets were produced in 1972 alone. That is 1,290 puppets every day!
However, it was the never-ending challenge for Bob to marry the commercial world with the children’s world of make-believe.
He was always ready to admit that he didn’t enjoy business administration, he much preferred the creative side of things.

Nominated Toy of the Year in France 1971

As often as he could, he would try to spend an hour or so, at the end of each day, working on the animated display scenes. Each unit, draped in curtains to give the appearance of a real puppet theatre, depicted scenes such as Gulliver’s Travels, Hansel & Gretel, the Old Lady in a Shoe and Santa’s workshops.
The scenic display units came in two principle sizes; 72 inches wide; 48 inches high & 28 inches deep. These large units could be placed side by side to make up one huge scene, either 12-feet wide; 18-feet wide and even 24ft wide! These larger displays were used in larger stores such as FAO Schwartz in NYC and Harrods, Hamleys and Selfridges in London. The smaller scenic display units were 48 inches wide; 24 inches high and 21 inches deep. These were displayed in the windows of smaller toy retailer’s windows.

The backgrounds to the scenes were painted by various employees over the years, including Carter-Page, David Alexander, and later, his wife Anne and life-long friend, Pam Lawton. The scenes were then completed by Bob (from the mid-70s, David Leech). We would try to ensure that the puppet characters were engaged in some task or activity, rather than just waving their arms about or jumping up & down!

David Leech working on a scene of Gulliver's Travels (1981)

From 1973, Mini Animated Units were introduced, initially to promote the sale of the Wombles. These became so popular that many more retailers requested them as a moving window attraction that didn’t require lots of space. Andrew Witts was the main person to produce these, featuring up to five different puppets. The years following Pelham Puppet’s quarter-centenary were exciting ones, but they also brought mounting problems of a commercial nature and Bob discovered that more of his time was beginning to be eaten away and his enthusiasm sapped by the increasing pressures. In 1974, he wrote: We live from day to day wondering what item of supply is going to become scarce or totally unobtainable, not to mention the price going sky-high!
He found it a difficult world to understand, but continued, As long as we get our precious screw-eyes our puppets will hold together!

Andrew Witts working on a 'mini-unit' 1977

Expansion continued at a steady pace despite such problems, but this did make it necessary to change some production methods. With orders flooding in from over 20 countries, Pelham started to bring in ready made plastic components that were simply assembled at the factory or by home-workers.
This resulted in inferior quality products and he damaged his hard-earned and long-term reputation for producing good quality, sound working marionettes.

Puppets waiting to receive their strings in the 1970s

By trying to meet the demand for ever increasing quantities he apparently became a victim of his own success.
Rapid expansion and increasing trade in the late 1970s, reached a peak in 1979 when every puppet produced in the first six months of the financial year was exported to the United States.
By 1979 Pelham Puppets Ltd. was the largest employer in Marlborough with over 200 employees (including home-workers) and the factory’s working space was doubled in less than three years.

Bob Pelham in 1965

Like many other manufacturing companies in the early 80s, Pelham Puppets was obliged to make cut-backs. Many loyal, long-standing employees, nearly one-third of the workforce were made redundant from June 20^th 1980.
Then the greatest tragedy struck, when on the evening of June 19^th, 1980, Bob Pelham died suddenly at his home. He was 61 years old.
His widow, Anne, tried to keep Pelham Puppets going for six years, but in 1986 she decided it was time to sell up and retire.
Between 1986 and 1993 Pelham Puppets changed hands several times with other hopeful toy manufacturers trying to re-introduce Pelham Puppets to the market. But the Driving Force and enthusiasm that kept Pelham Puppets alive for over three decades was gone. Pelham Puppets (Marlborough) Ltd. Were forced into liquidation and ceased trading on 23^rd March 1993.
For over 33 years Bob Pelham spent nearly every working day, designing and supervising the manufacture of these award-winning and now, very collectable, Pelham Puppets.
Watching him at work, chatting to employees (even when the number of employees reached nearly 200, he was proud of the fact that he knew each one by name), it was difficult to distinguish him from them. Frequently he could be found busy at a bench, in a dust-covered apron working among them all!
And today, Pelham Puppets, some nearly 60 years old, still awaken people to the limitless world of the imagination that had been created for them by Bob Pelham.

Part 4