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THE
COMPLETE HISTORY OF “SMALL TIME”
Independent
Television’s 15-minue slot for the under fives broadcast from 1955 to 1966.
Produced
and Presented for the Network by Associated-Rediffusion Television.
Researched
by Malcolm Batchelor, with thanks to the TV Times and the British Newspaper
Library at Colindale.
1
– MILESTONES AND NOTABLE DATES:
Small Time began the day after Independent Television’s Opening Night in London
on Thursday, 22nd
September, 1955.
At 12.15pm on Friday,
23rd September, 1955 the very first Small Time programme was
broadcast. Johnny and Flonny,
a glove puppet series, with Paul Hansard.
The following week on
the Monday saw The Big Black Crayon with Rolf Harris and Jean Ford and on
the Wednesday
was Toybox with Susan Spear.
There were no Small Time
programmes on Tuesdays nor Thursdays until Tuesday, 8th November
when
The Little House That Stood On The Hill joined the 12.15-12.30pm line-up
and on Thursday
Snoozy The Sea-Lion made the complete original Monday to Friday set.
Full Details of these
and all the other Small Time programmes are given below.
From Monday, 28th
November, 1955 the slot was moved back a little to 12.08pm and ran to 12.20pm according to the
TV Times. But this initial lunchtime transmission was short lived because
from Monday, 9th January, 1956
Small Time was moved to a 4.05-4.15pm slot.
But then we were soon
to lose our five slots a week. Because from week commencing
20th February,
1956 we were down to a Tuesday and Thursday 4.30-4.45pm slot only.
This lasted until May
1956 when Small Time disappeared completely and the only remnants that were
left
could be seen on Tuesdays when Rolf Harris appeared in the Children’s Hour
from 5.00-6.00pm and on Thursdays
when Snoozy The Sea Lion had a fortnightly run at 5.27pm in the same programme.
Only Snoozy remained
from June 1956 though and lasted as the programme became Jolly Good Time
with Jimmy Hanley in September 1956
right the way through to September 1957.
On Monday, 16th
September, 1957 at 4.30pm the Small Time 15-minute slot was back.
The programmes were hosted
by Mr. Happy, the controller of birthdays, script was written by John Myers
and
Mr. Happy read your birthday greetings before presenting a different Small
Time programme each day,
Monday to Friday. This format lasted until Christmas.
Wednesday, 13th
November, 1957 saw the very first episode of The Adventures Of Twizzle.
No Small Time programmes
were broadcast between January and April 1958.
But The Adventures Of
Twizzle were shown on Tuesdays in the Jolly Good Time show with Jimmy Hanley
between 5.00 and 5.30pm.
In April 1958 Oliver
Postgate joined the team with Mr Happy and from Monday, 14th
April
Small Time was running in the 4.45-5.00pm slot with a different programme
each day.
Monday, 8th
December, 1958 debuts Muriel Young reading the tale of Little Rocky.
Thursday, 11th
December, 1958 saw the very first edition of the long running series
The Musical Box, but
not with Wally Whyton until 12th August, 1959.
This first edition was compered by Jill Adamson.
Rolf Harris hosted the programme from 21st April, 1959.
Small Time didn’t settle
into its 4.45-5.00pm slot until Monday, 14th September, 1959.
Although the programme
continued to run five days a week from Monday, 14th April, 1958,
after Christmas on Monday,
29th December, 1958 it was moved back to the lunchtime slot of
12.47-1.00pm
and if that’s not enough musical chairs on Monday, 5th July,
1959 it was moved forward again
to a 5.05-5.15pm slot! Throughout
the rest of its life it did settle at 4.45-5.00pm apart from a very short
period between
Monday, 28th December, 1964 and Monday, 1st February,
1965 when for the first month in the life of Crossroads,
the new ATV soap serial, Small Time is designated to a 4.20-4.35pm slot.
On Friday, 16th
October, 1959 Patrick Boyle told us the very first Tum story which was followed
by Muriel Young
talking to Pussy Cat Willum, a glove puppet devised and animated by Janet
Nicholls. This started regular
birthday chats following the Small Time programme and over the years Pussy
Cat Willum appeared with Liz Shingler,
Bert Weedon and Wally Whyton as well as Muriel Young. The other “soon to
become famous” puppets started life
here before making it big in the Five O’Clock Club were Ollie Beak, voiced
by Wally Whyton and Fred Barker,
voiced by Ivan Owen.
Monday, 28th
December, 1959 heralds the start of that little engine from the Welsh valleys
Ivor The Engine.
Tuesday, 23rd
February, 1960 saw the launch of Torchy The Battery Boy.
Tuesday, 27th
February, 1962 gave us the first adventure with Sara and Hoppity.
Who can remember that
song? This was the theme song to the show: -
“Sara Brown has a toy as
naughty as can be, he’ll start to sing if you wind up his key.
He’ll sing and he’ll dance
all over the floor and when he stands still you wind him some more. Dear
old Hoppity,
naughty Hoppity, there is no toy more naughty than he. Dear old Hoppity,
clever Hoppity, he sings diddle-lee-dum
and he sings diddle-lee-dee!”
In September 1962 one
of Children TV’s greatest glove puppets Basil Brush was born on ITV in Small
Time.
He appeared with his friends Bert Scampi and Spikey in The Three Scampis.
His voice was created by Ivan Owen.
From Monday, 27th
September, 1965 Pippy The Telephant
made regular appearances.
The final week of Small
Time commenced on Monday 19th September, 1966 and the line-up
of programmes looked
like this: -
Mon: Kuff. Tues: Twizzle. Weds: Musical Box. Thurs:
Pippy’s Party. Fri: All At Sea.
Then from Monday, 26th
September, 1966 away went the Small Time header along with all the regular
programmes
and into the 4.45-5.00pm slot came Playtime where Gwyneth Surdivall and
Jennifer Naden invited the younger viewers
to join in the singing, dancing and painting in their magic park. This programme
ran from Mondays to Thursdays
leaving Friday free for the Adventures Of Twizzle into 1967. By 1968 Playtime
had gone and was replaced
with Hullaballoo and various other
programmes filled this slot including Ivor The Engine until Rediffusion
lost its franchise to Thames Television in July, 1968.