'I was probably Squiggle and Squiggle was probably me.’
So said Norman Hetherington, who died yesterday aged 89, speaking last year about his close relationship with Mr Squiggle, ‘the man from the moon’.
Norman Hetherington was head cartoonist at The Bulletin magazine and had his first cartoon published in 1938. For more than four decades, in parallel with his television work, Norman Hetherington created and performed puppet shows. In 1956 he appeared with puppets Nicky and Noodle at the launch of ABC television broadcasting. Mr Squiggle and Friends (1959–2001) was first broadcast, as part of The Children’s TV Club (1956–61), on 1 July 1959. Norman remembered, 'There was no audition, no rehearsal, just a look at the script outline.’ Initially given a six-week run, Mr Squiggle and Friends continued to be produced at the ABC until 1999 and was on air until 2003.
At home, over tea served in china cups mid last year, Norman and Squiggle’s co-creator and wife Margaret discussed the enduring appeal of one of the longest-running children’s programs in the world. According to Norman, 'the character is the important thing otherwise it’s just a wooden puppet. I think that characters really need a gimmick I suppose, and Squiggle’s was drawing … The character was developed by Margaret’s scriptwriting … So Squiggle developed a gentle character, needing someone to solve his problems and to hold his hand … Over time he became part of the family.’ Another member of the Squiggle family was Norman and Margaret’s daughter ‘Miss Rebecca’, who assisted Mr Squiggle on air along with five other ‘friends’ including film producer 'Miss Pat’ (Patricia Lovell).
'Everything’s upside down these days’, says Mr Squiggle while using his pencil-nose to create inverted drawings from children’s squiggles. Speaking as the puppeteer operating Squiggle with strings from above, Norman pointed out, 'Well of course that’s the right way up to me.’ Designing a marionette puppet with a practical pencil for a nose was not only a way of combining his interests in drawing and puppetry but a technical challenge, 'I didn’t expect it to work but it was an experiment and the experiment worked.’
In July 2009 Mr Squiggle turned 50 and, although no longer on air, Norman continued to appear at exhibitions (the Powerhouse Museum and Mosman Art Gallery) and at science-fiction conventions where Mr Squiggle and Friends was recognised as ‘the first Australian astronaut’. Norman was presented with an Order of Australia in 1990. He was made a life member of the Australian Cartoonists’ Association in 2008 and was awarded the Jim Russell Award for outstanding contribution to Australian cartooning in 2009.
Quotes are taken from the author’s interview with Norman and Margaret Hetherington on 21 July 2009.
