Tony Hart (1925 - 2009) was perhaps the best thing that happened to the BBC for many inspiring artists, myself included. Before Digital Art Software like Photoshop become as big as it has today, Tony showed many of us what can be done with the traditional methods of pen, pencil, paint, chalk, crayon, paper and various other techniques. It's a shame that his old shows such as Take Hart or Hartbeat have yet received a second TV Airing or even a DVD release because this is the type of presenting that's missed in today's hyped-up generation, especially when art is involved. Being an artist isn't as big a joke as Spongebob's "behind the scenes" features make it out to be...
Tony's natural deliverance and "on the spot" creations make his programmes so much more enjoyable than anything "staged", IMO. And he has done many things for children's programmes at the time, including designing the iconic Blue Peter logo.
Old Friends - Tony with Morph
Not only that, but Tony also brought into our lives the fantastic Morph and Chas. While Wallace and Gromit have become their best-loved characters of all time, it was Morph and his chums that helped put Peter Lord and Nick Park's Aardman Studios in the Animation Directories. And like many popular stars, Morph and Chas began as secondary characters in Tony's Take Hart series, often seen interacting or messing about with Tony in dozens of Intermission Skits. In fact, the two characters proved popular enough to be given their own series - The Amazing Adventures of Morph, with Tony all the way as storyteller and (I presume) writer.
Morph and Chas
In later years, Morph and Tony would help each other along the way to remain in the hearts and memories of the small screen viewers. Snippets of TAAOM would be edited with new animation for The Morph Files, where all traces and vocal work of Tony would be replaced by Neil "Bob the Builder" Morrissey. While Neil was fine in his own way, there's something about Tony's gentle voice that's become a staple in Morph's roots. And I find it a shame and surprise that The Morph Files have somehow found its way to DVD before TAAOM, the latter which I literally grew up with.
However, the next Morph series, Morph TV, made amends when they were gracious enough to reinstate Tony's old art tutorials for the next generation to learn from. And though Tony has long since passed on, his legacy still lives on in spirit.
As for Morph, as well as being a feature in SMart (1994 - 2009), he and Chas have since returned to TV in Ricky's Radical Reinventions (2012) and plenty of the old sketches are available for viewing on Aardman's official YouTube Page.
Who knows what Morph and Friends will get up to next!
For now, take a trip back in time to 1980 with The Amazing Adventures of Morph!
Before his retirement in 2001, Tony Hart presented several more art-related programmes throughout the '90s - at one point, he dealt with the antics of The Art Box Bunch!
British viewers may recall seeing one or two of the following programmes below at some point of the '90s, at a time when Channel 4 used to show animation at reasonable hours. They all have one thing in common - they were created by one person.
Rony Oren is pretty big in his part of the world. Once he opened shop with FrameByFrame Productions, went on to animate and produce thousands of stop-motion productions in his lifetime, from adverts / commercials to kids shows and short films - as well as writing and drawing children's books of his own. He's pretty much the Nick Park of Israeli!
What makes Rony's animation work noticeable is how rubbery and bouncy his technique is. Something that's quite reminiscent of Pingu or Morph or Mio Mao.
Although all of his works have been broadcast worldwide, three of his shows have been showcased vastly in the UK - all which I recall watching, whether it was 6am or 12am.
Foxy Fables was one of his earliest works in 1987. Co-written and voiced by Andy Seacombe and Teddy Kempner, the series adapted a number of Aesop and Uncle Remus fables often ending with a moral - while still delivering hilarious dialogue all the way.
Andy and Teddy would collaborate again for Rony's next series, Tales of a Wise King - again, each episode sharing a moral from adapted stories of mythology, fantasy and magic, all teaching viewers about using your brains.
The last of Rony's series I recall Channel 4 showing was Grabbit the Rabbit - and as with the two above, this also adapts stories from Jean de la Fontaine and Joel Chandler Harris, although by this time Rony's style seem to have more spit and polish involved.
Rony is still animating and writing to this day - so anyone interested in how to create their own claymation characters should keep an eye out for his useful selection of books to add to your library!
As you may know, if you've been following this Blog of mine long enough, I've always been an admirer of anything obscure, original or just downright nutty - so this stop-motion series from Germany fits all three roles nicely...
Plonsters was created by Bettina Matthaei and produced by Anima Studio für Film & Grafik GmbH in the late 1980's. Having been aired in Australia and Norway, it eventually made its way to British airwaves, which I happened to catch sight of as part of Channel Five's Milkshake! block during some channel surfing one morning.
The series follows the adventures of three plasticine creatures known as Plif (green), Plops (blue) and Plummy (orange). With each episode lasting no less than 5 minutes, showcasing simple yet fun storylines for youngsters to follow, it really does prove what one can do with some plasticine and a little imagination...
In fact, going by the gibberish language from the Plonsters, the series seems to have the same universal appeal as with Morph and Pingu in a way - but you be the judge.
