Originially, in these licensed books and tie-in publications, Sooty
Sweep and Soo dwelled a world away from Sooty Heights in a
fictional place called Tv Town. This place shared many similarities with the two Toytowns from Hulme Beaman's Larry The Lamb and
Blyton's Noddy books, with a hint of Rupert's Nutwood thrown in for
good measure. Most action took place around High Street or Tv Square. Tv Town was built on the coast and occasionally folk would
visit the Town Pier too. Sooty and his friends dwelled inland on the
outskirts of town, in a bungalow called The Sooteries.
Regular characters in the Tv Town stories included:
Calico Joe - a sneaky, trilby-wearing cat
PC Nab - a familiar, barrel-chested policeman
Mr Fusspot - Tv Town Mayor
Ali Artful - fez-wearing, mischief-maker
Mr Zizzi - moustached italian ice cream seller
Coco The Clown - a tear-painted harlequin
Mr Bricks - a bowler-hatted builder
Mrs Merry - a bustling, busy housewife
Wizard Wong - a spritely, long-bearded spellmaker
Sooty, meanwhile, was still as rumbuctious as ever, playing
games with his magic and knocking people on the head on
occasion, as you'd expect. He also had his special Oofle Dust to assist his trickery and he still used his familiar 'Izzy-Wizzy' chant to kick things off. Just a shame he didn't magic himself yellow...
As I'm sure you can guess, there wasn't a Corbett in sight in
these stories, but there was another sneaky diffference that
may surprise: In Tv Town poor old Sweep was depicted as
a real-life, non-squeaking, walks-on-all-fours type of dog -
what with that colour change as well, the unfortunate pooch
really did draw the short straw, eh?
REVIEW
Sooty, of course, is a hugely popular yellow bear, but in printed
form, at least, he wasn't always so. Take this Daily Mirror Sooty Annual from 1966. There's Sooty on the cover featured, not in golden yellow, but as a motled grey creation.
Obviously, it's a cut-out photo from the tv shows, broadcast in
those days in black and white. An excusable cover design, then,
but how about the interior artwork? The colour strips are terrific
and feature Sooty, Sweep and Soo and their many adventures
around Tv Town. But incredibly our golden star is depicted as a
white bear throughout, and likewise poor Sweep, his grey fur
bleached to white too - a most intriguing design choice given the
many-coloured renditions of their Tv Town friends, like PC Nab
and Calico Joe (below right), and it rather conflicts with the
words in the accompanying stories:
Taken from Toonhound
'...Sooty was very pleased with himself, and
he brushed his fur until it shone like gold...'
So was this a corporate decision? Did Sooty's bright yellow fur
clash with the other colours? Maybe our artist had only ever
seen the black and white shows? - If you can shed some
light on this, do please let me know....
Sweep and Soo dwelled a world away from Sooty Heights in a
fictional place called Tv Town. This place shared many similarities with the two Toytowns from Hulme Beaman's Larry The Lamb and
Blyton's Noddy books, with a hint of Rupert's Nutwood thrown in for
good measure. Most action took place around High Street or Tv Square. Tv Town was built on the coast and occasionally folk would
visit the Town Pier too. Sooty and his friends dwelled inland on the
outskirts of town, in a bungalow called The Sooteries.
Regular characters in the Tv Town stories included:
Calico Joe - a sneaky, trilby-wearing cat
PC Nab - a familiar, barrel-chested policeman
Mr Fusspot - Tv Town Mayor
Ali Artful - fez-wearing, mischief-maker
Mr Zizzi - moustached italian ice cream seller
Coco The Clown - a tear-painted harlequin
Mr Bricks - a bowler-hatted builder
Mrs Merry - a bustling, busy housewife
Wizard Wong - a spritely, long-bearded spellmaker
Sooty, meanwhile, was still as rumbuctious as ever, playing
games with his magic and knocking people on the head on
occasion, as you'd expect. He also had his special Oofle Dust to assist his trickery and he still used his familiar 'Izzy-Wizzy' chant to kick things off. Just a shame he didn't magic himself yellow...
As I'm sure you can guess, there wasn't a Corbett in sight in
these stories, but there was another sneaky diffference that
may surprise: In Tv Town poor old Sweep was depicted as
a real-life, non-squeaking, walks-on-all-fours type of dog -
what with that colour change as well, the unfortunate pooch
really did draw the short straw, eh?
REVIEW
Sooty, of course, is a hugely popular yellow bear, but in printed
form, at least, he wasn't always so. Take this Daily Mirror Sooty Annual from 1966. There's Sooty on the cover featured, not in golden yellow, but as a motled grey creation.
Obviously, it's a cut-out photo from the tv shows, broadcast in
those days in black and white. An excusable cover design, then,
but how about the interior artwork? The colour strips are terrific
and feature Sooty, Sweep and Soo and their many adventures
around Tv Town. But incredibly our golden star is depicted as a
white bear throughout, and likewise poor Sweep, his grey fur
bleached to white too - a most intriguing design choice given the
many-coloured renditions of their Tv Town friends, like PC Nab
and Calico Joe (below right), and it rather conflicts with the
words in the accompanying stories:
Taken from Toonhound
'...Sooty was very pleased with himself, and
he brushed his fur until it shone like gold...'
So was this a corporate decision? Did Sooty's bright yellow fur
clash with the other colours? Maybe our artist had only ever
seen the black and white shows? - If you can shed some
light on this, do please let me know....
Taken from
Toonhound
Toonhound
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