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Sunday 12 th December 2010
Norman Hetherington Remembered
A personal recollection by Peter Soloman
It was in 1974 when having joined Peter Scriven’s Marionette Theatre Company as an ASM that I decided to
become a member of the APG (Australian Puppetry Guild). One night at a Guild meeting over an inevitable cup of
tea I met one of the senior members - Norman Hetherington. Norman was well known to me, for throughout the
1960s I was magnetised to our family television set, watching his wonderful creation Mr Squiggle (the moon man/
boy who ventured to earth each program, just to “make complete” children’s squiggles). However at the time, being
a fairly naïve twenty-four year old, I did not know how important Norman was to Australian puppetry - or indeed
the arts in general.
Touring for a year with Peter Scriven’s last production of the Tintookies, Tintookies 2000, was a fascinating
introduction to the world of professional puppetry and commercial theatre. And friendship still remains from this
time, namely with ex-puppeteer Virginia Mort. In 1977 I met my life partner Mark Wager, who, whilst on summer
recess from the design course at NIDA, earnt some well needed money doing craftwork in pre-production of Phillip
Edmeston’s Scrivenesque show, The Grand Adventure.
Thirty-four years have past since Mark and I made Melbourne home, and though I cannot remember how we came
to socialise with the Hetheringtons, I will always be grateful for our times together. Throughout the years when
travelling to Sydney, Mark and I have always looked forward to catching-up with these delightful people.
For those who never had the pleasure of meeting Norman I can perhaps provide a sketch of the man. Photographs in
the Hetherington archives reveal a young man who shared similar dark romantic looks to British artist and author
Mervyn Peake. The Norman I met in 1974 was about fifty-three and his wavy hair was turning grey. What struck me
at the time was how “puppet-like” his lively facial features were.
For unlike his beautiful puppets that were rarely designed to be “fully articulated”, everything worked practically on
Norman’s head: his eyelids, eyebrows, cheeks, mouth and for all I know ears!
Norman’s skills and achievements were examined in a video essay made some years ago for ABC television’s
Australian Story. This program, known well for its high production standards, is nonetheless limited to what it can
cover in a twenty-five minute format. Hence the vital place that Margaret, Norman’s work and life partner had in his
life, were barely touched on. A few years after the airing of Australian Story a Sydney gallery celebrated the work of
Norman in a retrospective exhibition. However, when all is said and done the scope of Norman’s development as an
artist and the importance his wife and daughter had on his longevity as an entertainer in Australian television, is yet
untold.
At this point I cannot continue without expanding on the importance of Margaret Hetherington. Peggy [as her
friends call her] has been the significant other half to Norman’s celebrated career. For thirty-plus years Peggy wrote
the scripts for Norman to perform to, and there-fore should be rightly thought of as an Australian television writer
with one of the longest careers, as well as the principal collaborator with Norman. For their unique contribution to
Australian entertainment, Norman and Peggy Hetherington should join the select ranks of a diverse group of
creative couples who have given their lives to the arts; including Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge,
Googie Withers and John McCallum, Tommy Dysart and Joan Brockenshire, Ray Lawler and Jacque-line Kelleher,
and John Bell and Anna Volska.
Norman Hetherington’s talent as a fine artist and etcher has been extensively documented, as has the black and white
cartooning that he began for the Bulletin magazine pre WW2. But perhaps it is as a marionette puppet designer/
maker/performer that Norman will best be remembered? Mr Squiggle and Friends was a program made by the
Australian Broadcasting Commision (as it was then known) for their Children’s Television Entertainment
department. The show was designed for primary to upper primary aged children and ran for a staggering forty years.
This achievement alone would put Norman Hetherington in a television entertain-ment category of his own, for I
cannot think of a puppet maestro in Great Britainor the United States who would have had such longevity with one
con-current program (even I suspect the redoubtable Bill Baird?).