Real hair . . . a real mink cost worth £60 . . . eyes made in the same way ss human false eyes . . . shoes made of real leather . . . a specially designed wardrobe. These are just a few of the details that went into the making of the fabulous Lady Penelope.
The real Hank Marvin (smiling) listens happily to the puppet of the same name (sitting) playing a Shadows hit.
Handsome and immaculate. Cliff Richard Junior, his voice remarkably like his human counterpart, thrills his audience at the 'Swinging Star' night spot.
mary turner adjusts bruce welch's
tie before he joins the other shadows
Although puppets are a third life size, designing sets for them is ten times more difficult than for human actors.
Everything has to be to the scale of the puppet and problems such as producing cups, glasses, radio sets. control panels, chairs, tables and the like have to be solved by Bob Bell.
Each item is specially made, for substitute toys do not look real enough under the critical eye of a film camera.
In charge of the puppet workshop, John heads a team of nine model makers who are the best in the business.
John was responsible for the heads of Cliff Richard and three of them took three months in preparation time alone.
Using photographs as reference, the master model was moulded in plasticine then a cast was made in rubber. Next came a fibre glass mould which had to be painted. rubbed down, painted, rubbed down and so on.
