We Want Muffin

Ernie recently spent the morning with two of the grandchildren, and returned rather perturbed. “There were these four little people”, he explained, “wearing bright one-piece outfits and they had things sticking out of their heads.” He had come face to face with the Teletubbies!

For me, children’s television will always be Muffin the Mule. I think I remember Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men, though I am not sure if they were flowerpots masquerading as men, or men masquerading as flowerpots. I think they came after Muffin.

Muffin was a marionette, controlled from above, who pranced around on a piano. His minder was Annette Mills, the older sister of John Mills, who had me in paroxysms of tears in his role of Scott of the Antarctic . The show always began with a perky opening song. If you listen carefully, you can hear Muffin’s heels clattering away on the top of the piano. There was a penguin and an ostrich and various other characters, but I do not remember exactly what they did. I think it’s the song I remember most vividly.

As I researched Muffin, I found two interesting facts. Muffin was introduced in 1946, which makes this year his 60th anniversary. I was six then, so I suspect that I wasn’t much interested in a wooden mule, but I may have watched some of it with my brother. I also found out that Muffin was “brought back” in 2005, this time as a cartoon character, so I am sure he will soon be making his way across the Atlantic to delight another generation of children. I think Ernie will enjoy Muffin, though Heaven only knows what he would say if he catches sight of a prancing purple dinosaur or those wiggly gentlemen who look like they belong on a list of neighbors you really don’t want living next to you.