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I feel sorry for puppeteers when the puppet that they happen to be working with often gets more prominence on TV shows rather than they do (David Claridge who graduated from Mooncat to Roland Rat is a fine example of this), not to mention having to crouch down behind a desk so that they cannot be seen; but then again, by doing that, one tries not to spoil the illusion that the puppet they are working with is a real person or organism rather than a puppet (even if the mentions of: "Puppeteer" in the closing credits of the relevant children's TV show ruins the magical illusions to the younger viewer). No doubt that that puppeteers are almost like the viewers who watch their shows; except that they are heard and not seen. At least they can still be Equity members, the puppets as well hopefully. The thought of the puppeteer having their hands and fingers up somewhere unimaginable (which is the main explanation why they don't have legs) is something which we hardly ever concentrate on for a number of realistic reasons. I do believe that he was ambidextrious and operated both Zippy and George at the same time.
I always used to confuse Ronnie le Drew's name, (Zippy's puppeteer on Rainbow who has died aged 78, although one source says 79) with Danny la Rue because of their similarities in their names, and not because they are both (the puppets obviously) were a little bit camp. I also used to confuse le Drew with Roy Skelton who did Zippy and George's voice, and one obituary that I read prior to reading this one assumed that le Drew also did the Zip's voice; that might be the case but I always assumed that Skelton did that job, especially during the first half of the 1980s which was my "neck of the woods" age-wise. Skelton did Doctor Who's Daleks and le Drew didn't because Zippy and the Daleks sounded almost the same. Anyone asking why they never saw Zippy or George's legs on Rainbow, such as Children's ITV presenter Debbie Shore, (later Flint of the QVC Shopping Channel) was asked this question back in 1988 just after a Friday repeat of Rainbow, and not long after they had abandoned the monthly continuity presenter format idea, and Shore didn't know, but someone wrote to Rainbow Comic (a publication that I used to get between 1988 and 1993, fortnightly a la Private Eye and then weekly, and I was around twice the age of an average reader at the time), and asked the same question, whereas their response was that they were both shy (or that they had previously done modelling for Pretty Polly or Aristoc).
Zippy was Ronnie le Drew's bread and butter at the time; when Thames lost their franchise in 1992, le Drew was a victim of this due to Rainbow being axed (never mind the Recession going on back then); he was closer to travelling to his local Job Centre rather than the TV studios for work when the "pass the parcel" approach of biking or axing former Thames programmes in 1992 became more than apparent after the franchise loss. Even Granada got Sooty, and Anglia got the Cosgrove Hall animations courtesy of United News and Media. However, Tetra Films for HTV Wales managed to a couple of new series of Rainbow in the mid-1990s, and one assumes that le Drew was involved once again. At least he wasn't demoted to driving a taxi or stacking Winalot on shelves in Sainsbury's as an alternative to the DWP like his colleague Geoffrey Hayes had to resort to. I mentioned in Hayes' obituary in 2018 about my "deliberate school refusal, opting out of Art and PE lessons" affording me to see the Rainbow Show at the Nottingham Theatre Royal that afternoon at 2.00 pm GMT on Tuesday 21st November 1989; and I believe that although le Drew participated in the show, we didn't really see him for obvious reasons; a pity that I didn't book to see the second one a couple of years later. I believed that he also was "behind or underneath" Zippy in the Thames Christmas tape edition that was first shown on TV Offal in 1997.
A few Christmases ago, I received a copy of Zippy and Me, a sub-autobiographical book about why le Drew just happened to have his hands stuck up a cloth extension to a Liberal Democrat-coloured rugby ball / lemon sort of thing with teeth (because zips have teeth), and eyes that never even blinked or winked. It has been lying dormant on my bookcase just a few inches from where I am writing this, and I might finally get to have a read of it later on as a tribute. I also recommend that Rainbow book which was out in around 2002 and was written by Tim Randall (he is not to be confused with my former Gedling MP Tom Randall). Any Rainbow fan should have a copy of le Drew's book on their bookcase. Thank you Ronnie le Drew for bringing Zippy and George to life!
(By the way, off-topic I know, but I was sorry to hear about the demise of Bill Oddie as well - he did quite a few children's TV and schools programmes back then - now Graeme Garden is the sole-surviving Goodie).
I always used to confuse Ronnie le Drew's name, (Zippy's puppeteer on Rainbow who has died aged 78, although one source says 79) with Danny la Rue because of their similarities in their names, and not because they are both (the puppets obviously) were a little bit camp. I also used to confuse le Drew with Roy Skelton who did Zippy and George's voice, and one obituary that I read prior to reading this one assumed that le Drew also did the Zip's voice; that might be the case but I always assumed that Skelton did that job, especially during the first half of the 1980s which was my "neck of the woods" age-wise. Skelton did Doctor Who's Daleks and le Drew didn't because Zippy and the Daleks sounded almost the same. Anyone asking why they never saw Zippy or George's legs on Rainbow, such as Children's ITV presenter Debbie Shore, (later Flint of the QVC Shopping Channel) was asked this question back in 1988 just after a Friday repeat of Rainbow, and not long after they had abandoned the monthly continuity presenter format idea, and Shore didn't know, but someone wrote to Rainbow Comic (a publication that I used to get between 1988 and 1993, fortnightly a la Private Eye and then weekly, and I was around twice the age of an average reader at the time), and asked the same question, whereas their response was that they were both shy (or that they had previously done modelling for Pretty Polly or Aristoc).
Zippy was Ronnie le Drew's bread and butter at the time; when Thames lost their franchise in 1992, le Drew was a victim of this due to Rainbow being axed (never mind the Recession going on back then); he was closer to travelling to his local Job Centre rather than the TV studios for work when the "pass the parcel" approach of biking or axing former Thames programmes in 1992 became more than apparent after the franchise loss. Even Granada got Sooty, and Anglia got the Cosgrove Hall animations courtesy of United News and Media. However, Tetra Films for HTV Wales managed to a couple of new series of Rainbow in the mid-1990s, and one assumes that le Drew was involved once again. At least he wasn't demoted to driving a taxi or stacking Winalot on shelves in Sainsbury's as an alternative to the DWP like his colleague Geoffrey Hayes had to resort to. I mentioned in Hayes' obituary in 2018 about my "deliberate school refusal, opting out of Art and PE lessons" affording me to see the Rainbow Show at the Nottingham Theatre Royal that afternoon at 2.00 pm GMT on Tuesday 21st November 1989; and I believe that although le Drew participated in the show, we didn't really see him for obvious reasons; a pity that I didn't book to see the second one a couple of years later. I believed that he also was "behind or underneath" Zippy in the Thames Christmas tape edition that was first shown on TV Offal in 1997.
A few Christmases ago, I received a copy of Zippy and Me, a sub-autobiographical book about why le Drew just happened to have his hands stuck up a cloth extension to a Liberal Democrat-coloured rugby ball / lemon sort of thing with teeth (because zips have teeth), and eyes that never even blinked or winked. It has been lying dormant on my bookcase just a few inches from where I am writing this, and I might finally get to have a read of it later on as a tribute. I also recommend that Rainbow book which was out in around 2002 and was written by Tim Randall (he is not to be confused with my former Gedling MP Tom Randall). Any Rainbow fan should have a copy of le Drew's book on their bookcase. Thank you Ronnie le Drew for bringing Zippy and George to life!
(By the way, off-topic I know, but I was sorry to hear about the demise of Bill Oddie as well - he did quite a few children's TV and schools programmes back then - now Graeme Garden is the sole-surviving Goodie).