I was explaining to my 22-year-old daughter why I call her Pooky, and I was describing an old puppet-type show that we watched on cable in the early-mid eighties. I simply cannot remember what it was called, or much about it, except I think one character was Pooky (or Pookie) and the other might be Sooky or something. Anyhow, one character appeared to be made out of a length of plastic dryer vent with sort of a clown costume ruffle, and they both had high, fakey voices, and I think the one didn’t really say anything but nonsense noises. It was a short program that was part of a longer children’s show, and I’m almost positive it was neither American or British-made. I think it was designed for the 1-4 year-old audience, as there was a lot of giggling and no real plots.
Any ideas? If I saw the characters again I’d know for sure, but Goggling Pooky just gets me Garfield’s Teddy bear. Thanks for your help…I know someone in Doperland knows exactly what show I mean!
My mother was English, and I have a lot of English children’s books from my childhood.
One of them, published in 1949, is called Pookie Puts the World Right by Ivy Wallace. It’s about a winged rabbit who lives with a little girl in the woods. A bad storm comes and the girl, Belinda, prepares her home for all the woodland creatures who were caught in the storm.
Pookie, upset that all the animals were hurt, tells off Winter, who goes away. This throws off all the animals who were preparing for Winter, since the only animals who were caught in the storm were the ones who were procrastinating and not getting ready for hibernation.
So Pookie travels to the far side of the world, apologizes to Winter, who explains what instinct is and that the world needs Winter to get ready for Spring, and that it was the animals’ own fault for not getting ready for Winter.
Pookie returns, Winter comes, and the procrastinating woodland animals promise never to procrastinate again.
No. ivylass, that isn’t it…that actually has a plot! And peter morris I couldn’t open that file…I always have trouble when that little box pops up asking you what program you want to use to open a file…no matter what I pivk, nothing ever works. But I know who Soupy Sales is, and that’s not it.
The storylines in this show were incredibly inane…Pooky misplaces it’s blanket, and it’s just under the bed… type things. I remeber lots of bright colors, and it was a segment of a collection of short kids’ programs.
The closest thing I can think of is Pokie and Gumbey, claymation-type characters from the 70’s. They had the sort of voices you’re talking about, but Pokie was a red pony, and Gumbey was…well, I’m not sure what the hell Gumbey was.
Okay, then can anyone suggest some websites that might be helpful in researching this? Anything that might give programming guides for the time period? This is really driving me nuts!
Any chance you’re thinking of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie from the 60’s? As I recall, Kukla and Ollie were puppets, while Fran was a woman who interacted with them between movie clips and/or cartoons. Kukla was a clown-like doll with a really round head and ruffle collar, while Ollie was an alligator/crocodile. I grew up on them on Saturday afternoons, usually introducing old family-style movies.
Thanks, kath94 but I grew up with Kukla, Fran and Ollie, too. This show was on cable when my kids were growing up and was not American-made. I thought Dopers could solve every mystery, but this one is the stumper, apparently.
just to be sure. You shouldn’t have trouble opening it, it’s just a web page. Soupy’s pookie was a Lion, but you’re vague memory could have turned this puppet into a clown, and Soupy Sales was a children’s show host for many years. There was also another puppet (that looked like a true sock puppet) that I glimpsed on the link Peter Morris gave you.
I have vague memories of nonsense-talking puppets with high pitched voices, but no memory of the shape or character.
A lot of kids shows in the pre- mass cable 50’s through the 80’s were quite regional and attached to specific local TV stations. Where were you in the early 80’s?
I think I know the character you are remembering. He was on a show called Pinwheel in the early 80’s. I remember a male and a female pillow like character. I’m pretty sure the male character who looked like he was a pillow covering a slinky was called pookie. There was a theme song that went “You can call me pookie, and you can call me…” I can’t remember the female character’s name. Does this ring any bells? I’ve been looking for a clip of it to no avail.
