Sooty fans have the chance to buy the ultimate toy memorabilia – vintage hand puppets that mark the early years and the end of a magical era in Sooty’s history.
Puppets owned by father and son, Harry and Matthew Corbett, will be sold at Derbyshire’s Hansons Auctioneers on November 23 together with Sooty’s magic wand.
They pay homage to the decades of enjoyment the Corbett family brought to millions of families across the nation after Harry Corbett invented the character on Blackpool pier in 1948. Matthew took over the show after Harry’s retirement in 1976.
The puppet up for auction along with Sooty’s magic wand was used by Matthew Corbett in his last stage show, The House That Sooty Built, at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre in December 1997.
Matthew retired when the tour ended, handed his puppet to John Seaton, Sooty and Co company stage manager at the time, and left Richard Cadell to pick up the mantle.
That Sooty now belongs to Rob Smith, 37, an IT engineer from Tewkesbury, and his wife Suzie, 35. They bought it at auction in 2011 as it was being sold to raise money for Whizz-Kidz, a charity close to their hearts which provides wheelchairs for disabled children.
Mr Smith said: “We support Whizz-Kidz as my wife benefited from the charity many years ago, having been diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis as a child.
“Now, as it’s Sooty’s 70th birthday this year, we thought it would be a good time to sell him to help fund a new wheelchair for Suzie.
“It’s a chance to buy a piece of Sooty history – the last puppet used in a Matthew Corbett stage show along with Sooty’s magic wand, which must be very rare.”
In the same sale is a vintage Sooty which was used in a stage show by Harry Corbett and given to Eunice Weston (nee Whipps) by Harry Corbett when she was a girl in 1960.
Mrs Weston, 69, of Clacton-on-Sea, said: “My parents Norton and Louise Whipps ran the Robin Hood pub and bed and breakfast in Clacton in the 1960s and the stars of the day used to stay there when they were performing at the town’s Savoy Theatre.
“Harry Corbett stayed at the Robin Hood when he was in a show at the Savoy. I didn’t really speak to him very much. I was only 11, quite shy and used to scuttle off to school. So, I was delighted at the end of the week when he gave me the Sooty puppet. Sooty was huge back then. At that time everyone only had three TV channels – and everyone watched Sooty.
“The puppet was made to measure for Harry with a long cuff. I played with him a bit but, as I was 11, I took good care of him.
“My children, Toby and Katherine, used to play with Sooty when they were small. They knew he was the real thing!”
The 1960 Harry Corbett puppet has an estimate of £1,000 to £1,500. The 1997 Matthew Corbett puppet, which comes with magic wand, Sooty’s Life Story, Sooty’s Magic Tricks book, Sooty, Sweep and Soo breakfast bowl, badges and a rosette, has an estimate of £2,000-£3,000.
Hansons has gained a reputation for Sooty success. In September, an original puppet used by Harry Corbett on TV in the 1950s sold for £14,500 (including buyer’s premium) – believed to be a world-record price. The estimate was £2,000-£3,000.
Hansons sold another Harry Corbett Sooty to Richard Cadell, magician and presenter of The Sooty Show, for £3,100 in 2008.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “Sooty and I work well together! I hope I can make good use of Sooty’s magic wand and deliver another strong result. The interest in this iconic children’s character is huge.
“The Sooty puppet that sold for more than £14,500 went to a private collector of TV puppets in the north of England. This time round we have two puppets who link together the family history of the children’s TV and stage legend, as the famous act passed from father to son.”
The Sooty puppets will be sold at Hansons Auctioneers, Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, on November 23. To find out more, email [email protected] or call 01283 733988.
