By Jessamine Lobb
Newcastle Museum is celebrating late puppeteer Norman Hetherington, who made magic from bicycle tyres and ice cream tubs.
Hetherington is famous for Mr Squiggle, an ABC show about a puppet with a pencil for a nose that ran from 1959 to 1999.
Some children’s entertainers feel insincere. Play School in the front, jaded in the back.
Hetherington’s daughter and collaborator Rebecca told Australian Story in 1996: “My father really is Mr Squiggle.”
The puppet and his creator shared a quirky gentleness that made people feel seen. Every child who wrote to Hetherington received a thank you letter full of charming typos (Mr Squiggle’s typing was noT QuiTE PerFect).
I loved tracing Hetherington’s evolution as an artist. During World War II, the 20-year-old newspaper cartoonist joined the Australian army as an entertainer.
He did “lightning sketches” of everyone, from generals and majors to the men who dug the toilets. You can imagine his empathy deepening.
I like retrospective exhibitions because they put life in order. In the middle of living, everything is a mess. Afterwards, you see all the clues. The detours lead somewhere. The potential is fulfilled.
It’s like Mr Squiggle’s special trick: you can’t tell what he’s drawing until he flips it upside down at the end. (And it’s two geese eating the moon, thinking it’s a pancake).
Maybe we will make sense at the last minute too.
I welled up at an interview with Hetherington’s grandson Tom.
“Mr. Squiggle reminds you of who you used to be,” he said.
Some people think fun art is less sophisticated. I think Hetherington’s work comes from a deep understanding that life is hard, and we deserve a bit of joy.
You can see Mr Squiggle and Friends at Newcastle Museum until Sunday November 1.
Featured image: Mr Squiggle hails from 93 Crater Crescent, The Moon. Image: Jessamine Lobb
