Rupert Bear
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rupert Bear is a cartoon character created by the English artist Mary Tourtel and who first appeared in the Daily Express on November 8, 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to grab sales from the Daily Mail and Mirror. He has endured and become far more significant to children's culture than a simple ratings-grabber. In the 1930s, the mantle of Rupert artist and storyteller was taken over by Alfred Bestall, who was previously an illustrator for Punch and other glossy magazines. Bestall proved to be a genius in the field of children's literature and worked on Rupert stories and artwork into his 90s. He developed the classic Rupert story format, whereby the story is told in picture form (generally 4/page), in simple page-headers (e.g. "Rupert goes to School"), in simple two-line-per-image verse and then as running prose at the foot. Rupert Annuals can therefore be "read" on 4 different levels. He also established the shape and form of the Rupert stories themselves. Each story begins in Nutwood (an idyllic English village), takes Rupert to King Frost's Castle, underground, to the bottom of the seas (etc., etc.) then back to Nutwood, where all is safe and well and Mummy Bear is not at all surprised.
Contents |
[edit] History
Rupert has a series of friends. Bill Badger, Algy Pug and Edward Trunk (an elephant) are the most enduring. One of the most unusual and evocative characters is Raggety, a creature (actually a wood-troll) made from twigs, very grumpy and annoying! In the recent TV series, Raggety has been morphed into a a cute little elf-thing with broken English.
Bestall improved the stories and plots of Rupert but more importantly he created the most beautifully crafted illustrations in the Rupert Annuals. Bestall drew Rupert until 1973, when he retired. Much of the landscape in Rupert is inspired by the Snowdonia landscape of North Wales, the Sussex Weald and East Devon. The successor to Bestall was Alex Cubie. Cubie created Rupert annual artwork between 1974 and 1977. His images are recognisable from the thicker black outlines around the characters and the use of more vibrant colours than Bestall.
Rupert appears each day in the Daily Express; his new adventures are illustrated by John Harrold. A Rupert Annual is still produced every year, with Harrold's drawings coloured usually by Gina Hart.
Rupert appeared in Paul McCartney's 1984 music video "We All Stand Together"; McCartney also made an animated video starring Rupert called Rupert and the Frog Song.
The Rupert Bear Museum, part of the Museum of Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, has collections that cover much of the history of Rupert, his Friends and Tourtel and other illustrators. The museum is especially geared toward the family market, and those interested in the general history of Rupert.
On October 31, 2005, UK Media Group Entertainment Rights secured majority interest from the Daily Express on Rupert Bear. There are plans for a film, books, Limited Edition Prints and DVDs that will see Rupert joined by new friends in addition to established characters.
The character is usually drawn wearing a red jumper and bright yellow plaid trousers, with matching yellow scarf. In modern British slang plaid trousers, such as those worn on a golf course for visibility, are often called "Rupert Bear trousers" or "Ruperts." [1] The trousers were very popular among British youth sub cults of the '70s known as suedeheads and smoothies.
[edit] Television series
[edit] The Adventures of Rupert Bear (1970-1974)
Rupert first appeared on television in an ITC series, produced for the ITV network which ran for over 100 ten-minute episodes. The characters were all puppets, although the opening sequence memorably featured a toy Rupert bear sitting in a live-action child's bedroom. Rupert's friends and flying chariot appeared straight from the Daily Express pages, although he was joined by some new friends including a sprite called Willy Wisp.
One of the most memorable elements of the series was the catchy theme song, sung by Jackie Lee, which reached number 14 in the UK charts in 1971. Infamously, the song includes the erroneous lyric "Rupert the Bear", even though Rupert has never had the definite article in his name.
[edit] Rupert (1991)
In 1991, Rupert Bear got his own animated television series, with 39 episodes produced by Nelvana (Canada) and Ellipse (France) and Scottish TV, and another 27 episodes by Nelvana to bring the total to 66. It was broadcast in syndication on YTV in Canada. In the United States, the show first aired on Nickelodeon before moving to CBS [2]; repeats of the series came to qubo's digital service in January 2007.
The show was broadcast in the UK on CITV. In Australia, the show was broadcast on the ABC. The series has been re-aired in the UK on the Sky channel Tiny Pop.
[edit] Rupert Bear, Follow The Magic... (2006)
A new Rupert Bear animated television series. Notable changes to the characters are Rupert will wear trainers and his fur will have a slight tan. Pong Ping has become a girl and Raggerty is now an elf.
Rupert Bear, Follow The Magic... was broadcast on Five from November 8-December 7, 2006. Thirteen ten-minute original episodes were broadcast and subsequently repeated.
[edit] Pop Culture
The Long Haired Lovers, an English punk rock punk-pop band, recorded a single featuring the music from Rupert the Bear, and a b. side of Greensleeves (trad.arr.) & My Wife (Pead/Hill). Released on Insane records, 1991.
