Billy Bean and His Funny Machine

"Billy Bean built a machine to see what it could do. He made it out of sticks and stones, and nuts and bolts and glue. The motor sang Chuffaty Bang, Rattata Rattatarator, And all of a sudden a picture appeared on the funny old cartoonerator Billy Bean built a machine to see what it would do, It did the funniest things he'd seen, So he called it his fun machine, machine, Billy Bean and his fun machine."

Like the title song suggests the puppets Billy Bean and his friend Yoo-Hoo the cuckoo operated a machine, which featured such devices as a windmill, a Dorset-Faucet and a cartoonerator which drew magic pictures. The voice of Yoo-Hoo was supplied by Ivan Owen, who later went on to voice one of the Britain's best loved puppets of all time, Basil Brush.

Published on November 29th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.