Lenny the Lion

The Lenny the Lion Show

1957 - United Kingdom

Hugely popular children's show that began on BBC in 1957.

Review by Laurence Marcus

Terry Hall was one of the first ventriloquists to use an animal rather than a little boy as his dummy and Lenny was also one of the first to be given the ability to move his arms, where he was, at times, prone to burying his head in embarrassment. One of Lenny's endearing qualities was his inability to pwonounce his 'R's.

Hall was born on 20 November 1926 in Chadderton, Lancashire, where his parents ran a working men's club called Nimble Nook. These clubs provided the training ground for scores of acts that would eventually form the backbone of the British entertainment industry, so it is quite easy to understand how the young Hall would have been inspired to see his future in 'the business'. At the age of 12 he made his debut at his parent's club playing the accordion. Whilst at St Patrick's School in Oldham, Hall studied ventriloquism in his spare time and at the age of fifteen won his first talent show with a boy dummy that he named Mickey Flynn.

Hall went on to join the Carroll Levis Discoveries stage show, and a variety career beckoned. Despite that early success, Hall took advice from the impresario Val Parnell that in order to stand out from other ventriloquists of the day, he should try something other than a wooden boy dummy. They were simply too common. In 1954, whilst visiting a zoo in Blackpool, Hall thought of creating a soppy lion character after seeing what he described as a "friendly, amiable old lion who looked anything but ferocious." Lenny was made by a Madame Tussaud's employee who also owned a puppet shop, had wide eyes, teeth (which Hall removed as he felt it made the lion look too aggressive) and a huge paw which he would use to cover the puppet's face. The singer Anne Shelton, with whom Hall was doing a summer season at the time, suggested a change of voice (the one he became famous for) after the puppet's first night on stage was a flop. After that, he was a different animal.

Lenny the Lion

Lenny the Lion took off in a big way and was a particular hit at panto. Hall, or rather Lenny, began to receive fan mail which were often addressed to Lenny the Lion or 'Lenny the Lion and His Worker/Trainer/Keeper.' Two years later, Hall and Lenny appeared on BBC television alongside Eric Sykes in a one-off variety show called Dress Rehearsal. It wasn't long before they were booked for television again, even making an appearance on the quiz show What's My Line. The following year, Hall and Lenny landed their own show on BBC Children's Television, The Lenny the Lion Show, which debuted on 17 April 1957. Guest on that first show was another ventriloquist - Shani Wallis. Other guests during the series 5-year run included Norman Vaughan, Petula Clark and The Beverley Sisters.

Fan mail increased dramatically after Hall set up a Lenny the Lion Fan Club. From a steady trickle to 500 posts a week. It was too much for Hall to handle on his own so he turned to Haywood Jones, a promotions officer for the children's charity Barnado's. Jones took over and his eight-year-old son David would often go along to see Lenny's shows whenever possible. He was a big fan. Haywood explained to Hall that David was keen on music and could he offer any advice? Whether he gave any is not known, however, David Jones later changed his name to David Bowie. 

Lenny the Lion

In 1958, the act appeared in the US on the Ed Sullivan Show. Apart from the original series there was Lenny's Den from 1959-61 (by which time there were 25,000 fan club members), and Pops and Lenny from 1962-63, in which Lenny would introduce pop stars singing live and which featured an early appearance by The Beatles. During this period Lenny became the official mascot of HMS Lion, a Tiger-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy.

Live appearances were guaranteed to pull in a crowd as well. In August 1963, the Herne Bay Press reported 'Lenny the Lion Amuses Thousands,' and states that the vent and his puppet were besieged by hundreds of children when they attended to open the Cripplegate Fete one Thursday afternoon. And although he had another appointment that same afternoon, Hall obliged the hundreds who queued patiently for his autograph.

Lenny the Lion

Hall and Lenny continued to work in variety through the 1970s, appearing on television in programmes such as Crackerjack and 3-2-1. From 1977 to 1980, Terry Hall regularly appeared in the educational television programme Reading with Lenny. He wrote the Kevin the Kitten series of children's reading books which accompanied the series. In later life, Hall suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died on 03/04/2007 in Coventry, aged 80. In 2009, he was honoured with a blue plaque in Middleton Road, Chadderton, close to where he was born.

"I'm Lenny The lion and I'd like to say
I'm strong and ferocious, but I'm not that way.
I wish I had courage then I'd shout with glee
that I'm Lenny the Lion, so Don't Embawass me!"

Published on December 6th, 2024. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

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