Tony Hart has died- thanks Tony for such wonderful programs

[Peter Gray]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7643847.stm

He has had two strokes and lost the use of his hands..

Its great he is keeping positive despite this awful situation....he has done lots of charity work with disabled and learning disabilties.
I helped him once at Godstone house school Bramley with learning disability children in a art lesson...my sister worked there and knew what a fan I was and a cartoonist and requested I came. I got on well with him..and wasn't too shy...after meeting Bob Godfrey and being unable to speak because of being in awe, I didn't want that to happen again.

I got a big cartoon drawing of a giraffe (my favourite animal!) by Tony.which is hanging in my hall...he drew each child a big cartoon picture after his art lesson. Which was done for free..and his time.

I asked him about Mr Bennet (the caretaker who did silly things on the show)and said I found him funny..
Hope he can recover more from his stroke and be able to draw again....my prayers are with you..

one of my heros..

BBC please release dvds of Take Hart...Hart Beat..Vision on..or put on cable.

[AndyB]

Full article is at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 847425.ece - I read it in print this morning. Very worthwhile.

[colcool007]

Definitely one of my childhood heroes. I hope that he gets better and can draw in the same easy way that he is used to,

Fingers crossed and prayers said. Get well soon Tony.

[Peter Gray]

Thanks for the link.as you can see he lived near me in Guildford..

What an amazing career.....

[Peter Gray]

looks like Tony drew for Tv Comic the front cover..

[Peter Gray]

Tony Hart dies at 83..peacefully..

A great man..a good artist..cartoonist...glad I met him..did lots of charity work behind the scenes..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7836142.stm


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/ja ... hart-morph

Thank you Tony for some brilliant programs..

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

TONY designed the famous 'BLUE PETER' 'ship' logo. I remember him mostly from 'VISION ON', a brilliantly inventive BBC show from late '60s/early 70s; real creativity on a shoestring budget, also featuring WILF LUNN, PAT KEYSELL, SYLVESTER Mc COY and 'the professor', which was a speeded-up vignette featuring a white-coated 'guy in a field' who encountered cartoon-like situations in his own 'reality'.

My abiding memory of TONY on these shows is the outdoor ariel shots of him drawing a large 'white-lined' creation [that usually came alive] with a football-pitch marker.

I loved the way he just tore into his art projects; boundless enthusiam from a committed artist.

If he drew for 'TV COMIC' [as appears to be the case in the above illustration] then he certainly merits a mention on COMICS UK.

[philcom55]

Tony Hart also drew many comic strips starring his own character Packi the little white elephant for both TV Comic and TV Land - as well as illustrating his adventures on TV's Blue Peter.

Here is Packi and his friend Tipo on the cover of the 1963 TV Land Annual, flanked by various creations of his fellow TV & comic veteran Oliver Postgate, who also passed away recently. They'll both be sadly missed...!

- Phil Rushton

[Peter Gray]

phil thanks for the great cover..
Do you have the comic ..can you show inside ..the page Tony drew of the elephant..
love to see it..

I have an original cartoon by Tony in my hall of a Giraffe.I met him at a school he was helping special needs children teaching them to draw cartoons..I was there to help...
He was great to meet in person..he drew everyone a cartoon at the end of the lesson.he also had a look at my cartoons...

my other favourite animal is the penguin..by the way..

UPDATE
Lew has shown it at his blog..



I'm feeling very sad today...

[Steve Henderson]

Tony Hart is a terrible loss to everyone who ever had to privilage to be entertained or inspired by him.

The sad fact is that there does not seem to be anything like him around anymore. When I was younger I remember there been loads of childrens shows aimed at getting kids drawing. Smart, Art Attack, Itza Bitza, Rolfs Cartoon Club, and others. There was quite a lot to keep a young imagination fired up! Smart was an evolution from Take Hart I believe, and so Tony Harts legacy continued through the show. I think Art Attacks still going but it would be a shame for childrens shows like this to stop broadcasting.

A sad loss

[philcom55]

...Odd to see the names 'Sooty' and 'Packi' linked in such very different ways in the course of a week (though fortunately without a hint of opprobrium in Tony Hart's case! )

Here's a page from Tony's Packi strip in the TV Land Annual shown above, proving that like Oliver Postgate he maintained his links with the world of comics long after he found fame (if not fortune) on TV:

...And here's one of his charming Sooty stories from the 1955 TV Comic Annual:

A wonderful man - there can't be many people in the country today whose lives weren't significantly enriched by his presence!

- Phil Rushton

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I remember the BBC used to position an angled mirror well above TONY as he was painting on his shows, and they used to film the reflected image for a striking 'bird's eye view'.......

........and who can forget 'THE GALLERY' on ' VISION ON', the feature on kid's paintings sent in, accompanied by ultra-soothing xylophone music? They don't make 'em like THAT any more!

[philcom55]

In addition to Tony Hart's comic strip work shown above this obscure but very nicely produced 'Annual-style' Vision On book from 1970 contains many further examples of his graphic inventiveness:

Here, for example is one of the many 'fingerprint fauna' with which he decorated its pages:

And here is an interesting spread in which Tony's puzzled-looking blue bull is shown between two metal sculptures created by the multi-talented comic artist/writer Roy Davis, and above one of Mike Brown's 'Jonah' strips. Meanwhile Vision On stars Susanne and Humphrey engage in small-talk in an elegantly designed fumetti sequence:

The whole book comes highly recommended... assuming you can ever find a copy of course (and no, mine isn't for sale! )

- Phil Rushton

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

thanks for that jolt down memory lane, Phil; from the 'VISION ON' era I remember.



'VISION ON', of course, kick-started AARDMAN ANIMATIONS, in which NICK PARK and his chums started with 2-D cartoon inserts, before progressing to this next famous chap [pictured between takes]:

[Peter Gray]

from bear alleys blog
http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2009/01/t ... -sub-email

Steve said...
Peter,

I don't have any copies of TV Comic from the right era, but Runaway Band appeared in 1954 and Billy Bean in 1956. Billy Bean and His Funny Machine was a puppet show about a boy and his friend, a cuckoo named Yoo Hoo, who had a machine that could make anything that was drawn on its screen.

I've no idea what Tony's contribution to Disney Wonderland was, but I found this description of the show:

"It was a magazine and quiz, and ran for two seasons, presented once by actress Francesca Annis and the second series by Jennifer Clulow."

The show is listed on his website as something Tony contributed to in 1960-63.



Anyone got these two characters from Tv comic.would be interesting to see..