Norman Hetherington
Norman Hetherington | |
---|---|
File:Heth-(1946).jpeg | |
Born | Norman Frederick Hetherington 29 May 1921 Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia |
Died | 6 December 2010 Greenwich, New South Wales, Australia | (aged 89)
Nationality | Australian |
Notable works | Mr. Squiggle |
Awards | Penguin Award Jim Russell Award Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) |
Norman Frederick Hetherington OAM (29 May 1921 – 6 December 2010) was an Australian artist, etcher, cartoonist (known as "Heth"), puppeteer, and puppet designer.
He is best remembered today as the creator of the long-running Australian children's television show Mr. Squiggle, and as the sole operator and voice of its star performer, the Mr. Squiggle marionette.
Family
He was the son of Frederick Hetherington (1883–1951), who was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England — one of the seven children of Thomas Hetherington and Margaret Diana Hetherington (née Ritson) — and Ellen Mary Hetherington (1888–1976) (née Markwell). They were married at Balmain in 1918, and Norman Frederick Hetherington was born on 29 May 1921 in Lilyfield.
He grew up at 35 Meryla Street, Burwood, and attended Sydney's Fort Street Boys' High School.
In 1958, he married Margaret (née Purnell); she would later write all of the scripts for Mr. Squiggle. The moved to the Sydney suburb of Mosman in 1960, and Hetherington remained there until his death.[1]
The couple's children are Rebecca, a television presenter,[2] and Stephen, an academic philosopher.[3]
War service
He served with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit during World War II.[4]
BRENDAN TREMBATH: Let me take you a little further back, during the war you were attached to an entertainment unit. What sort of entertainment did you provide the troops?
NORMAN HETHERINGTON: I was invited by the producer of the particular entertainment group, Des Turner, who pre-war had been with the ABC in sound effects, and he was the producer, and he talked me into joining and being on stage every night and caricaturing people in the audience, caricaturing them on large sheets of paper on a board; colonels, cooks, captains, sergeant-majors… must've done hundreds and hundreds of them, but it was fun.
BRENDAN TREMBATH: Where did you perform during the war?
NORMAN HETHERINGTON: Oh, Dutch New Guinea, which is now Irian Jaya, New Guinea, New Britain and all the Torres Strait Islands, Thursday Island, Horn Island, Good Island, Entrance Island, Hayman Island, Jacky Jacky which was on the tip of Cape York, and WA over there where they thought they were going to have problems. It kept one busy.[5]
The Entertainment Unit also included actor Michael Pate, and comedian George Wallace Junior.
"Heth" [Norm Hetherington], our cartoonist, apart from doing lots of little bits and pieces in the show, has his own specialty: lightning caricatures of the most prominent personalities in every unit we play to.
It is marvellous how he goes about getting his subjects.
He usually goes to the unit early on in the day to chat people up, finding ones he wants to "do" in the show, making little sketches of their salient features on a pad.
Then, back at the unit, he prepares his easel for the show.
During the act he goes into his spiel, introducing each of his subjects with some very funny ad libs, then with a flourish of his brushes he magically sketches each personality.
It’s a great act and very popular.
In his spare time he designs costumes for various new spots in the show, draws up posters we can put up on a unit’s noticeboard, and usually finds time to think up and sketch some cartoons he sends down to the papers on the mainland.
You can see his stuff in many of the magazines.
Corporal Michael Pate NX120651 (extract from a letter sent home by Pate in 1945).[6]
Cartoonist
He had attended classes at the National Art School before the war; and once the war was over, he continued his studies, and attended classes there four nights a week.[7]
When he was only 15, and still a student at Fort Street Boys’ High School, Hetherington sold his first cartoon to The Bulletin magazine. He contributed to The Bulletin from time to time over the next few years; and he even continued to do so whilst he was in the army.[8]
As a freelance cartoonist he sold work to magazines that included Man, Man Junior, Army, Humour and Quiz: "His modus operandi was to approach the best paying magazine first and continue on until he got down to the worst paying with whatever was left of his work".[9]
He was discharged from the army in May 1946, and was immediately asked to join the full-time Bulletin staff; he continued to work for The Bulletin until 1961 (when all of the staff were sacked by Frank Packer, its new owner). He had worked alongside such luminaries as Norman Lindsay, Ted Scorfield and Percy Lindsay.
He signed his work "Heth".
Puppetry
Popular Science Monthly
His interest in marionettes began in 1935 when his father, who was the head carpenter for a major shipping line, gave him a copy of an American magazine called Popular Science Monthly, which contained instructions for making a puppet out of used bicycle inner tubes.[10]
In a 1971 interview,[11] he told Marie Toshack that he made his first "professional puppet" in 1952. It was a clown, made specifically for a puppet show called "The Reluctant Dragon", at the old Mercury Theatre.
Even in these first shows, critics were remarking on the "wit, whimsy, and lively inventiveness" of his performance with his marionettes, and were very impressed with the skill and craftsmanship with which his puppets had been created.[12]
In a 1977 interview,[13] Hetherington explained to Sue Molloy that his interest in marionettes "was the outcome of a professional interest in cartoons, and amateur interest in theatre and a hobby of puppets", remarking that, in his view, "puppets are only three-dimensional cartoons".
The Clovelly Puppet Theatre
In the interview he also revealed that his burgeoning puppet hobby had been further developed, after the war, under the guidance of the psychologist, Doris Mary Matheson (1896-1969), who, along with her sister Elsie Grace Rivett (1887-1964), had founded the Children's Library and Crafts Movement in 1934 (which became the Creative Leisure Movement in 1969).
Driven by the support, encouragement and guidance of Mrs. Matheson, Hetherington became involved, along with Richard Bradshaw,[14] with regular performances at the sisters' Clovelly Puppet Theatre, which staged puppet shows every Saturday, in an old army hut in Burnie Park, Clovelly.[15][16] Describing it as "a nurturing ground", Hetherington said that this was where and when his puppetry changed from being just a hobby into a life-long interest.[17]
The Meryla Marionettes
During the 1950s, whilst pursuing his own rapidly developing personal interest in puppetry, he created a number of shows with the group he led, the Meryla Puppet Group.[18] He was soon working on his own, as The Meryla Marionettes, with a series of shows that were very popular with children.[19]
In November 1957, he was performing on stage for children during Saturday matinees at Sydney cinemas; and performing at three different locations on the one afternoon . Along with Igor’s Puppets, the Merlya Marionettes performed on stage at the children’s matinees at The Coronet Cinema, Bondi Junction, The Sixways Cinema, at Bondi, and the Randwick Cinema, at Randwick, on Saturday 23 November 1957;[20] and at The Bondi Road Cinema, at Bondi, The Sixways Cinema, at Bondi, and The Woollahra Cinema, at Woollahra on Saturday 30 November 1957.[21] Hetherington (assisted by Annette MacArthur-Onslow) and his puppets also performed live, on television, on Christmas Day 1957.[22]
In the beginning, the shows were often performed at children's libraries. Hetherington was always keen to demonstrate to his young audiences just how easily puppets could be made. From time to time, his own children participated in his performances for the Australian Theatre for Young People during the school holidays,[23] and also in the shows that he presented at various Department Stores.[24]
Puppet Designer
His innovative and creative design and construction skills were such that, from time to time, he was also asked to design puppets for others to operate in their own shows.[25]
The photograph of "Smiley" on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald of Tuesday 2 June, provides a beautiful sense of just how wonderfully skilled Hetherington was in designing and constructing puppets, and the detailed, intricate nature of the mechanical devices and the special sets that he designed for his shows, and just how much children loved them.
Television
Hetherington began his television career in 1956, creating Nicky and Noodle for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC);[26] and another series, Jolly Gene and His Fun Machine for Channel Seven in 1957.[27]
Mr. Squiggle
In 1958, Hetherington created Mr. Squiggle, a moon-dwelling marionette (a resident of 93 Crater Crescent, the Moon), with a pencil for a nose. In 1962, he was granted the copyright no.8027 (the application stated that he had first created "Mr. Squiggle" on 1 August 1958).[28]
The marionette was always manipulated by and voiced by Hetherington himself as the sole operator. The gentle politeness of Mr. Squiggle, and the gentle strength of Hetherington's well-modulated voice was immediately attractive to children, at a time when most of the other Australian TV channels had violent, raucous, and brash ventriloquist acts associated with their children's shows.[29]
Exploiting the "fusion" of his skills as both puppeteer and cartoonist, he used the tip of the pencil that formed the puppet's nose to convert "squiggles" that had been sent in to the television station by young viewers into full-realised drawings and cartoons. Most significantly, given all of the mechanics of his marionette's performance, all of these "squiggle" conversions by Mr. Squiggle were always performed with the original children's drawing up-side down.
…Mr. Squiggle… looked much like Noddy but with a long pencil for a nose. Mr. Squiggle was a visitor from outer space, and would arrive to the show in his spaceship. Mr. Squiggle would interact with a female host, and make drawings from [the squiggles] sent in by children. As the [children's] sketches included nothing more than a few random lines, the alien would often turn them into drawings of people, animals and so forth — using his pencil nose. The images would rest on Blackboard, a grumpy character who shouted "Hurry up".[30] "Upside down" was often heard from Mr. Squiggle, and to the audience’s delight, the drawing would be incomprehensible until the host turned it upside-down. Hetherington was operating the puppet from above, so saw the drawing upside-down himself.
The Mr. Squiggle puppet is a Sicilian style of marionette, with a rod running through its head. This [allowed] him to provide enough force to be able to draw with its nose — and presumably why the character [had] such a tall hat.[31]
Initially intended as a temporary fill-in,[32] the show ran on ABC for 40 years,[33] Mr. Squiggle's first appearance on ABC TV was on 1 July 1959, and he drew his last picture on ABC TV on 9 July 1999.[34]
Comedian Mikey Robins played one of the show's characters, Reg Linchpin, for a year from 1989 to 1990.[35]
In May 1999, Mr. Squiggle was honoured by Australia Post with his own 45c. postage stamp.[36]
Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre
In March 1962, the Dental Health Education and Research Foundation was established at the University of Sydney to promote the philosophy and practice of preventive dentistry. It was soon found that the presence of Dental Health Educators schools, instructing children in such things as diet, oral hygiene and plaque control, was not as effective as it had been anticipated.
In 1967, Hetherington was consulted by the Foundation, and he was responsible for establishing the "Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre", starring a new puppet, Smiley ("a little boy who gets toothache because he has not looked after his teeth properly"),[37] that delivered performances based on a script that had been produced, by his wife Margaret, in collaboration with the Foundation, that featured all of its desired preventive dentistry messages. The first performance was in February 1968.
The show, and its associated Good Teeth Club[38] — to which Hetherington, having emerged from behind the puppet stage, would invite the delighted children to join at the end of each of his performances (Anon, 1970) — was immensely popular with the school children immediately it began its operation;[39] and the Foundation was overjoyed to discover that evaluations showed that, even after six months, the children could remember 70% of the dental health messages associated with the show (Woolley, 1980).[40]
In 1970, as part of a weekend workshop conducted by the Australian Dental Association and the Dental Health Education and Research Foundation at Sydney University, Hetherington demonstrated his work to the assembled dentists, by allowing them to observe him deliver an entire performance to a group of children from Newtown North Primary School. They were all greatly impressed with his work.[41]
Smiley's Good Teeth Puppet Theatre operated from 1968 to 1985;[42] and, although it began its life in suburban Sydney, by late 1969 it was making trips into the country,[43] partly supported by funds raised by the ladies' auxiliary of Dental Health Education and Research Foundation (to which Hetherington and his associates had delivered an entire performance at the auxiliary's annual meeting on 9 July 1969).[44]
Awards
He was president of The Australian Puppetry Guild, and a member of the American Guild of Puppeteers [sic].[45]
Hetherington and his wife Margaret received several honours and awards, including the Penguin Award in 1984, and again in 1989, from the Television Society of Australia "for their outstanding contribution to children's television in Australia".
When he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1990 "for service to children's television programmes and puppetry",[46] his response was "I didn't think they gave those sorts of things to puppets".[47]
In 2005, he was presented with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Art, Design and Education (College of Fine Arts, UNSW), for contribution to the media.
…in 1989 the Australian Cartoonists' Association presented Hetherington with a signed artist's smock; it awarded him a life membership in 2008; and [on 14 November 2009] the association presented him with the coveted Stanley Award for his outstanding contribution to Australian cartooning at the Stanley Awards ceremony in Sydney.
He received a standing ovation at the presentation where many fellow cartoonists acknowledged that they were encouraged to pick up a pencil by virtue of being able to watch Mr. Squiggle's antics on television each week.[48]
Death
After a long illness, Hetherington died on the morning of 6 December 2010 in Greenwich, Sydney.[49][50] At his funeral, the eulogy was delivered by Richard Bradshaw.[51]
Tributes
Many artists, cartoonists, and puppeteers have acknowledged their debt to Norman Hetherington and his work, including:
- Christine Assange, Australian puppeteer and mother of Julian Assange.[52]
- Peter Broelman, Australian editorial cartoonist, caricaturist and illustrator.[53]
- Chris "Roy" Taylor, Herald-Sun cartoonist.[54]
- Annette MacArthur-Onslow, author, illustrator of children's books, and one-time assistant to Hetherington (e.g., on Christmas Day 1957).[55]
Hetherington's Works
Author
- "Heth", Army Daze by Heth: From Civvy to Commando in 40 Easy Laughs, Pinnacle Press (Magpie Series), (Sydney), 1945.
- Hetherington, N., Puppets of Australia, Australian Council for the Arts, (Sydney), 1974.
- Hetherington, N. & Hetherington, M., Mr. Squiggle and the Great Moon Robbery, Australian Broadcasting Commission, (Sydney), 1980.
- Hetherington, N. & Hetherington, M., Hand Shadows, Angus & Robertson, (North Ryde), 1988.
- Hetherington, N. & Hetherington, M., Mr. Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, ABC Enterprises, (Sydney), 1992.
Illustrator
- Gardiner, S., Reflections, Wentworth Books, (Surry Hills), 1979.
- Hetherington, M., Mr. Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, ABC Enterprises, (Sydney), 1992.
- Hosking, C., Old Tales in a New Land: Some European Customs and Legends, Angus and Robertson, (Sydney), 1957.
- Pate, M., An Entertaining War, Dreamweaver Books, (Sydney), 1986.[56]
Footnotes
- ^ Mr Squiggle: Who's Pulling the Strings?, Mosman Festival, 3 September 2005.
- ^ MacPherson, D., "Antenna to rival Simon Townsend", The Guide, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 12 March 1984), p.6.;
Bone, P., "Something New for the Young", The Green Guide, The Age, (Thursday, 3 September 1987), p.7. - ^ Professor Stephen Cade Hetherington, School of History and Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales.; Stephen, at the age of 10, assisting his father.
- ^ World War II Nominal Roll: Norman Frederick Hetherington (NX131018).
- ^ Transcript of interview with Brendan Trembath, The World Today: ABC Local Radio", Thursday, 1 September , 2005.
- ^ Pate, (1986), p.150.
- ^ McDonald, J., "Drawn from the ranks", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday, 2 August 2008).
- ^ Hetherington, N., "My Bulletin Days", 1946-1961, Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries, No.360, (December 2008), pp.143-147.
- ^ Foyle (2010).
- ^ This was an article by Florence Fetherston Drake, on how to make marionettes from old inner tubes, that commenced on page 58 of Popular Science Monthly, Vol.127, No.3, (September 1935) THE BALLARD INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM OF PUPPETRY: Practical Marionettes Made From Old Inner Tubes.
Later articles (which, along with that first article, were eventually accumulated into a book ([1]) were:
Drake, F.F., "Its Great Fun to Give a Circus at Home With These Comical Animal Puppets", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.127, No.6, (December 1935), pp.67, 92-93;
Drake, F.F., "Puppet Heads Modeled from Newspaper Pulp", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.128, No.1, (January 1936), pp.57, 90-91;
Drake, F.F., "Marionette Bodies", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.128, No.2, (February 1936), pp.65, 109-111;
Drake, F.F., "Constructing Simple Marionette Stages", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.128, No.3, (March 1936), pp.64-65, 105;
Drake, F.F., "Stage Sets and Scenery for Marionette Shows", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.128, No.4, (April 1936), pp.71, 106-108;
Drake, F.F., "Properties for Marionette Shows", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.128, No.5, (May 1936), pp.70-71, 103-105;
Drake, F.F., "Lighting the Miniature Stage", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.129, No.1, (July 1936), pp.67, 91-92; and
Drake, F.F., "Trick Marionettes Will Enliven Your Puppet Shows", Popular Science Monthly, Vol.129, No.5, (November 1936), pp.72-73, 83-105. - ^ Toshack, (1971).
- ^ L.B., "Puppets at the Mercury", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 22 June 1953), p.4.
- ^ Molloy, (1977).
- ^ Carr, V., "The Actor in the Wings", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 26 February 1969), p.7.;
Benson, P.D., "Good Show, Super 'Roo", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 25 September 1974), p.113. - ^ As did Edith Constance Murray (née Blackwell) (1897-1988): Design and Art Australia Online Biography: Edith Constance Murray.
- ^ Children Cheer Puppet Heroes, The (Sydney) Sunday Herald, (Sunday, 29 May 1949), p.5.;
Young People's Theatre Opens, The (Sydney) Sunday Herald Playtime, (Sunday, 19 June 1949), p.1.;
Square Dancing, The (Sydney) Sunday Herald Playtime, (Sunday, 22 October 1950), p.1.;
Henderson, B., "A Theatre That Pays For Itself", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday, 14 August 1954), p.13.;
Film-maker in puppet show, The Sydney Morning Herald", (Friday, 2 May 1969), p.12. - ^ Molloy, (1977); Bradshaw, (December 2010). For more on Doris Mary Matheson, née Rivett (1896-1969) and Elsie Grace Rivett (1887-1964), see Godden, G., "Rivett, Doris Mary (1896–1969)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1988.
- ^ Mercury Theatre, The (Sydney) Sunday Herald, (Sunday, 14 June 1953), p.16.
- ^ Hetherington chose to use the name "Meryla" because that was (a) the name of the street in which he grew up, (b) had learned how to manipulate a marionette, and (c) had constructed his first puppets. It is also significant that, in the first few decades, his single operator puppet shows were always introduced as "The Meryla Marionettes present…", rather than as "Norman Hetherington presents…". Eventually, however, they became known as The Norman Hetherington Puppets (e.g., [2]; [3]).
- ^ Hoyts Suburban Theatres: Special Children’s Matinee, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday 23 November 1957), p.22.
- ^ Hoyts Suburban Theatres: Special Children’s Matinee, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Saturday, 30 November 1957), p.22.
- ^ ABN Channel 2: Wednesday 25 December, 1957: 4:00PM: “KINDERGARTEN PLAYTIME — Jan McKay introduces the Meryla Puppets with Norm. Hetherington and Annette MacArthur-Onslow", Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide, (Monday, 23 December 1957), p.4.
- ^ For example, in the school holidays of May 1969, his son Stephen assisted his father in presenting a series of shows: Some Holiday Treats for the Children, The (Sydney) Sun-Herald, (Sunday, 11 May, 1969), p.128.
- ^ See These Today: Free Puppet Show!, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday 8 September 1954), p.11.
- ^ In 1990, for example, he designed and constructed a set of puppets for Maddy Slabacu's performance of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Books (Cochrane, 1990); and he designed and constructed all the puppets for Richard Bradshaw's performance of The Mysterious Potamus in 1979 (Camens, (1979).
- ^ ABV 2 (26 March 1959) 5PM.
- ^ ATN 7 (7 October 1957), 5PM.
- ^ Find of the Month: A star is born!, National Archives of Australia, February 2005.
- ^ Shelley, G., "20 Years of Mr. Squiggle", The Herald TV Guide, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 2 July 1979), p.8.
- ^ Elder, B., "How the man behind Mr Squiggle pulled our heartstrings for all those years", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Thursday, 30 March 2006), p.104.
- ^ Guss, (2010).]
- ^ In a 2008 interview with Matthew Perkins, Hetherington said that he had been give a week's notice that the ABC TV wanted him to perform; and that, quite unusually, he was not required to audition (Perkins, 2008).
- ^ Spacewalk time, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1 September 2005.
- ^ Australian film and television chronology: The 1950s: National Film and Sound Archive.
- ^ Quinn, (2001).
- ^ In May 1999, Australia Post issued a set of five different stamps, featuring four of the best-loved children's television programmes. Along with the stamp featuring Mr. Squiggle (who "starred" a the centre of the group), there was one stamp for Here's Humphrey, one stamp for Bananas in Pyjamas, and on the other side of Mr. Squiggle, two stamps for Play School. There was also a special first day cover for the set: Children's TV, Australian Stamp Bulletin, No.250, (May-July 1999), p.3.
- ^ Anon, (1969).
- ^ The Certificate of Membership of the Good Teeth Club, indicated that the member had promised to do three things: "I will keep my teeth clean", "I will eat the right food and give my teeth plenty of chewing exercise", and "I will visit my dentist three times a year" (Anon, 1969).
- ^ Column Eight, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 5 August 1968), p.1.
- ^ "Evaluation studies of the school programs revealed that after six months children were able to recall more than 70% of the dental health message. Results of a recent WHO survey of the oral health status of 13-14-year-olds in Canterbury (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Trondelag (Norway), Yamanashi (Japan) and Hannover (West Germany) showed that the Sydney children [who had seen Hetherington's show] had the lowest caries rate" (Woolley, 1980).
- ^ A puppet (aged about 10) goes to university, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Tuesday, 18 August 1970), p.16.
- ^ Anon, (1970).
- ^ Anon, (1969).
- ^ Lyons, M., "Social Roundabout", (Wednesday, 9 July 1969), p.10.
- ^ Musgrove, (1974).
- ^ "Search Australia Honours". It's An Honour. Australian Government. 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- ^ Johnson, (1990).
- ^ Foyle, 2010.
- ^ Man behind Mr Squiggle dies, ABC News, 6 December 2010.
- ^ Aaron Cook, Farewell to creator of ABC's Mr Squiggle, The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 2010.
- ^ The text of his eulogy is reprinted at Bradshaw (2010).
- ^ Dennehey, K., "Mum's the word on Julian and Mr Squiggle", The Blacktown Sun, 12 December 2010.
- ^ Homage to Norman Hetherington: cartoon by Peter Broelman, drawn on 6 December 2010.
- ^ Cartoon, The Sun-Herald, 8 December 2010.
- ^ Packer, R.C., "Televison Parade", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 12 December 1956), p.10.;
Worth Reporting: Strings on Her Fingers, The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 20 November 1957), p.34. - ^ "Heth" provided the dust-jacket cover's illustration.
References
General
- ABC TV programme: Australian Story: 30 October 1996: "Mr. Squiggle".
- ABC TV programme: The Collectors: 2010: Episode 21: (Friday 30 July 2010): "Mr. Squiggle".
- Anon, "Wonderbox", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 28 October 1964), p.17.
- Anon, "Make that third set unnecessary", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 20 October 1969, p.13.
- Anon, "All say 'cheese', please", The Sydney Morning Herald Women's Section, (Thursday, 4 June 1970), p.6.
- Camens, J. "The Mysterious Potamus", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 17 January 1979), p.17.
- Cochrane, P., "Maddy's Living Dangles on a Shoestring", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 2 July 1990), p.5.
- Design and Art Australia Online Biography: Norman Hetherington.
- Dunn, E. & Munro, K., "Art on a Plate", The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November 2008.
- Hetherington, N., "My Bulletin Days", 1946–1961, Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries, No.360, (December 2008), pp. 143–147.
- Johnson, C., "Award-winning Stuff from Mr. Squiggle", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 11 June 1990), p.3.
- Miner, J., "Mr. Squiggle is still drawing the children, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 11 July, 1984), p.17.
- Molloy, Sue, "Puppets will present A Christmas Tale", The (Sydney) Sun-Herald, (Sunday, December 11, 1977), p.197.
- Musgrove, N., "Many Happy Returns to Mr. Squiggle", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Wednesday, 24 July 1974), p.57.
- Panozzo, S., "Norman Hetherington: The 2009 Stanleys: The Jim Russell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cartooning", Inkspot, No.60, (Summer 2009), pp.26-27.
- Pate, M., An Entertaining War, Dreamweaver Books, (Sydney), 1986.
- Perkins, M., "Mr Squiggle rockets in", 720 ABC Perth, 4 April 2008.
- Quinn, Dhana, "Five things you didn't know about . . . Mr Squiggle", "The Age", (Thursday, 17 May 2001), p.2.
- Toshack, M., "Pulling the strings in a magic world", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 24 November 1971, p.20.
- Tuohy, Wendy, "Mr. Squiggle: Magic on a String", The Age Green Guide, (Thursday, 24 October 1996), p.10.
- Woolley, J.M., "Changing Oral Hygiene Attitudes and Habits", International Dental Journal, Vol.30, No.3, (September 1980), pp.249-256.
Obituaries
- Anon, "Man behind Mr Squiggle dies", ABC News, Tuesday, 7 December 2010.
- Bradshaw, R.,"Norman Hetherington 1921 - 2010 (Eulogy)", O.P.E.N., No.11, (December 2010), pp.2-4.
- Foyle, L., "Creative Mind Thrilled Children", The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, 8 December 2010.
- Guss, Naomi, "Australian puppetry - Mr. Squiggle", School of Puppetry, Monday, 6 December, 2010).
- McDonald, T., "Mr Squiggle's creator dies", A.M. (ABC Local Radio), Tuesday, 7 December 2010.
- Mosman Art Gallery: Tribute to Norman Hetherington, 10 December 2010.
- Samandar, L., Puppetmaster draws final masterpiece, The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, 7 December 2010.
- Shearer, G., "Thank you Mr Squiggle for the moon", (Thursday, 9 December 2010.
- O.P.E.N., Theme Issue: Norman Hetherington OAM, O.P.E.N. (Oz Puppetry Email Newsletter), No.11, December 2010.
- Vasek, L., "End of the line for Mr. Squiggle animator", The Australian, Tuesday, 7 December 2010.