Mrs Cobbit And The Ice Cream Man

Mrs Cobbit And The Ice Cream Man

Going through that 1973 'Radio Times' yesterday reminded me that it's a while since we did anything on the works of Gordon Murray, so here's a quick jog through the storyline of 'Trumpton : Mrs Cobbit And The Ice Cream Man'...

The stock footage for every episode of 'Trumpton' sees Mrs Cobbit bustling into the square and exchanging some words with the policeman on duty. I like to think she's got something in common with The Silence from 'Doctor Who' as each morning he seems to ask her what on earth she's doing there.

"I'm selling me flowers, officer!" is presumably her somewhat exaspered reply. "Like I do every bleedin ' morning!"

It's nine o'clock and the milk float has just exited to the left of frame, attempting to negociate that tricky tight corner. The Mayor comes to buy his usual buttonhole - a red carnation. Miss Lovelace is after some flowers for her hat shop, though this is a vague explanation at best.

Brian Cant observes that everyone knows Mrs Cobbit (so perhaps the policeman is just very forgetful?) and that the market square just wouldn't be the same without her. This is what is known as ominous foreshadowing, I reckon...

Mrs Cobbit sings about her roses and various customers show up, including Mrs Dingle from 'Camberwick Green'. Why she's buying flowers in Trumpton and not hard at work running her Post Office is never explained, but she hardly seems committed to the ideal of keeping essential villages services going. She's also got that slight air of a Dalek about her that is common to many of the female characters in this universe, as she glides about in her hooped skirt with not a leg in sight.

The song then goes on to cover violets and nosegays in general, though sadly this word has been spoiled for me with its association with a certain Mr Noseybonk...

There's a rather nice camera move as we pan up from Mrs Cobbit in her usual place, to the top of the Queen Victoria statue and then back down again. But we have transitioned to a different day and there is no sign of her now!

Chippy Minton and Nibs turn up in their knackered old van as they have allegedly come to repair a broken chair belonging to Mr Munnings the printer. Never one to miss an opportunity to skive off, Chippy offers to go and knock Mrs Cobbit up and see if there's anything wrong. Funnily enough, she lives next door to Chippy, which is a lucky coincidence.

Chippy and Nibs drive off with the usual crunching of gears and a close-up betrays just how unroadworthy the van is. Its side panels are all scratched and warped and I could pass comment on Mr Crockett's garage being rather lax when it comes to MOT tests...

The two headlights don't seem to match either, now I've had a second look.

Arriving back home, Mrs Minton points out the dirty great branch that has fallen off the tree that grows right over Mrs Cobbit's roof, which now has a massive hole in it. How Chippy and his wife failed to hear this happen during the night is something I shall not dwell on...

Keen to be seen as some sort of Action Man, Chippy wonders if he should break Mrs Cobbit's door down, but thankfully we don't have to resort to Action By Puppet Havoc. Mrs Cobbit emerges intact, but very dusty, apparently. Actually, she's not dusty at all, but I suppose Method Acting is not always the way to do when it comes to animation.

She is suffering from a bad case of crushed blooms, however. But she is made of stern stuff and has never missed a day in the square for 40 years, excluding Sundays. Now assuming that this is true and that the series is set during the year of its original transmission (1967), this means that she was there every day during World War Two, bombing or no bombing. No wonder she's not that bothered about a hole in her roof.

Chippy gives her a lift back to the square, although Nibs is left at home. Clearly that broken chair's stil not going to get the attention it deserves. Back at Queen Victoria and, horror of horrors, Mr Antonio has had the gall to nick Mrs Cobbit's pitch, blatantly selling ice-creams from his multi-coloured van!

Mrs Dingle is STILL THERE, but doesn't point out the obvious that the word 'TONIS' and 'ICES' are rendered in totally different fonts, to say nothing of the absent possessive apostrophe.

He's doing a roaring trade, though, possibly thanks to his song which advises you to dispose of your litter in the correct manner and celebrate this achievement by buying another lolly from the ice-cream man. If you were to follow these instructions to the letter, you would actually find yourself stuck in an infinite loop of lolly-buying, which would be great for his sales figures, but not such good news for your waistline.

I like the detail that his van has got special matching hubcaps and it does remind me a little of Mrs Humphries flogging his Hokey-Pokey Ices in 'Are You Being Served? : Gambling Fever'.

Even Mrs Cobbit has a breaking point it seems and she bursts into tears. Chippy simply tells her "Don't take on so!" which shows how much he's bothered. The Mayor has to put up with some hardship, too, as there are no red carnations in the flower basket, only red roses.

Mr Antonio is apologetic and offers to plaster Mrs Cobbit's ceiling, if she'll sell ices in his absence. Chippy sees the way the wind is blowing and offers to mend the rafters, which apparently has not crossed his mind until this point. And Mr Munnings still has no joy on the broken chair front...
Now, we still have the problem of that branch sticking out of the roof. Hmm, which emergency service is best equipped to deal with that, I wonder?

I've also noticed today how when the phone rings at the Fire Station, Captain Flack looks at it for a second before answering. You can tell what he's thinking - "What is it this time? Rocking horse on a bonfire? Hat up a tree? I'd give anything for a Real Fire..."

The boys in red zoom along the streets at a breakneck 10mph as usual, passing Farmer Bell and a cow at one point. The camera angle makes it look like the cow is stuck up a tree and they both look hopeful that here are the chaps to sort out their problem. The look of utter forlorn disappoinment in their body language as the fire engine just drives past is wonderfully animated and speaks volumes.

Arriving on the scene, the eager crew get the hose out, but even Captain Flack knows they are not here to wash the branch right out of the roof. They start the engine up again (honestly, the battery will go flat if they keep stopping and starting it like that) and drive into position with Cuthbert in the box.

Amusingly, no-one bothers to put the hose away during all this and four of the crew just stand there holding it for want of something better to do.

With cries of 'Elevate!', 'Make Fast!' and an extra 'Elevate!' for good measure, Cuthbert suceeds in removing the troublesome branch and Chippy turns up with Mr Antonio in tow. Captain Flack is unsure what to do with the branch. Chippy (who is, let us not forget, supposedly a carpenter!)
seemingly has no idea what should become of it and it is left to Mr Antonio to come up with the solution.

"Drop it in at the Park - they're bound to know how to deal with big branches!" is the advice of the ice-cream man. This sounds more like fly-tipping to me, but Captain Flack and company happily hare off to find a convenient large bush in which to hide the branch. In fact, the engine accelerates so fast, they are in danger of getting whiplash, judging by the way their heads all jerk backwards.

In the square, Mrs Cobbit's business acumen comes in handy, as she has sold nearly all of the ice-cream. The fire brigade turn up to report a job well done. I suspect they are also hoping for some free ice-cream, but Captain Flack has to make do with a buttonhole. His thanks could come over as being slightly more convincing, I feel, but he plugs the band concert as usual.

Miss Lovelace and Those Dogs turn up in the hope of cadging some left-over flowers, but Mrs Cobbit only has two roses left, which she has earmarked for the two blokes working on her roof. Though if I were Mr Minton or Mr Antonio, some cold hard cash would be welcome, too...

But then everyone always seems to fill up at Mr Crockett's garage and drive away without ever paying, so maybe the Barter System still holds some sway in Trumptonshire.

And so we cut to the band concert where Mr Antonio gets some over-friendly pats on the shouder from the Mayor and Mr Clamp gives Miss Lovelace's dogs a dirty look.

So eveything's back to normal, hurrah!

That chair never got mended, mind you...

(By Andrew Trowbridge)