Paper Bag Players, The

1 9 6 9 (UK)
13 x 25 minute episodes

Five Americans made this Thames TelevisionTV series for children in 1969.

The group – Donald Ashwander, Irving Burton, Charles Liepart, Judith Martin and Betty Osgood – went under the collective name of The Paper Bag Players.

Realising that most children would rather play with a cardboard box than the expensive toy it held, the five entertainers from New York used paper bags, boxes, crates, sheets of paper and any other old rubbish that might be lying around to create everything from a four-headed sea monster to a Wild West gang on a rocky mountain range.

Debuting on Tuesday 22 July 1969, the shows included sketches, songs (composed by Donald Ashwander), dances and jokes.

Donald Ashwander
Irving Burton
Charles Liepart
Judith Martin
Betty Osgood