Very sad to hear AP Films and Century 21 merchandise
director, Keith Shackleton has sadly passed away. He died on Wednesday 17th
April at the age of 90.
I was lucky enough to have a brief chat with Keith and see
him talk about those early days working at AP Films at The Future is Fantastic Fanderson convention in 2015.
For me and my fellow attendees it was a highlight of the
convention, and I have to say that meeting and seeing Keith, he came across as
well spoken, very genuine, and as honest as the day is long, in fact, quite the perfect gentleman.
Keith first met Gerry Anderson during their days as
non-commissioned officers in the RAF. After they left the air force, each went their
separate ways, although both remained friends.
In 1960, Gerry persuaded Keith to join A.P. Films as
merchandise director, during which time Supercar was being made at the Slough
studios in Ipswich Rd.
Keith mentioned that Supercar was popular in America, and a
company over there wanted the publishing rights. As part of the deal Keith was
able to secure the UK publishing rights for several American series like The
Man from UNCLE and Dr Kildare (He said
was quite pleased with a series of pulp
Dr Kildare paperbacks that sold really well in the UK and made the
company a fortune)
Remaining on the subject of publishing, Keith got on well
with Alan Fennel, who at the time was deputy editor of TV Comic. In 1961 Keith
sold the licence for the Supercar comic strip to TV Comic which was to be
written by Fennel. They soon formed the Supercar Club and within three weeks it
had 70,000 members, all paying the membership fee of half a crown.( 2/6) Supercar was a lucrative commodity. By 1963 merchandise sales for the show was
over a quarter of a million pounds.
He also spoke of his advice to Gerry not to sell AP Films to
Lew Grade and ATV. The cinema
advertising company, Pearl & Dean had offered to buy half the firm, with
what Keith considered a much better deal, but Gerry stuck to his guns, feeling
that ATV was the way to go.
He talked about TV Century 21, which was something he was
proud of. He’d approached Lew Grade with
the idea of a publication called Century 21, a name which had been bandied
about for a while, particularly with regards to Fireball XL5’s original title.
The company itself, needed a new more slick name and Century 21 sounded right.
(It has been suggested that Keith came up with the name, although he did
dispute that)
It was intended that
this new publication would promote A.P.Films’ new Thunderbirds series, and
Keith eventually struck a deal with City Magazines who were very enthusiastic,
however they opted to alter the title to TV Century 21, which more accurately
described the content.
With this new series now in full swing, Jack Rosethal’s toy
company which was naturally doing very well producing the Thunderbirds toys was
eventually bought out by A.P. Films in
1965. Although, Keith did make special mention that he was particularly pleased
with the Dinky toys being produced by Meccano in Binns Road, Liverpool.
Following Thunderbirds, Keith became a little disillusioned
with the new series, Captain Scarlet, which he felt was too dark for a child
audience, a difficult to pitch.
Eventually, Keith left Century 21 Productions. However, he
did return but as part of a separate company called Century 21 merchandise
which later became Century 21 Ltd. With this company he would licence products
for, amongst others, ABBA, The Power Rangers , and Kate Bush.
He also continued to work with Gerry Anderson under the
Gerry Anderson Merchandising banner.
Prior to his talk on stage I did manage a brief chat with
him and asked the question, did he remember Project Sword?
He did remember it, as a totally separate merchandise
venture which owed its creation to Jack Rosenthal , whose toy company by that time
belonged to ATV. However, as Gerry
Anderson considered himself the ideas man he subsequently had no interest in it
at all. Keith also had no recollection
of Solo comic, which might have been something that City magazines themselves
came up with under licence.
Keith retired sometime during the early 2000’s and was the
last remaining company director of the AP Films and Century 21 Group.
This true gentleman will, of course be sadly missed, and our
sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Sad news. The people who helped build the shows that inspired us are slipping away. The only C21 creators I've met, are Sylvia Anderson and Terry Hennessey, who is still alive and well and has given up puppets to make lovely musical instruments! Terry gave me advice when I was starting out on my prop making career almost 40 years ago and I renewed the acquaintance just the other week. He's still bright, despite having had a stroke that has impaired his memories. He told me he'd sculpted the Hood puppet, I've been unable to verify that online but he is an undeniably creative person regardless. We must cherish these people while they still remain!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, Lewis very sad. Keith, obviously had so many memories and personal insight about those early days at APF and Century 21. I'm so glad I got to see him, (and his charming wife too), and it was good to hear so much first hand information from him.
DeleteTerry Hennessey isn't a name I'm familiar with, but its nice to hear he's doing okay, and in spite of his stroke is happy to share C21 memories. regarding The Hood, although the Hood's head is credited to Sculpting Supervisor John Brown, I'm thinking Terry being a member of the puppet workshop at that time is probably correct to have worked on several of the heads at one time or another.
Bearing in mind it was so long ago, I think most people would struggle to remember some details. I remember seeing Peter Hitchcock at a Fanderson. Peter joined the studio as a youngster and worked on Stingray and Thunderbirds before leaving in 1967. He had absolutely no memory of working on the feature film, Thunderbirds are Go, even though he was shown a photo of himself on set with the burned out model of Zero X!
Thanks Scoop, that's an informative and interesting tribute.
ReplyDeleteCheers Andy.
DeleteThank you Scoop for a thorough and deeply personal homage to a man so crucial for our C21 collecting interests. I wonder if Mr. Shackleton's presentation at the Fandercon was recorded & perhaps possible to watch retrospectively.
ReplyDeleteThanks Arto. There are video cameras used to project close ups of interviews onto a screen behind to give a good view for everyone in the room, but I don't know if they are actually recording or if they are, whether the recordings are kept.
DeleteA lovely obituary Scoop. What a legacy Kieth has left behind. Without him we wouldn't have played with those amazing toys when when we were kids, we wouldn't have had the pleasure of rediscovering them as adults and we wouldn't be talking about them to us and to others nearly every day ever since! A great tribute Scoop. Thanks for posting and marking the solemn occasion on Moonbase.
ReplyDeleteThanks Woodsy. Yes,all those wonderful toys that Keith licenced, and all the background info he had. He talked about the time when an American publisher wanted to do a series of Supercar comics, and as part of the deal Keith was offered the publishing rights to many American series like The Man from UNCLE, Bewitched, Burke's Law, The Beverly Hillbillies and My Favourite Martian which,as we know appeared in TV21,Lady Penelope and other City Magazines.
DeleteHe was a good uncle and a dear and sweet relative,
ReplyDeleteDavid
His Nephew
Keith was a sweet man and a dear relative. I miss him a great deal.
ReplyDeleteHis Nephew,
Dave Williams
New York
Dave, I met Keith and his wife, both lovely people only once but they both made quite an impression on me. My condolences.
DeleteI have only just discovered this website. Apologies. I worked with Keith in the 1990s when he had moved on to represent World Wrestling Federation. We did a lot of business together, I was the licensee for stickers and cards collections with my company, Merlin. We had a lot in common, I was a century 21 Reader in the 1960s and had met and admired subsequently Alan Fennel.Glad to see this tribute even if I am a year late.
DeleteNo apologies necessary, glad to have you on board.
DeleteThank you to my friend Kelvyn of Merlin for sending me the link to this page and its warm tribute to my old friend and partner Keith. I met Keith in the late 1970s when he sold me a licence to sell photos of Abba. We got on very well - both loving beer and football - and became great friends. Ten years later my wife and I got together with Keith to publish poster magazines of various popstars and then WWF with some considerable success, mainly due to his sharp understanding of licensing, distribution and marketing. We worked very hard but had a lot of fun together too. In fact, enjoying life was the starting point for every day with dear Keith. We went on to develop a mail order business and publish other magazines then books together under the Century 22 imprint. Keith was married to the lovely Gwyn and they both had and continue to have a special place in our lives. RIP old friend.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comment, Dick Wallis, a lovely tribute to Keith, he certainly was what he appeared to be, a perfect gentleman.
Delete