The man who made shopping at Kennards feel a bit magical

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A former Music Hall performer used his modelling genius to brighten the lives of countless children in one Croydon department store, while creating famous stage dummies including Archie Andrews and Lord Charles. DAVID MORGAN looks back on the work of Len Insull

Memories and reminiscences are still plentiful when talking about the three department stores – or departmental stores, as they called themselves – which once adorned Croydon High Street.

Many of Croydon’s residents have fond memories of Kennards, which originally opened on North End in 1853.

Always creative in the way they attracted customers, it became well-known for its pet department and pony rides. Many Saturday treats were promised by parents wanting to reward their children for hard work at school.

Its Christmas Grotto, where hard-working and well-behaved children could meet Santa, was another well-remembered and much-loved feature of the store.

Each year, a big procession used to be held in the town with a golden key being carried aloft, with which the grotto would be “unlocked”.

Even back in the 1960s Christmas preparations in a big store like Kennards took a long time. A newspaper report from 1961 said that it took six months to plan and build the Christmas Grotto. It was something for which the store had become renowned.

An additional 60,000 visitors over the period when the Grotto was open were planned and catered for.

The person who was in charge of Kennard’s displays in the 1950s and ’60s was John Leonard Insull – Len to those who knew him and worked with him.

Such was his reputation for creating fabulous moving models and panoramas that Pathe News sent a team down to Croydon in 1961 to film Insull at work and to showcase his Grotto for that year. Thousands of people in cinemas in this country and beyond were able to see the magical world which Insull created. Kennard’s publicity team were rubbing their hands with glee.

Insull, who at the time of filming was 68, was a lively and energetic figure still very much in charge of the display department. That particular year saw him create different gnomes with several of them playing musical instruments in a woodland glade.

Others were presented in a carpenter’s workshop toiling away to make wooden figures. In a hole in the workshop floor, a mouse could be seen pushing his nose above the floorboards only to be pushed back down again by a gnome’s broom. There was also a wishing well and a scene where a little old man kept getting hit in the face by a jack-in-the-box.

Insull was responsible for making all the figures come to life – gnomes, goblins and dwarves – with a series of cog wheels and pulleys.

Insull (referred to as “John” in formal newspaper reports), was no stranger to creating models that moved.

Born in 1893 in Wolverhampton, after an apprenticeship as a joiner he discovered a love of magic and went on the stage. He performed as Hinsle, the Comedy Illusionist, making his own props to use in his act.

He met his wife Fanny, a clog dancer, whilst performing in the music halls. Her stage name was Gertie Rees. They successfully toured theatres both here and overseas until the variety shows lost their appeal and theatres began to close.

In the 1920s, Insull had once been on the same bill as Coram the Ventriloquist. Coram, whose real name was Thomas Mitchell, was a star of the music hall circuit.

After talking with Insull, Coram challenged him to make a ventriloquist’s dummy. If it turned out that the new creation was better than the one that he was using at the time, Coram said he would buy it and use it in his act.

Insull duly presented Coram with the dummy which indeed was better than the one being used, so “Jerry Fisher”, as he was named, became an integral part of Coram’s act, gaining a fantastic reputation on both sides of the Atlantic.

As a result of his work creating ventriloquists’ dummies, Insull’s reputation began to spread and he came to the attention of Lewis Davenport. His family owned the largest family-run magic business in the country. Davenport asked Insull to supply him with heads for ventriloquist dummies so that he could have stock available both for people just beginning in the art of throwing their voice, as well as puppets for star stage performers.

Insull produced two types of head for Davenport. A No1 had three movements: bottom lip, top lip and turning eyes. A No2 head was more complex and had those three movements, plus two winks, and moving eyebrows and ears.

“A gottle of geer” would never be the same again.

As his reputation rose in the theatrical world, Insull was commissioned to create dummies for some of the most successful vent acts of all time.

Back in the 1950s, one of the biggest shows on BBC radio was Educating Archie, which starred Peter Brough and his dummy, Archie Andrews. That’s right: a ventriloquist act. On. The. Radio.

No one ever saw Brough’s lips move on that programme.

Archie Andrews was made by Insull. Brough presented a signed photo of himself and Archie to Insull saying, “He was the greatest creator of them all.”

Ray Alan was a familiar face on television in the 1960s through to the 1980s with Lord Charles, the drunken toff character, a vent puppet also made by Insull. Alan was also well known for the television show Tich ‘n Quackers. Insull made Tich while Alan constructed the duck.

Even Eric Morecambe, of Morecambe and Wise, considered by many the greatest British comedy double act of all time, used a ventriloquist dummy in some of his routines. His “Charlie” was also created by Insull.

The whimsical “cheeky boy” look of the dummies was clear evidence of Insull’s influence.

He was also noted for the fine leather work on the moving mouth and eyelids.

Insull, together with his son, also called Leonard, worked on creating many ventriloquists’ heads. Their partnership ended with the early death of his son in 1957.

Quite when Insull began his years at Kennards of Croydon isn’t known, but he worked for them for about 20 years. It was considered his day job, while he continued to fulfil orders for ventriloquist customers in the evenings from his home in Streatham.

Even when he died in 1974, aged 81, Insull was still taking orders. Between 1952 and 1974 he completed more than 2,000 items connected to the ventriloquist’s dummies.

His work with Kennard’s provided him with another audience, many of whom were unaware of his career in showbusiness and his huge contribution to puppetry.

In 1961, Kennards decided to put their Christmas Grotto – Santa Claus’ Workshop – on the lower ground floor right next to their new self-service luncheonette. Mums and dads could sit and relax over a cuppa and a snack while their children went off on their trip to Fairyland.

Insull’s work is, today, highly collectable, probably more so than any other British puppeteer. As Kennards had a new grotto every Christmas, Insull’s figures were usually sold off. Maybe there are families living in Croydon today who still possess an Insull figure?

Jack Lane, the actor and writer, bought Eric Morecombe’s Charlie at an auction held this month for £6,200, twice its estimate.

Examples of his Insull’s puppets, constructed of papier mâché, can be found in the V&A Museum, in David Copperfield’s private magic museum in Las Vegas and in Bantock House Museum in his home town of Wolverhampton.

The Pathe News film survived and can be viewed on their website.

Kennards certainly got someone special when they hired Insull.

David Morgan, pictured, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups

If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page

Some previous articles by David Morgan:

When shopping required a visit to the Harrods of south London

For those in peril on the sea: HMS Racehorse’s Manx legacy

Archbishop Lanfranc and the Norman Conquest of Croydon

The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history

For the full archive of David Morgan’s history research, click here

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