The Life and Works of Gerry Anderson Quiz

Answer: Gerald Alexander Abrahams

Gerry was born Gerald Alexander Abrahams in London, to parents Deborah and Joseph. His ancestral name was "Bieloglovski", but was changed to "Abrahams" by a British immigration official in 1895. His mother Deborah never liked the Jewish name of "Abrahams" however, and changed it by deed poll in 1939 to "Anderson".
Gerry Michael Anderson is an Irish radio and television broadcaster.

Answer: Carwash attendant

Gerry began studying fibrous plastering but was forced to give it up when he discovered he was allergic to the plaster. While recovering from the plaster-induced dermatitis, Gerry was invited along to a film laboratory. While there, he saw film being developed, and it was then that Gerry realised that he wanted to work in the film business.
When he was unable to get work immediately following school, he took a job as a photographic apprentice in a portrait studio.
In 1939 he joined the British Colonial Film Unit as a trainee and was eventually promoted to the cutting room, and it was here that he learned about directing. His time at the BCF however, was interrupted when he was conscripted into the RAF as a radio telephone operator.

Answer: A.P. Films

After working at the British Colonial Film Unit, Gerry worked at Polytechnic studios where he met Arthur Provis. When Polytechnic folded, Gerry and Arthur formed a partnership to make their own films and asked their friends Reg Hill and John Read to be partners.

The partnership struggled to find work however, and was heading toward bankruptcy when they were approached to make a puppet series. They found that, in order to sign the contract, they needed to form a company. They submitted over thirty names but all were rejected as they lacked originality or were already in use. Eventually the name "A.P. Films" (Anderson-Provis) was accepted. The "A.P." became a joke between them as Arthur claimed it stood for "Arthur Provis", but Gerry insisted it was "Anderson Productions".

Many years later, they changed the name to "Century 21 Organisation". Interestingly though, Gerry and his colleagues pronounces it "Century Two-One".

Answer: The Adventures of Twizzle

Twizzle is a boy doll that runs away from a toyshop. He is able to "twizzle" his arms and legs to greater lengths to enable him to reach whatever he wants. A total of 52 episodes, each lasting 15 minutes were made. The series first aired in 1957.
This was Gerry's first work with puppets and the beginning of a long and successful collaboration with both puppets and puppeteer Christine Glanville. As Gerry wanted a three-dimensional background in his show, as opposed to the usual flat backdrops used at the time, this meant that Christine was perched on a bridge near the ceiling of the room and unable to adequately see the puppets faces. This resulted in the puppets often looking in the wrong direction.
To resolve this dilemma, Gerry used an extra, lightweight camera, connected to the film camera. By using a closed-circuit screen up on the bridge, the puppeteers were then able to see exactly what was being filmed. Gerry believes that he was the first to develop and use this system.

Answer: The Protectors

"The Protectors" were a freelance detective/crime-fighting organisation that operated worldwide. For a price. The series centred around three European Operatives who managed to be captured, deceived or shot in almost every episode! This series first aired in 1972.

Answer: UFO

Production of "UFO", Anderson's first full "live-action" series began in 1969. It was a science fiction adventure series aimed more towards adults than any previous Anderson series, although it seemed you could only work on moon-base if you wore a purple wig! The show starred Ed Bishop as commander Ed Straker, who voiced Captain Blue in "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons".
Gerry had previously produced a live-action show called "Crossroads to Crime", but it was a stand-alone program and not a series.

Answer: Automatic Lip Sync

Inside the heads of all Supermarionation puppets was a magnetic solenoid, which moved the hinged lower lips. During Supermarionation, each character's voice was recorded on a different channel and wires carried the signal pulses from the recorder to the bridge.

By the time the pulses reached the puppet's solenoid they were down to 12 Volts, enough to trigger the mouth movement automatically in synchrony with the recorded dialogue. The size of the original solenoids was quite large and therefore the early puppets' heads were unproportionally large in comparison to their bodies. Later solenoids were smaller, allowing the marionettes to have more proportional heads and bodies.

Answer: Thunderbirds

Originally, the "Thunderbirds" series was to be comprised of 25-minute episodes, however, Lew Grade (then deputy managing director of Associated TeleVision) loved it and demanded they be made to fit into a one-hour slot.
Gerry was rather embarrassed to still be making puppet shows and was surprised to find the series was very popular with the public. By late 1965, fan mail was arriving at the studio to the tune of 30,000 letters a week and the crew had to come up with birth dates, favourite food, sport and entertainment of the entire "Thunderbirds" cast!
The advent of home videos and DVD, a segment in a 1991 "Dire Straits" video clip, a mime homage entitled "Thunderbirds, FAB", toy and product merchandising and the frequent re-runs of the series on television spawned a new generation of "Thunderbirds" fans. This may also be due, in part, to original fans growing up and introducing "Thunderbirds" to their children.
"Zero X" wwas the large Martian-bound rocket in the movie "Thunderbirds Are Go", while "The Triads" is the name of an episode of "Fireball XL5".

Answer: He had no input

Gerry is given the credit (along with then wife, Sylvia) of writing the television series, but Peter Hewitt and William Osbourne wrote the movie version.
Gerry was first approached about a live-action movie back in 1996, and was later invited to meet with the producers of the 2004 film. But his input was vetoed for reasons that are not clear. He was asked to write an endorsement for the film shortly before its release, but he declined to do so.
The movie itself was a failure; fans of the original series claimed the storyline deviated too far from the original series. Others thought that not having Gerry involved was akin to sacrilege, and this was reason the movie flopped.

Answer: Member of the British Empire (MBE)

Gerry has previously won the Silver Medal and the BKSTS Fellowship, but there is no mention of a BAFTA award.
In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of June 2001, it was announced that Gerry would be the recipient of an MBE for "services to animation". It has been reported that when questioned by Her Majesty about the nature of his work, he replied "I make films for children".
Yes Gerry, and much more besides.