Humphrey B Bear doll with knitted jumper

Some items in the National Film and Sound archive collection are in pristine condition; others, not so much. This Humphrey doll from the early 1970s is in the latter camp, with its patchy fur and threadbare paws attesting to long years of active service as a child’s constant companion. The donor’s mother knitted the natty woollen jumper once the doll’s original waistcoat and bow tie fell apart; NFSA conservators reattached his broken hat. The condition of this item tells its own story. 

It's no surprise Humphrey B Bear had his own line of dolls like this one. The TV show Here’s Humphrey debuted on NWS-9 in Adelaide on 24 May 1965 and became one of the longest-running children’s TV series in the world, in production as late as 2008. The show has been produced in, or translated into, more than 50 languages. The first Humphrey doll was released in 1968; in 1969, the show won the first of many Logie Awards. Humphrey even featured on a postage stamp in 1999. The character remains active today as a fundraising ambassador, and in November 2023, appeared in Adelaide in an event entitled ‘Sing and Dance with Humphrey’.