Best known as Roberta Leigh, she was born Rita Shulman in
London to sometimes-poor Jewish parents who had
emigrated from Russia. Leigh wrote her first romantic fiction at age 14, while still a schoolgirl at St Mary's convent in Rhyl. She published a romance in 1950 as Roberta Leigh, and was credited as the composer for most of her shows. However, most of her compositions were simply hummed into a tape recorder and translated into a score by a composer. She did, however, tinker with electronic equipment to create the opening theme for
Space Patrol, after asking a shop clerk for something that made interesting sounds. In addition to collaborations on
Twizzle and
Torchy, Leigh teamed with
Barry Gray for three musical compositions (
Riding My Bike,
Sleeping Time and
Why?) featured on
Vera Lynn's 1955 album "Songs for Children." Her surname appears as
Lee on the record, but the proper spelling is featured on the sheet music. In addition to two tie-in albums for
Twizzle, Leigh also reinterpreted the popular stories
Cinderella and
Jack and the Beanstalk with original songs, plus she wrote and narrated
The Wonderful Story of How You Were Born, a frank spoken-word
sex education record.
Paul Starr Though made in 1964,
Paul Starr appeared to be a decade ahead of
Space Patrol. A 25-minute marionette puppet series in the same vein as
Space Patrol, it was produced in colour. Agent Paul Starr and his crewman, Lightning, work for the Space Bureau of Investigation (SBI). They have a squat rocket,
SBI-5, which can travel through space, in air and underwater (
SBI uses an undersea base). While jets propel the craft through the air, in space it is powered by "
solar energy". It is armed with various weapons, including nuclear missiles. The robots of
Paul Starr appear to be more developed and fans of
Space Patrol will notice the similar sound effects used. The movements of the puppet characters are "less wooden" and there are no sign of strings. Only a pilot episode was filmed and shown, but the series was not picked up. The puppets were made by Martin and Heather Granger who, with Joan Garrick, also operated them. Realistic mouth movements were used long before the arrival of
Terrahawks in the 1980s. Actor
Edward Bishop provided the voice of Paul Starr; other voices were provided by
Patricia English,
Dick Vosburgh and
Peter Reeves. Besides creating and scripting the series, Leigh also wrote the title song and lyrics (sung by
Jerry Dane).
Arthur Provis served as director of photography and co-producer. In this adventure, Starr's boss sends him to Mars where five atomic power stations (used to pump water) have been destroyed by fire. Starr and Lightning work as security guards to try to uncover the cause. The chief suspect is General Darynx. The Martians are shown as non-human fish people.
The Solarnauts This was a colour live-action space adventure TV series, produced in 1967, and starred John Garfield, Jr. and
Derek Fowlds. Like
Paul Starr, its filmed material survives. ==Bibliography==