Posted by Uan, Four and Five, the puppets from Bim Bum Bam, the Italian children’s programme that aired from 1981 to 2002, had been donated by Mediaset to the Paolo Grassi drama school in Milan. On the night of 13-14 October 2005 they were stolen and have never been found.
Uan, Four and Five were afternoon companions for many Italian children in the ’80s and ’90s. But not everyone knows about the kidnapping of Uan and the other puppets, which happened in 2005.
Bim Bum Bam
Bim Bum Bam was an Italian children’s programme that aired from 1981 to 2002. It was an afternoon block that introduced various cartoons, with short sketches by the presenters in between.
The presenters changed over the years, but the most famous were Paolo Bonolis and Licia Colò. Others included Manuela, Carlo, Roberto, Carlotta and Debora.
As well as the presenters, there were several puppets. The first was the little dragon Five (named after the symbol of Canale 5), then came Uan (an Italian spelling of “one”, from Italia 1) and Four.
We can say for sure that the most famous was Uan, a pink puppet vaguely resembling a dog, with a big fuchsia quiff, who drove the presenters mad, especially Paolo, whom he affectionately called “Piolo”.
The kidnapping of Uan, Four and Five
In December 2016, when I wrote this article, a TV special was planned to bring Bim Bum Bam back to the screen for nostalgic thirty-somethings. Not everyone knows, though, that the beloved puppets were stolen years ago.
In 2001 Mediaset had donated the three puppets to the Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Art in Milan, where they were kept in a display case waiting to be catalogued and shown to the public.
On the night of 13-14 October 2005 the three mascots were stolen, and nothing has been heard of them since. Around 1:20 am the school alarm went off, but the private security guards noticed nothing strange. The theft was only discovered in the morning.
At first people thought a payment might be demanded for the puppets’ return, a sort of ransom. The three mascots were not only of sentimental value to millions of children and teenagers, but also among the very few existing examples of Uan, Four and Five, all handmade.
But no ransom was ever demanded and, as far as I know, nothing more has ever been heard of the three mascots.
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