Cheburashka
Encyclopedia
Cheburashka also known as Topple in earlier English translations, is a character in children's literature, from a 1966 story by the Russia
n writer Eduard Uspensky. In Estonian
the character is called Potsataja. He is also the protagonist (voiced by Klara Rumyanova
) of the stop-motion animated films by Roman Kachanov
(Soyuzmultfilm
studio), the first film of which was made in 1969.
.)
, from French chapeau claque, a kind of top hat
). Shapoklyak is a mischievous but charming old lady. She is tall and thin, wears a hat, a dark-coloured dress, and bloomers, and carries around a pet rat — Lariska — in her purse to help her play pranks on people. The chorus of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds."
, the art director of the animated films, has tried to prove in court that he was the creator of Cheburashka's visual appearance and that this copyright should be separate from the rights for the literary character. On March 13, 2007, Shvartsman and his attorney lost a 4.7 million ruble
lawsuit against BRK Cosmetics and Eduard Uspensky. Shvartsman alleged that Uspensky sold the rights to the Cheburashka image (which was allegedly not his to sell) to BRK Cosmetics, which used it on packets of toothpaste
. The defence argued that the artist who drew the character for the packets had never seen the animated films and, despite the fact that the character on the packets was an exact copy of the one in the animated films, had created the character himself after the impressions left from reading Uspensky's books. Vladimir Entin, the prosecuting attorney, suspects that the jury had to have been bribed in order to hand such an unlikely verdict, but admits that there is no proof.
The word "Cheburashka" is also used in a figurative sense to name objects that somehow resemble the creature (such as an An-72 aircraft which, when seen from the front, resembles the character's head) or are just as pleasing as it is (e.g. a colloquial name for a small bottle of lemonade
– from the brand name "Cheburashka").
Cheburashka was also chosen as the official mascot for the Russian Olympic Team in the following games:
Cheburashka also became known in some countries outside the former Soviet Union (and of the Soviet Bloc). He became very popular in Japan
after an animated film series about him was shown in 15 cinemas all over Japan and was watched by about 700,000 between summer 2001 and spring 2002. In 2008, the Cheburashka films (as part of the "Ghibli Museum Library
") were made available to Japanese cinemas on the same date as Hayao Miyazaki
's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
. An English-dubbed edition of at least one of the animated films was released in 1987, titled The Adventures of Charlie and Cubby .
with the characters Drutten and crocodile Gena. These two characters were based on a couple of Cheburashka and Gena dolls bought on a trip to the Soviet Union, so they were visually identical to Cheburashka and Gena. ("Drutten" means "one who tumbles down", as one meaning of the Swedish colloquial verb "drutta" is "to fall or tumble down".)
But that is where the similarity ends. The two characters sang and told different stories from those in the USSR, lived on a bookshelf rather than in a city and are hand puppet
s operated in live action
rather than stop motion. Only occasionally Swedish state TV would broadcast a segment of the Russian original, dubbed in Swedish. So, while many Swedes may visually recognize Cheburashka, they will generally not associate these characters with the ones Russian children know.
is known to be an avid collector of Russian Cheburashka items.
The white and red Olympic mascots were made in three sizes – 6 in. (14 cm), 7 in. (18 cm) and 11 in. (27 cm) – and wear a sponsor's jersey with the "Bosco Sport" logo on the chest.
T-shirts with Cheburashka are common, including several versions with the character drawn as Alberto Korda
's Che Guevara
photograph, labeled "Che Burashka".
had said in a 2004 interview that Pilot Studio had been planning to make a Cheburashka feature film and that the scenario had been written out and possibly some footage shot, but that it had been frozen for lack of funds. Cheburashka's popularity in Japan is such that on April 4, 2006, TV Tokyo
broadband issued a press announcement that it (in partnership with Frontier Works, Inc.)
has acquired the rights to remake the Cheburashka shorts as a feature film. It is unclear if this was the very project that Pilot Studio had been forced to abandon. It was announced that the film, like the original shorts, will be based on puppet animation enhanced with modern stop-motion
technology and computer graphics effects (similar to the plans for the Pilot Studio film), and would be shot simultaneously in two languages – English and Russian.
In March 2009 it was announced that the new Cheburashka animation would consist of a new animated series, called Cheburashka arere?, which will last for 26 3-minute episodes. A new movie, to be released in 2010, was also mentioned, but with no confirmation of whether it will be made in Japan or abroad.
Cheburashka arere? premiered on the Nori-Suta 100% television program on October 7, 2009.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n writer Eduard Uspensky. In Estonian
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe* Estonians – people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent...
the character is called Potsataja. He is also the protagonist (voiced by Klara Rumyanova
Klara Rumyanova
Klara Mikhailovna Rumyanova was a Soviet and Russian actress and singer. She was active from 1951 to 1999.Her small, adorable voice is easily recognized by several generations of Soviet people from their early childhood, because she voiced numerous Russian animated films and sang countless...
) of the stop-motion animated films by Roman Kachanov
Roman Abelevich Kachanov
Roman Abelevich Kachanov was a Russian animator, one of the founders and leaders of Russian stop-motion animation.Kachanov was the director and screenwriter of the trilogy about Cheburashka, Gena the Crocodile and Shapoklyak.- Early years :...
(Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union...
studio), the first film of which was made in 1969.
Story
According to the story, Cheburashka is a funny little creature, unknown to science, who lives in the tropical forest. He accidentally gets into a crate of oranges, eats his fill, and falls asleep. The crate is eventually delivered to a grocery store in an unnamed Russian city (by some facts it may be Moscow) where the rest of the main story unfolds. Cheburashka is a name given to the character by the puzzled store manager who finds the creature in the crate when he opens it. The salesman takes the animal out and sits him on the table, but his paws are numb after the long time spent in the crate, and he tumbles down ("cheburakhnulsya" (чебурахнулся), a Russian colloquialism, "tumbled" in English) from the table onto the chair and then from the chair, where he could not sit, for the same reason, onto the floor. The store manager, who witnesses the scene, called him Cheburashka. Words with this root were archaic in Russian; Uspensky gave them a new lease on life. (The Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language of Vladimir Dahl gives the meaning of "cheburashka" as another name for the roly-poly toyRoly-poly toy
A roly-poly toy, round-bottomed doll, tilting doll, tumbler or wobbly man is a toy that rights itself when pushed over. The bottom of a roly-poly toy is round, roughly a hemisphere. Many roly-poly toys are hollow, with a weight inside the bottom. It has a center of mass below the center of the...
.)
Cartoon series
- Gena the Crocodile (1969)
- CheburashkaCheburashka (film)Cheburashka is a 1971 Soviet/Russian film directed by Roman Kachanov.- Plot summary :Crocodile Gena's birthday. Cheburashka wishes him a happy birthday and gives him a gift...
(1971) - ShapoklyakShapoklyak (film)Shapoklyak is a 1974 Soviet Russian film by Roman Kachanov.-Synopsis:Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka decide to go to the sea on vacation. Shapoklyak steals their train tickets, and so they are kicked off the train...
(1974) - Cheburashka Goes to SchoolCheburashka Goes to SchoolCheburashka Goes to School is a 1983 Soviet film directed by Roman Kachanov.-Plot summary:Gena figures out that Cheburashka does not know how to read.Gena tries to find Cheburashka a School, but the school is closed for maintenance....
(1983)
Friends
Cheburashka is male, has a bear-like body, large round ears, and is about the size of a 5-year-old child. In the tale, he hangs around with a friendly crocodile named Gena, who wears a hat, a bow tie and a coat, walks on his hind legs, and plays the accordion. He works in a zoo as a crocodile. Gena's favorite songs are "Such a Pity that One's Birthday Happens Only Once a Year" and "The Blue Train Car," both of which are extremely popular with children.Antagonist
In the cartoon, Cheburashka and Gena have their adventures made more difficult by a character named "Старуха Шапокляк" (Old Lady ShapoklyakShapoklyak
Shapoklyak was a popular villain from a story about Cheburashka written by Russian writer Eduard Uspensky. The first appearance of Shapoklyak was in the animated film Gena the Crocodile by Roman Kachanov ....
, from French chapeau claque, a kind of top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
). Shapoklyak is a mischievous but charming old lady. She is tall and thin, wears a hat, a dark-coloured dress, and bloomers, and carries around a pet rat — Lariska — in her purse to help her play pranks on people. The chorus of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds."
Copyright controversy
The rights to the Cheburashka character and image have been heavily debated in court. In 1994, Eduard Uspensky (the writer) copyrighted the character's name and image and proceeded to sell the rights to various countries. Leonid ShvartsmanLeonid Shvartsman
Leonid Shvartsman is a Russian animator and artist.He spent most of his creative career at the Soyuzmultfilm Studio, in Moscow, where he served as art director on Cheburashka, 38 Parrots, The Golden Antelope, The Scarlet Flower, The Snow Queen and many other cartoons.-External links:*...
, the art director of the animated films, has tried to prove in court that he was the creator of Cheburashka's visual appearance and that this copyright should be separate from the rights for the literary character. On March 13, 2007, Shvartsman and his attorney lost a 4.7 million ruble
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
lawsuit against BRK Cosmetics and Eduard Uspensky. Shvartsman alleged that Uspensky sold the rights to the Cheburashka image (which was allegedly not his to sell) to BRK Cosmetics, which used it on packets of toothpaste
Toothpaste
Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush as an accessory to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it serves as an abrasive that aids in removing the dental plaque and food from the teeth, assists in suppressing...
. The defence argued that the artist who drew the character for the packets had never seen the animated films and, despite the fact that the character on the packets was an exact copy of the one in the animated films, had created the character himself after the impressions left from reading Uspensky's books. Vladimir Entin, the prosecuting attorney, suspects that the jury had to have been bribed in order to hand such an unlikely verdict, but admits that there is no proof.
Cheburashka sightings
Cheburashka is now a staple of Russian cartoons, and there are several licensed products on the market, such as children's joke books and stuffed toys. He is also one of the few Russian animation characters to be the subject of numerous Russian jokes and riddles.The word "Cheburashka" is also used in a figurative sense to name objects that somehow resemble the creature (such as an An-72 aircraft which, when seen from the front, resembles the character's head) or are just as pleasing as it is (e.g. a colloquial name for a small bottle of lemonade
Lemonade
Lemonade is a lemon-flavored drink, typically made from lemons, water and sugar.The term can refer to three different types of beverage:...
– from the brand name "Cheburashka").
Cheburashka was also chosen as the official mascot for the Russian Olympic Team in the following games:
- 2004 Summer Olympics2004 Summer OlympicsThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... - 2006 Winter Olympics2006 Winter OlympicsThe 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
in TurinTurinTurin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(with white fur) - 2008 Summer Olympics2008 Summer OlympicsThe 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(with red fur) - 2010 Winter Olympics2010 Winter OlympicsThe 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(with blue fur)
Cheburashka also became known in some countries outside the former Soviet Union (and of the Soviet Bloc). He became very popular in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
after an animated film series about him was shown in 15 cinemas all over Japan and was watched by about 700,000 between summer 2001 and spring 2002. In 2008, the Cheburashka films (as part of the "Ghibli Museum Library
Ghibli Museum Library
The is the collection of classic and non-Japanese animated films which have been dubbed or subtitled and released in Japan by Studio Ghibli, in collaboration with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Cinema ANGELICA...
") were made available to Japanese cinemas on the same date as Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
, initially titled in English as Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. It is Miyazaki's eighth film for Ghibli, and his tenth overall...
. An English-dubbed edition of at least one of the animated films was released in 1987, titled The Adventures of Charlie and Cubby .
"Drutten och krokodilen", Sweden
In the 1970s a series of children's television shows, radio shows, records and magazines were produced in SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
with the characters Drutten and crocodile Gena. These two characters were based on a couple of Cheburashka and Gena dolls bought on a trip to the Soviet Union, so they were visually identical to Cheburashka and Gena. ("Drutten" means "one who tumbles down", as one meaning of the Swedish colloquial verb "drutta" is "to fall or tumble down".)
But that is where the similarity ends. The two characters sang and told different stories from those in the USSR, lived on a bookshelf rather than in a city and are hand puppet
Hand puppet
A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by the leg or face that occupies the interior of the puppet. Glove puppets are a variation of hand puppets...
s operated in live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
rather than stop motion. Only occasionally Swedish state TV would broadcast a segment of the Russian original, dubbed in Swedish. So, while many Swedes may visually recognize Cheburashka, they will generally not associate these characters with the ones Russian children know.
Collectibles
Cheburashka dolls and other collectibles are produced in Russia and Japan. United States National Champion figure skater Johnny WeirJohnny Weir
John Garvin "Johnny" Weir is an American figure skater. He is a three-time U.S. National Champion , the 2008 Worlds bronze medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and the 2001 World Junior Champion....
is known to be an avid collector of Russian Cheburashka items.
The white and red Olympic mascots were made in three sizes – 6 in. (14 cm), 7 in. (18 cm) and 11 in. (27 cm) – and wear a sponsor's jersey with the "Bosco Sport" logo on the chest.
T-shirts with Cheburashka are common, including several versions with the character drawn as Alberto Korda
Alberto Korda
Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Alberto Korda or simply Korda was a Cuban photographer, remembered for his famous image Guerrillero Heroico of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.-Early life:Korda, whose real name was Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, was born on 14 September 1928 in...
's Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
photograph, labeled "Che Burashka".
Cheburashka movie
Ivan MaximovIvan Maximov
-Biography:Ivan Maximov was born on 19 November 1958 in Moscow. He studied photography at the Biophysical Institute in Moscow till 1976. From 1976 - 1982 Maximov studied at the Physical-Technical Institute in Moscow. He worked as an illustrator for various magazines and from 1982 to 1986 he was an...
had said in a 2004 interview that Pilot Studio had been planning to make a Cheburashka feature film and that the scenario had been written out and possibly some footage shot, but that it had been frozen for lack of funds. Cheburashka's popularity in Japan is such that on April 4, 2006, TV Tokyo
TV Tokyo
is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...
broadband issued a press announcement that it (in partnership with Frontier Works, Inc.)
has acquired the rights to remake the Cheburashka shorts as a feature film. It is unclear if this was the very project that Pilot Studio had been forced to abandon. It was announced that the film, like the original shorts, will be based on puppet animation enhanced with modern stop-motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
technology and computer graphics effects (similar to the plans for the Pilot Studio film), and would be shot simultaneously in two languages – English and Russian.
In March 2009 it was announced that the new Cheburashka animation would consist of a new animated series, called Cheburashka arere?, which will last for 26 3-minute episodes. A new movie, to be released in 2010, was also mentioned, but with no confirmation of whether it will be made in Japan or abroad.
Cheburashka arere? premiered on the Nori-Suta 100% television program on October 7, 2009.
External links
- Russian fan page
- Japanese official website
- http://www.muzeumdobranocek.pl/kiwaczek.htmCheburashka's Room in People's Republic of PolandPeople's Republic of PolandThe People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
's Cartoons Museum] - Cheburashka's New Adventures – After stealing hearts at the Turin Winter Olympics, the famed Soviet cartoon character is about to become a movie star in Japan (The Moscow Times. May 12, 2006)
- Cheburator: Cheburashka-themed movie images and artwork