Who invented Cheburashka? Cheburashka: wiki: Facts about Russia.
Cheburashka- a character in the book by Eduard Uspensky "Crocodile Gena and his friends" and the film by Roman Kachanov "Crocodile Gena", based on this book in 1969. He gained wide popularity after the release of this film on the screens.
Outwardly, it is a creature with huge ears, large eyes and brown hair, walking on its hind legs. The image of Cheburashka, known today, first appeared in Roman Kachanov's cartoon "Gena the Crocodile" (1969) and was created with the direct participation of the film's production designer Leonid Shvartsman.
After the film's release, it was originally translated into English as "Topple" and into Swedish as "Drutten".
Story
Cheburashka was invented in 1966 by the writer Eduard Uspensky, who claims that the prototype was a defective children's toy - a half-hare-half-bear cub, which received the nickname "Cheburashka" in the family.
According to Uspensky's text, the main character was named Cheburashka for having survived an uncomfortable journey in a box of oranges, he constantly strove to “cheburah”, that is, to fall. This is how it is described in the first book of the series: He sat, sat, looked around, and then he took it and cheburahnulsya from the table to the chair. But he did not sit on a chair for a long time - he cheburahnulsya again. On the floor. - Fu you, Cheburashka what! - the director of the store said about him, - He can’t sit still at all! So our animal found out that his name is Cheburashka ...
Ouspensky does not seem to have realized at the time that he had discovered a treasure. Suffice it to recall that his book was called "Crocodile Gena and his friends", that is, the beast unknown to science was not its title character.
The animation director Roman Kachanov, who wrote in his book “The Wisdom of Fiction” (1983), did not see any special charm in the animal, who wrote in his book “The Wisdom of Fiction” (1983): “When I read E. Crocodile Gena didn't make much of an impression on me. I liked the city where people and animals lived together without any conditions. So, easily, my housemate could be a crocodile who works at the zoo.
It seems that only the artist Leonid Shvartsman fell in love with the character, endowing him with all the external data necessary for an animation star: big ears and round eyes, which once brought success to Mickey Mouse.
After the first film - "Crocodile Gena" (1968) - it became clear who was in charge here: the second series was already called "Cheburashka". A total of four puppet films were made. They diverged into quotes, Gena and Cheburashka firmly entered the children's folklore and became heroes of jokes.
This couple also had some modest fame abroad: in Sweden in the 1970s, the children's show Drutten och Gena was on television with Cheburashka and Gena in the lead roles. True, the Swedes used wrist puppets and composed a different biography for the heroes.
The revolution happened in the 2000s, when our country discovered that the main thing in mass film culture is a memorable character. It is he who makes viewers return to the same work over and over again, which means that thanks to him you can produce kilometers of serial production and make crazy money on licensing.
And then a real recognition came to Cheburashka. It turned out that this is one of the few authentic characters created by Soviet culture. In addition, unlike other Soviet heroes, Cheburashka did not lose his charm when the regime changed.
Cheburashka became at the same time a part of the state ideology and the flagship of the outcasts, an object of trade and a participant in secular scandals, an ambassador of goodwill and a muse for artists of different schools. In some surprising way, Cheburashka could turn out to be both the mascot of the Russian Olympic team (it sounds like a joke, given the legendary awkwardness of the character, imprinted even in his name), and a symbol of anti-glamorous dance parties (at the beginning of the 2000s, DJ Svodnik arranged the so-called "Cheburan parties", which were attended by representatives of bohemia, ready to recognize themselves as "Cheburashka"). A public charitable movement "Cheburashka's Birthday" appeared, which annually at the end of August arranges a holiday for orphanage children. Images of Cheburashka increasingly began to appear on various goods, the press increasingly discussed the legal dispute between Uspensky and Shvartsman, monuments were created in different cities of Cheburashka, and young artists found a new interpretation of the familiar and familiar image from childhood.
Cheburashka was also appreciated abroad. The Japanese liked his image (it is believed that because of the resemblance to Pokemon). As a result, the animal took its place in the Studio Ghibli Museum, and the anime series “Cheburashka - who is this?” appeared on Japanese television screens. (Cheburashka Arere?). This rather strange work consists of twenty-six three-minute episodes (2 minutes 10 seconds takes the plot, the rest of the time is credits), in which the characters, exactly copied from our dolls, play various comic and sometimes lyrical scenes. In the first episode, Gena finds Cheburashka in a box of oranges, in the second, she takes him to the zoo (this word is written in Cyrillic in the series), in the third episode, she meets Shapoklyak, etc.
Cheburashka had her own song - “I was once a strange wooden toy”, which was performed by Clara Rumyanova. But in the final version, she did not enter the cartoon. And she remained only on records and in concert performances.
A few years ago, a scandal erupted over the authorship of the image of Cheburashka. The fact is that it was Uspensky who wrote about Cheburashka, but his appearance was invented by the artist Leonid Shvartsman. “When I was offered to become the artist of the series about the crocodile Gena and Cheburashka,” recalls Schwartzman, “I suffered for a long time precisely over the image of the main character. And, finally, he came up with these meek eyes, touching paws and removed the tail. This was in 1968. After the collapse of the USSR, Uspensky copied my Cheburashka, made a drawing and took it to the patent office. There, his authorship was not questioned and all the papers were drawn up. I am very sorry: after all, Edik just wrote a book, but it was me who invented and painted the image of Cheburashka.
The origin of the word "cheburashka"
The version about a defective toy, set out in the introduction to his book, is rejected by E. N. Uspensky as composed specifically for children. In an interview with a Nizhny Novgorod newspaper, Uspensky says:
I came to visit a friend, and his little daughter was trying on a fluffy fur coat that dragged along the floor,<…>The girl was constantly falling, stumbling over her fur coat. And her father, after another fall, exclaimed: “Oh, she’s gone crazy again!”. This word stuck in my memory, I asked its meaning. It turned out that "cheburahnutsya" - it means "to fall." And so the name of my hero appeared.
In the “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” by V. I. Dahl, both the word “cheburakhnutsya” in the meaning of “fall”, “crash”, “stretch”, and the word “cheburashka”, defined by him in various dialects as “checker of a burlak strap” , hung on the tail, "or as" a roly-poly, a chrysalis, which, no matter how you throw it, gets up on its own. According to Fasmer's etymological dictionary, "cheburakhnut" is derived from the words chuburok, chapurok, cheburakh - "a wooden ball at the end of a burlak tow", of Turkic origin. Another related word is "chebyrka" - a whip, at the end of which there is a ball on the hair.
The origin of the word "cheburashka", in the sense of a tumbler toy, described by Dahl, is due to the fact that many fishermen made such toys from wooden balls, which were floats for fishing nets, and were also called cheburashka.
Figurative meanings of the word "cheburashka"
- “Cheburashka” is often called objects that in one way or another resemble Cheburashka, including: L-410 Turbolet and An-72 aircraft, with a characteristic “eared” engine arrangement
- ball-shaped spinning weight with two wire loops
- sports figure of driving a car, including a double "eight"
- electric locomotive ChS2 - an associative external resemblance to Cheburashka due to the massive frames of the windshields; in the cartoon Shapoklyak, the characters ride an electric locomotive similar to a hybrid of ChS2 and VL22.
- cars "Zaporozhets" models ZAZ-966 / 968 / 968A - because of the characteristic air intakes protruding from the sides of the body.
- car "Moskvich"-2733-van
- There is also an ironic expression "cheburashka fur", or "natural cheburashka", meaning artificial fur.
- Sometimes "cheburashki" are called large full-size headphones.
- In socionics, "cheburashka" is a slang term for a person who is not assigned to any of the 16 socionic types.
- In planimetry, there is the concept of "cheburashka ears" - this is the name of the GMT, of which a given segment is visible at a given angle.
- Also, “cheburashkas” in some regions of Russia in the second half of the 80s of the 20th century were called bottles with a capacity of 0.33 liters, into which beer, mineral waters and other drinks were poured, and in the 90s they began to call bottles 0.5 l. The bottle got its name from the Cheburashka lemonade. In Russia, beer was bottled in similar bottles until 2006.
- Among role players, a “cheburashka” is often called a double-sided battle ax.
According to the Explanatory Dictionary of Vladimir Dahl, the word "cheburashka" meant "doll, roly-poly, who himself got up on his feet, no matter how you throw him." The verbs "cheburahat" and "cheburahnut" were used in the meaning of "throw, throw, overturn with thunder, bang, slap."
Thanks to the efforts of the artist Leonid Aronovich Shvartsman, Cheburashka became one of the most beloved cartoon characters of the USSR. “In the process of making the film, the tail fell off. The animated Cheburashka has eyes like a human child. He got big ears, a frame around his face. And, of course, a charm came, which is not in the drawings of other artists,” notes Shvartsman.
The word "cheburashka" has existed for a long time, and, contrary to popular belief, it was not the writer Eduard Uspensky who invented it. In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language", compiled by V.I. Dalem, it is reported that "a cheburashka is an old toy, a doll, a roly-poly, which, no matter how you throw it, will still get on its feet."
Another scientist - lexicographer S.I. Ozhegov in his Dictionary of the Russian Language cites two words used in common parlance - cheburahnut and cheburahnut, close to the meaning of "throw, fall or hit with noise."
It is known that in the old circus, acrobat clowns were called cheburashki. In order to make the audience laugh, they cheburahalis on the arena, ie. with a squeal, screams fell into the sawdust and floundered in them, trying to kill the audience with laughter.
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So Eduard Uspensky owns the plot of the book and its writing, and he gave the name to his hero, resurrecting a long-forgotten word to life.
Cheburashka is a character invented by the children's writer Eduard Uspensky, a cute furry animal with big ears, resembling either a hare or a bear cub.
No matter how ridiculous the animal Cheburashka is, absolutely everyone loves him - both children and adults. Indeed, it is simply impossible not to love a cute, shy and harmless animal with huge and ridiculous ears. Moreover, Cheburashka wants to be protected and protected from dangers, and it is precisely this, participation in his difficult fate, that his main friend, Crocodile Gena, is doing.
The history of Cheburashka began in 1966, it was then that the children's writer Eduard Uspensky first came up with his hero. How exactly the writer came up with the fantasy to create such a ridiculous beast is unknown, but there are several versions. So, according to one of them, in childhood, Uspensky had an old defective toy, which his parents called "a beast unknown to science that lives in hot tropical forests." According to another version, thoughts about a strange animal came to him visiting friends, whose little daughter walked around the house in a huge fluffy fur coat, constantly stumbling and falling. Her father commented on her fall as "cheburahna again."
Be that as it may, there is still a hint that Cheburashka is a tropical animal, because according to the plot of the book and cartoon, he first appears in a box with oranges, which probably arrived from a distant tropical country.
Everyone called him Cheburashka for the same reason as a play on words - the animal could not sit still and "cheburah" all the time. The director of the store, which received the oranges, tried to attach a strange animal to the zoo, but they could not find a place for him, he did not fit any kind of animal, and therefore, as a result, the unfortunate Cheburashka ended up on the shelf of a discount store. By the way, this is what is sung about in the famous song "I was once a strange nameless toy, which no one approached in the store ..."
However, in the future, fate turned out to be more favorable to Cheburashka - he met the Best Friend of His Life - Crocodile Gena. I must say that Gena, who "worked at the zoo as a crocodile," was endlessly lonely, and it was loneliness that made him put up ads with the words "A young crocodile wants to make friends."
So the shy furry creature with huge ears ended up on the threshold of Gena the crocodile's house with the words "It's me, Cheburashka."
As a result, Gena and Cheburashka became great friends, and just as a couple - Gena and Cheburashka - Russian children of several generations learned and fell in love with these heroes.
It is not known whether Cheburashka would have expected such a resounding success if not for a very successful screen image. Cartoons about Cheburashka and Gena were created by the talented director Roman Kachanov, the first cartoon was released in 1969. The production designer was Leonid Shvartsman.
Then came Cheburashka (1971), Shapoklyak (1974), and later, already in 1983, Cheburashka Goes to School.
Surprisingly, it was Cheburashka who became a very famous hero outside our country. So, he was especially loved in Japan, where they not only showed Soviet cartoons, but made their remakes, and also filmed several of their own projects like "Cheburashka Arere?".
In Sweden, Cheburashka is known and called Drutten (Swedish "drutta" - to fall, stumble), and the plots of their cartoons are completely independent. In general, Cheburashka got into the cartoons of many countries - German viewers know him as Kullerchen ("Kullerchen") or Plumps ("Plumps"), in Finland Cheburashka is called Muksis ("Muksis"), and Lithuanian children know him as Kulverstukas.
In 2008, the Cheburashka Museum even opened in Moscow, among the exhibits of which there is an old typewriter, on which Uspensky first created the image of this cute animal. And Cheburashka has already become the mascot of the country's Olympic team several times.
By the way, in 2005, Eduard Uspensky himself announced that the official birthday of Cheburashka was August 20.
It is known that already in the 2000s, Eduard Uspensky repeatedly tried to defend his copyright in the image of Cheburashka, but lost several times. At the same time, Leonid Shvartsman also claimed the image of Cheburashka - despite the fact that his writer came up with it, it was the image of Cheburashka drawn by Shvartsman that the audience liked so much, and it was thanks to the cartoon that Cheburashka became so popular.
However, whatever the litigation of the creators, millions of Russian children continue to grow up with good cartoons about Cheburashka and his friends.
Infinitely charming, charmingly defenseless and kind Cheburashka is simply impossible not to love.
Soviet cinema gave the world unusual heroes. While famous directors were working on films for an adult audience, the animators were thinking about how to surprise the little octobers and pioneers. The creators of the cartoons used the plots of the books and created authentic stories that were later embodied on the screen. , The Wolf and the Hare from "Well, wait a minute!", You can list the characters loved by children for a long time. The first mythical hero of the Soviet cartoon business was Cheburashka, an unknown creature of unknown origin.
History of creation
Cheburashka is the name of a character in a book written by a children's author. Based on the work "Crocodile Gena and his friends" in 1969, the director made a film. The hero of the book gained fame after the release of the tape.
Cheburashka is an unusual creature. He has two huge round ears, his body is covered with brown hair and it is not clear whether this animal has a feminine or masculine gender. His birth was due to the production designer, Leonid Shvartsman. After the cartoon was translated for display in other countries, children in all corners of the planet recognized Cheburashka. In English his name was Topl, in German Kullerchen or Plumps, Drytten in Swedish and Muksis in Finnish. At the same time, the children did not know who the creator of the character was.
Despite the legend about the appearance of Cheburashka published in the preface, Eduard Uspensky assured readers that it was not at all a child's toy. In an interview with a Nizhny Novgorod newspaper, the writer admitted that he somehow watched a friend's little daughter. The girl constantly fell, dressed up in someone else's long fur coat.
Her father, noticing these actions, commented on what was happening with the word “cheburahna”. A curious word cut into Ouspensky's memory. Later, the author learned that in the dictionary "cheburashka" is a synonym for "roly-poly", he is also a roly-poly. Cheburashkas were called small wooden floats made by anglers to lure their catch.
Biography and plot
Based on the preface of Ouspensky's book, it becomes clear that the author had a defective toy with a similar name as a child. She looked like a strange animal with round eyes, large ears, a small body and a short tail. Parents assured the boy that Cheburashka lives in the tropical jungle. The animal feeds on oranges, and one day, climbing into a fruit box to feast, the baby fell asleep in it. The box was closed and taken to a grocery store in a large city.
Cheburashka's name appeared at the moment when he was discovered by the store director. The well-fed animal was constantly falling - cheburahalsya, according to others. Due to the fact that he could not sit still without falling, he was given a funny nickname. The character of the hero is soft. The kid is sweet and friendly, naive, friendly and curious. A diminutive name describes his nature. Sometimes awkward, but charming hero evokes tenderness of the audience and characters of the cartoon.
According to the plot, they try to arrange a strange animal in a zoological garden in order to settle with other animals from the tropics. But the zoo did not know which animals to let in an unknown creature. He was passed from hand to hand until Cheburashka ended up in a thrift store. Here he found it. He worked at the zoo and was lonely. In search of friends, Gena was posting ads and came across Cheburashka. Now the animal duo is looking for company. It will include the lion Chandr, the puppy Tobik and the girl Galya. The negative character of the work is the owner of the hand rat Larisa.
In the period from 1966 to 2008, Eduard Uspensky, in collaboration with production designers, created eight plays about the adventures of Cheburashka and friends. In the 1970s, several children's television and radio programs were broadcast in Sweden at once. Audio records with fairy tales about Cheburashka and Gena and children's magazines were popular. The characters ended up abroad along with dolls, which a tourist brought from a trip to the Soviet Union. Cheburashka was dubbed Drutten. In Swedish, this word is translated as “stumble”, “fall”, which was characteristic of the hero.
An interesting nuance: on Soviet television, cartoon characters were puppets, and on Swedish television they were puppets. The characters sang and talked about life, but the dialogue was very different from the authentic ones. Even Cheburashka's song sounded quite different. Today, Drutten is a full-fledged character in Swedish animation. Modern children do not know the history of its origin.
In 2001, the Japanese discovered the cartoon character, and in 2003 they bought the rights to distribute this image from Soyuzmultfilm for 20 years. The animated cartoon "Cheburashka Arere" has been broadcast in Tokyo since 2009. In 2010, the character was accompanied by friends based on Ouspensky's book. On TV, they started showing puppet cartoons on the theme of the hero's adventures. Today in Japan, the cartoons "Crocodile Gena", "Soviet Shapoklyak", "Cheburashka and the Circus" are broadcast.
Quotes
Works of Soviet cinema and animation are famous for quotes that the audience loves. Soulful humorous remarks sink into the soul and have been passed from mouth to mouth for many years. Phrases from the book, migrated to the cartoon, create a special atmosphere, involving the young audience in the plot.
"A young crocodile in his fifties wants to make friends."
This quote raises questions: is the age of a crocodile comparable to human years? Can crocodiles want to be friends? Why is the image of a crocodile associated with an adult? Cheburashka asks Gene a reasonable question about age, and little viewers learn that crocodiles can live up to three hundred years.
A series of cartoons about the adventures of Cheburashka has a moralistic background. Recommendations and advice to children are presented with the help of the main characters. Kindness is the main value for the characters. At the same time, the old woman Shapoklyak assures:
“He who helps people is just wasting his time. You can't be famous for good deeds."
The old woman's wrong is clear at first sight, and the kids understand that it is worth helping each other. Good deeds are certainly connected with the main goal of all the children of the Soviet Union - with enrollment in the pioneers. Gena and Cheburashka are no exception:
“You have to do a lot of good things to get into the pioneers,” Gena says, motivating Cheburashka, and at the same time the audience on the other side of the screen.
Despite the characteristic features of Soviet animation skills, children's films about Cheburashka are of interest to modern children. They attract curious kids and nostalgic adults to the screens.
Cheburashka is one of those cartoon characters that we continue to feel sympathy for, even as adults. We will not retell in detail the work itself “Crocodile Gena and his friends” (he is his hero), but we will find out the following point: why Cheburashka was called Cheburashka.
And who is the author?
There can be no discrepancies in the answer to this question: the character appeared from the pen of the Soviet and Russian writer, screenwriter, author of children's books Eduard Uspensky. It happened in 1966. At the same time, another of his works was published - “Down the Magic River”. Ouspensky became popular. To the answer to the question: "Why was Cheburashka called Cheburashka?" - we will turn a little lower.
The birthplace of the writer is the city of Yegorievsk (Moscow region). After graduating from school, he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute. In the same period, his first literary works appeared in print.
To date, the writer's place of residence is also the Moscow region. The author's works continue to be published by Samovar publishing house. We hope that there are no difficulties with the answer to the question: "Who wrote Cheburashka?" - readers of this material will not.
The character himself became famous after the cartoon about the crocodile Gena and his friends (1969) was released.
The original version of the book introduced readers to a clumsy, unsightly creature. Small ears, brown hair - this was how his appearance was described in general terms. The appearance of the good-natured image of Cheburashka, which is distinguished by big ears and big eyes, we owe to the production designer
By the way, in the period of 1990-2000s, the writer had to participate in disputes regarding the authorship of this image. It was about its use in the names of various children's institutions, in different goods (this was a common practice in the Soviet period).
We remembered who wrote Cheburashka. Next, let's list the options for the name of the character.
Animal from hot countries
There is a version that in childhood, the future writer played with a soft toy, apparently not of the best quality. She was strange-looking: with big ears and equally big eyes. It was not possible to understand to which order of animals of the world it belongs. Then the fantasy of the parents suggested the name of the animal - Cheburashka. Hot countries were chosen as the place of his residence. So far, we have given one version of why Cheburashka was called Cheburashka.
summer, girl, coat
Ouspensky himself gives an explanation for this name of a fictional character in one of his interviews. A little daughter grew up in the family of the writer's acquaintances. One of the purchases that her parents decided to please her with was a small fur coat. It was a warm summer outside. The fitting of new clothes took place under Eduard Uspensky. The girl was dragging a large fur coat across the floor, it was inconvenient for her to walk. After she once again stumbled and fell, her father said: “Cheburahna again!” Ouspensky became interested in the meaning of an unusual word. A friend explained to him the meaning of the word “cheburah”. It means "to fall".
You can also learn about the origin of the word from the dictionary of V.I. Dahl. It also gives the meaning that we have already given, and such as “crash”, “stretch”. Dal also mentions the word "cheburashka". Various dialects define it as "a checker of a burlatskaya strap, it is hung on the tail" or as "a roly-poly, a chrysalis, she rises to her feet herself, no matter how she is thrown." The word also has figurative meanings.
Book version of the title
In order to understand another option why Cheburashka was called Cheburashka, let's recall the plot of the book itself. So, the favorite food of an animal unknown to science, who lived somewhere in the south, were oranges. On one of the hot days, he climbed into a box with adored fruits found on the shore. Eat well and sleep well. Then the boarded up box ended up in our country and was delivered to the store. After opening the box, instead of the expected fruit, a plump furry creature appeared before the store director. Having no idea what to do with him, the director decided to put the animal on a box. The animal could not resist and fell. The director burst out the phrase: “Fu you, what a Cheburashka!” And so this name was assigned to the character.
Our story about Cheburashka comes to an end. I would like to add some interesting facts to it.
To date, many monuments and sculptural compositions have been erected to this hero and his friends. You can meet them in such settlements as the village of Gaspra (Yalta, Crimea), the city of Ramenskoye near Moscow, the city of Khabarovsk, the city of Kremenchug, the city of Dnipro.
Since 2003, Muscovites have been holding a charity event "Cheburashka's Birthday" every August weekend. It is aimed at helping orphans.
In Moscow, in kindergarten No. 2550 (Eastern Administrative District) in 2008, the opening of the Cheburashka Museum took place. It has a typewriter. It was on it that the story of a character beloved by both children and their parents was created.