We all wore, as a child, these fragile masks with elastic bands that stuck in our hair, where the eyes looked for holes. Did you know that the 10 million copies produced were hand painted? The Dauphine Market, at Saint-Ouen flea market (93), exhibits 560 plastic masks of the Cesar brand. It is a Parisian, Frédéric, who exhibits for the first time part of his collection started 20 years ago by the disguise of Toutou. Benoit Ramognino, pop culture expert and antique dealer at the Dauphine market, had the idea for this funny exhibition, where we will discover the history of Cesar, the manufacturing work while rediscovering the nostalgia of our childhood.
These molded plastic masks were manufactured from 1958 to the 2000s. The dream model that Frédéric does not (yet) have? That of the gendarme of the cartoon “Glop” (1972), the life of a seahorse in the depths of the seas…
Casimir from "Children's Island"
The cathodic star of "Children's Island" sits in majesty, he who has had the longest life. A thousand episodes! The show started in 1974 on the ORTF and remained on the screen until 1982, on TF 1. This so nice orange dinosaur has been remembered and its food, the gloubi-boulga invited himself in the jokes later. Strangely, Casimir is the only character for whom Cesar does not win the license. It will be signed by its competitor Festa, in 1977. Cesar released the Casimir mask only in 1995, with a pretty collar around the neck. Frédéric found his copy in a toy store in Brest, at 15 euros. The managers had brought out a pile of new masks, with the Caesar label. The collector regretted not having bought the lot, his bank card had never been debited ... As for the mold, he bought it on the auction site e.bay.
The giant mask of Goldorak
He's probably the one he's most proud of. A giant 1.50m Goldorak mask, made from 1979 as an advertising object during carnivals. It is in three parts, the head and two horns, fixed by Parisian fasteners. Frédéric had found one at 500 euros. Too expensive. He waited, and ended up finding it for 30 euros on the Internet. "I never hoped to have it." I saw in the photo the small holes in the horns, but I did not ask for fear of putting the chip in the ear of the seller. He waited a week to see a large box arrive by post. It was the big model. Frédéric was a Goldorak fan: “This series was revolutionary, it brought us naive puppet cartoons. I drew it with my eyes closed, in the playground with my friends. "
Ulysse, Nono, Thémis and Télémaque…
If the mask of Ulysses (1981) remains common, those of his companions are rare. Nono is difficult to find intact, its small antenna breaks easily. Frédéric owns the four in the series: Ulysses, Nono the facetious robot who likes nails, Themis and Telemachus the son of Ulysses, the only survivors of the curse of Zeus. The most expensive, and therefore the rarest, is that of Thémis. The enthusiast found it with its label with the FR3 logo, ancestor of France 3, at 90 euros. Ulysses is still worth around twenty euros today. “The French studios Dic, a leader in the 1970s, worked with the Japanese to create Ulysse in the 31st century. Its spacecraft is identical to that of 2001 the Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick, ”says Frédéric.
The colorful Barbapapa characters
These colorful characters who turn into bizarre objects are part of one of the last ORTF series before it burst, at the end of 1974. Very few toys came out of the original cartoon. Frédéric is proud to have the family who went out in masks at the time. The pink dad, the black mother, the hairy son Barbouille, the green girl Barbalala with the same crown of flowers on her head as her mother, the blue son Barbibul and, rarity, the yellow son Barbidou, disgusted for 70 euros in Germany. Parents, 3 boys and only one girl out of the three. "I noticed that Cesar made a lot more masks for boys than girls," says Frédéric. The company owned the Disney license and has never released Alice in Wonderland or Mary Poppins, however popular. "
Pollux, the enchanted merry-go-round dog
We all remember this English long-haired dog who loves sugar and Zébulon's "Tournicoti tournicoton" in Le Manège enchanté. The series of 500 episodes (5 minutes) starts in 1964 and will be repeated several times, until 1989 in "Youpi! School is over, ”on La Cinq. At first, Cesar pulls out masks with raffia. Pollux's hairs, Zébulon's tuft of hair are in raffia. The masks will be reissued in the 1970s, then 1980s, and the raffia will be replaced by synthetic hair. Frédéric exhibits in Dauphine the tribe with the daughter Margote, the cow Azalea, Father Pivoine, the fairground with a big heart in Marseille accent, which consoles the children and offers rides. The mask reproduces his synthetic beard and his imitation straw hat is poured into the mold.