Christophe Izard, father of
L'île aux enfants
, a flagship youth program of the 1970s, died on Sunday July 31, Pierre-Alek Beddiar, head of Osibo Productions, Christophe's last production company, told AFP. Izard.
Aged 85, Christophe Izard “went
peacefully home this morning in the Paris region
”.
The main character of
L'île aux enfants
, the orange dinosaur Casimir, marked the small screen, this "
nice monster
" going so far as to become a true inter-generational icon.
Read alsoDeath of Régis Fassier, Casimir's puppet double, at the age of 56
After studying law, Christophe Izard, son of a renowned lawyer, began a journalistic career by chronicling the musical life of all of Paris.
In 1968, he joined the ORTF, the first public television channel, before creating, developing and producing
L'île aux enfants
in 1974. He not only wrote the first episodes, but also wrote the lyrics for the songs, including the famous
Here comes the time, laughter and songs...
.
For almost 1,000 episodes,
L'île aux enfants
enchanted the ORTF, France 3, then TF1, before stopping in 1982. Casimir's favorite dish, gloubi-boulga -- made with strawberry jam, mashed bananas, grated chocolate, "
very strong
" mustard and "
raw but lukewarm sausage
"--has entered common parlance, synonymous with "
unsavory mixture
".
As early as 1975, Christophe Izard also offered another program,
The Wednesday Visitors
, which was aimed at all child age groups, with cartoons such as
Barbapapa
and series such as
Prince Noir
.
To succeed
L'île aux enfants
, Christophe Izard will launch "
The village in the clouds
", which will last until 1985 on TF1.
In 1987, Christophe Izard was ousted from the newly privatized Une and joined Antenne 2. He then notably created the cartoon
Albert the Fifth Musketeer
.