On the occasion of the 1975 Christmas holidays, television offered a nice gift to well-behaved children: an episode of their favorite series: "
Children's Island
", adapted to the celebration of this family holiday.
Having voluntarily removed Casimir in order to reserve a surprise for him, Julie and François are feverishly preparing for New Year's Eve.
When he returns, he opens his magic trunk and the party begins...
Madelen invites you to rediscover or discover images that have become as cult as a credits, signed Roger Pouly.
Many adults still hum it today, with a touch of nostalgia.
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The creator of this series, Christophe Izard, who died this summer, had absolutely no idea of the enthusiasm he was going to trigger when on September 16, 1974, at the end of the afternoon, the 3rd channel, born two years earlier, broadcast a first episode of “
Children's Island
”, which lasts just over five minutes.
It is indeed considered by the management of the ORTF as by its producer, as a “
stopgap
”.
He concludes the program "
Bonjour Sésame
", the adaptation of "
Sesame Street
".
After buying 420 episodes of this American educational series aimed at children, the channel's programming department has indeed discovered that each of them lasts around 13 minutes, which is insufficient for a French version that has 20 minutes of antenna was tuned.
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This is how Christophe Izard was asked to imagine and produce an original short program, intended to fill this gap.
He begins by looking for a character likely to appeal to young viewers, because he would be capable of doing a lot of stupid things like them.
With a puppeteer friend, Yves Brunier, he first thought of a parrot or a kangaroo.
After an initial unconvincing study, Izard chooses to create a child dinosaur.
He then grabs a calendar, puts his finger on a random date, March 4: the day of Saint-Casimir.
In the process, he imagines the inhabitants of this magical country, starting with François the balloon seller, Julie the candy seller always ready to help, and the postman who essentially brings good news.
Casimir's credits go gold
The enthusiasm is immediate.
In a few weeks, the 45 laps bringing together the credits and the songs of Casimir passed the milestone of one million records sold.
Thousands of letters complaining that each story was too short reached management.
Whole bags were added when, at the end of 1974, the strike movement triggered at the time of the suppression of the ORTF, led to a temporary suspension of broadcasting.
On January 3, 1975, the 3rd color channel became FR3.
The new management did not seem to be interested in Casimir, Christophe Izard decided to go to TF1, where he was promised a larger budget and a daily broadcast at 6 p.m.
It begins on February 17, 1975, and will continue until June 30, 1982. The duration increases at the same time as what is not yet called the ratings: ten minutes, sometimes twenty per episode.
Plushies in three sizes are produced in a factory at the rate of 1000 per day.
In schools, primary school students arrive in class with a schoolbag, pencil case and pens bearing the image of Casimir and his friends.
Finally, there is the globi-boulga.
It becomes the nightmare of mothers whose daughter or son asks for a salad bowl to mix strawberry jam, grated chocolate, mashed banana, very strong mustard and raw sausages.
This recipe is linked to a childhood memory of Christophe Izard.
At the beginning of 1944, his parents, wanted by the Nazis, decided to protect him by hiding him with one of their friends, an old Russian lady, in a discreet village in central France.
She regularly spends hours mixing egg yolks and sugar to make a kind of sabayon she calls gogel-mogel.
At the end of the war, Christophe Izard tastes the flavor of newfound freedom by gorging himself on slabs of coconut chocolate, bananas and strawberry jam.
Three decades later, he will use these ingredients by adding mustard and raw Toulouse sausage.
He presents the whole thing as Casimir's favorite dish.
What some parents have never digested.
Casimir 's generic cult