Two posts ago I wrote about the beautiful village Sainte Maxime, where Jean de Brunhoff lived, the creator of "Babar the Elephant".
The next day I passed a bookshop in my beloved village Valbonne and the first thing I saw in the window was a Babar book! Turns out it still is a very popular French children's character now, in 2008, though the first Histoire de Babar appeared in 1931! The first English language version (The Story of Babar) saw the light in 1933 -in Britain and the United States. The story is based on the bedtime stories that Cecile Brunhoff (his wife) made up for their kids. They are about a young elephant thatleaves the jungle to the big city, and comes back with the knowledge and benefits of civilization for his fellow elephants.
Jean de Brunhoff only wrote 6 stories - he died in 1937 - only 37 years old. His son Laurent carried on with the series. In 1989, Babar hit the television screens as a cartoon, with 78 episodes.They were broadcast in 30 languages, in over 150 countries. The Babar brand worked: there are 12 dedicated Babar stores in Japan, and over 30,000 Babar publications, in 17 languages worldwide, and over 8 million books have been sold. Not a bad way to go for a bedtime story that started 80 years ago...!Next posts will be about the paintings of the Marina Artists' team again - they are ready for handing out by the RHF-agents at their respective signatures he coming weeks but we don't want to spoil the surprise for their future owners!