Barbapapa

Cover of hardbound edition of Barbapapa, ISBN 2878812301

Barbapapa is both the title character, and name of the "species" of said character, of a series of children's books written in the 1970s by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor, who resided in Paris, France. The books were originally written in French (barbe à papa is French for cotton candy, or—literally—"father's beard"), and were later translated into over 30 languages. The first publisher who saw something in the concept was Frank Fehmers of Frank Fehmers Productions in Amsterdam, after Talus Taylor had shown the manuscript to several European publishers who expressed interest but did not wish to embark on spending the publishing cost. Frank Fehmers Productions subsequently set up a co-production and the first edition was published in French, English, and American English. A few years later, when more titles had been published, Fehmers expanded the project to television films in conjunction with Joop Visch of Polyscope-Polygram, with the story boards designed by Taylor. After twelve years, Fehmers and Tison/Taylor discontinued their business relationship. As short cartoons of a length of only five minutes, the Barbapapa stories reached a broader audience via TV. Also a comic book version was created. Both the cartoons and comics sometimes show concerns about the environment and contain environmental messages.

Barbapapa is now one of the popular characters that is made into merchandise in some Asian countries, such as Japan.^{[citation needed]}

Characters

Barbapapa himself is a generally mango-shaped, pink shapeshifting blob-like creature who stumbles upon the human world and tries to fit in. The shapeshifting is usually accompanied by the saying "Clickety Click—Barba Trick" (in the French version "Hup Hup Hup, Barbatruc", "Oblajuco, Barbatruco" in Spanish, "Ra-Ru-Rick, Barbatrick" in German, "Huub huub huub, Barbatruuk" in Dutch, "Hüpp Hüpp Hüpp, Barbatrükk" in Hungarian, "Hop hop hop, Değiş Tonton" in the Turkish version, "Resta di stucco, è un barbatrucco" in the Italian version, in Arabic "بربا الشاطر ---أعظم ساحر ", in Hebrew "תיקיתיקוּץ, בַּרְבָּקוּנְץ"/"Tiki-tikutz, Barba-kuntz", in Greek "Κλι κλι κόλπο, μπάρμπα κόλπο"/"kli kli kolpo, barba kolpo", in Finnish Hik hik hikka, Barbakikka). After various amusing adventures, he comes across a female of his species (more shapely, and black-coloured), named Barbamama. They produce seven children, known as the Barbababies, each a different colour:

• Barbazoo (Barbidou in French), yellow, male, lover of animals
• Barbalala, green, female, lover of music
• Barbalib (Barbotine), orange, female, lover of books
• Barbabeau (Barbouille), black and furry, male, lover of art
• Barbabelle, purple, female, lover of beauty
• Barbabright (Barbibul), blue, male, lover of science
• Barbabravo (Barbidur), red, male, lover of strength and heroism

Alternative titles

Titles for Barbapapa in other languages:

• In Arabic "بارباالشاطر".
• In Bulgarian "Барбароните"
• In Chinese "巴巴爸爸".
• In Danish "Barbapapa"
• In Dutch "Barbapapa"
• In English "Barbapapa"
• In Finnish "Barbapapa"
• In German "Barbapapa"
• In Greek "Μπαρμπαμπαμπάς"
• In Hebrew "ברבאבא".
• In Hungarian "Barbapapa"
• In Icelandic "Barbapabbi".
• In Italian "Barbapapà".
• In Japanese "バーバパパ"
• In Norwegian "Barbapappa"
• In Persian "باربا پاپا".
• In Polish "Barbapapa"
• In Portuguese "Barbapapa"
• In Serbian "Tatabrada".
• In Slovenian "Barbapapa".
• In Spanish "Barbapapá"
• In Swedish "Barbapappa"
• In Thai "บาร์บ้าปาป้า"
• In Turkish "Tonton Ailesi"
• In Korea "바바빠빠"

Songs

The first Barbapapa theme's lyrics were written by Harry Geelen, and the music composed by Joop Stokkermans.

One of the several English-language versions had a musical theme composed by Edd Kalehoff.

External links

• Official site