Colargol

Colargol
Country of origin	France/Poland

Colargol is a fictional bear created by French writer Olga Pouchine in the 1950s. Colargol first became famous through a series of children's recordings by Philips in the 1960s. It is the story of a little bear who wanted to sing and travel the world, but lacked the natural ability.

Following the success of the Colargol albums Albert Barillé's animation company Procidis started production on Les Aventures de Colargol, a stop-motion animated series starring Colargol. Barillé enlisted the Polish animator Tadeusz Wilkosz and Se-ma-for in Łódź to create the animation.

Music for the series was performed by Mireille, orchestration was by Jean-Michel Defaye, and the lyrics were by Victor Villien.

The series was produced from 1967 to 1974, comprising 53 thirteen-minute episodes which were broadcast in many European countries. Les Aventures de Colargol was renamed Barnaby when it was dubbed into English and broadcast in the UK by the BBC. The series underwent another name change when a second dubbed version of the series was shown in Canada (and also in the UK and Ireland), this time as Jeremy the Bear.

The series was also turned into three motion picture films in Poland: Colargol na Dzikim Zachodzie (Colargol in the Wild West) in 1976, Colargol zdobywcą kosmosu (Colargol, the Conqueror of Space) in 1978, and Colargol i cudowna walizka (Colargol and the Magic Suitcase) in 1979.

Colargol is known by the following names in various countries including:

Barnaby is the British version of the Colargol animated series. Barnaby was the name of the narrator Colin Jeavons' son. Barnaby was first aired on the programme Watch with Mother in April 1973 on the BBC. The programme also featured the voice talents of Charles Collingwood, Gwenllian Owen and Percy Edwards. The English version (Barnaby) was produced by Michael Grafton-Robinson. Thirteen episodes were produced; an episode usually had at least two "Colargol" episodes spliced together. Barnaby was repeated on a number of occasions between 1973 and 1979.

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