
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 14, 1993                   TAG: 9308140279
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: N.F. MENDOZA LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`BABAR' MOVES TO THE FAMILY CHANNEL

The elephant long has been considered a symbol of good luck in many cultures. And this year, Babar, one of the world's most beloved pachyderms, turns 60. Jean Laurent de Brunhoff's King of the Elephants didn't move from the printed page to animated life until 1989. The syndicated cartoon is soon moving from HBO, where Babar and Celeste and the rest of the elephant kingdom nestled for four years, to the Family Channel.

That's probably an apt change of address for Babar, who is a family man at heart.

"Maintaining an emphasis on the family is a major thing for our stories," says executive producer Michael Hirsh, noting that the books shared the same spirit. "The recurring theme is about growing up in a family and what it's like."

Hirsh points out that very few animated characters have a family. In fact, he adds, there are few grown-ups in cartoons who are portrayed in a realistic, loving fashion. "Babar is regal and never silly," he says.

The animated "Babar" stories have incorporated the original tales and newer contemporary stories. Topical concerns the show has tackled: environmental issues, conflict resolution and prejudice.

"The stories are appealing, from babes to grandparents who remember having the stories read to them when they were kids," Hirsh notes.

The Babar tales originated with de Brunhoff's wife Cecile, who, in 1931, began to use Babar tales to lull her boys, Laurent and Mathieu, to sleep. Author-illustrator Laurent de Brunhoff carried on after his father died in 1937, when Laurent was 10, by filling in some color on the two books in progress when Jean died. As an adult, he then began working on his own Babar stories.

While the Babar books told the chronological story of a little elephant who witnessed the brutal loss of his mother in the great forest, ran away to the city and grew up to be a much-loved king, the television series uses the device of Babar's children triggering the king's memory. Another story is then told in flashback, featuring Babar as a youth.

by CNB