The Smurfs (1961 TV series)

The Smurfs
Characters created by	Peyo
Produced by	TVA Dupuis
Directed by	Eddy Ryssack
Genre	Adventure Fantasy Comedy Slapstick
Origin country	Belgium
Network	RTBF
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9
Production companies	TVA Dupuis
Original run	November 12, 1961 - December 31, 1967

This article is about a Smurfs animation series aired in the 1960s. For the cartoon show that aired in the 1980s, please go to Smurfs (1981 TV series). For the current Nickelodeon TV series, see The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

The Smurfs (French: Les Schtroumpfs) was a cartoon series featuring the eponymous characters which was produced by TVA Dupuis and aired on RTB (Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française) from 1961 to 1967. It was based on the Belgian comic series "The Smurfs" by Peyo. This was the first animated Smurfs production, which was 20 years earlier than the 1980s one. This series was only available in Europe and was first aired in Belgium. Later, France, The Netherlands, West Germany and Austria had aired the series. Some episodes from this series were selected and became a part of the film "Les Aventures Des Schtroumpfs" in 1965.

On October 31, 2022, it was reported that the series will air on an upcoming FAST channel - Smurfs TV, hosted internationally by OTTera through Q4 2022 (except for the United States).

Production

Pre-premiere

20 years before the famous series produced by Hanna-Barbera that made the heyday of Récré A2, the famous blue elves created by Peyo had the honors of a first animated adaptation under the aegis of their publisher.

Inspired by the Belvision Studio, Charles Dupuis set up the TVA Studio (for Télévision Animation) in 1959 and entrusted the direction to Eddy Ryssack. Much more modest than its competitor, the structure brings together a small team including Maurice Rosy (jack-of-all-trades author of the Journal de Spirou), the host Vivian Miessen, the cartoonist Charles Degotte (author of the Flagada), Francis Bertrand (Peyo's assistant) as well as Raoul Cauvin – not yet Dupuis' star writer – who officiates as a title bench operator.

After the production of a first short film featuring the character of Petit Noël created by Franquin, the TVA Dupuis team embarked on an adaptation of The Smurfs in 13-minute episodes. Unfortunately, having very few resources, the studio will turn to a black and white shooting with the technique of paper cut in phases. The movements of the characters appear choppy and stiff but this approach to economics is compensated by the dynamism of the stories, the jazz music composed by Roland Renerte and the graphic aspect of the sets, rich in detail and marked textures. In total, 9 films were made between 1961 and 1967; the last, under the impetus of Vivian Miessen, will be shot in color and according to the traditional technique of animation on cellulo.

However, Peyo and his co-writer Yvan Delporte will only participate in this adaptation from a very long way, the first being monopolized by his various comic book series and the second taken in his functions as editor-in-chief of Spirou. In addition, the universe of the Smurfs is still in full development during the first episodes that adapt the published stories into mini stories; Ryssack and his team thus deliver their own interpretation of the world of the Smurfs with mushroom houses that in some stories become arboreal houses. There are also more unexpected sequences such as the place of the egg in the course of history as an introduction to the film of The Egg and the Smurfs.

Post-premiere & Ending

In 1965, several episodes were combined into a feature film entitled The Adventures of the Smurfs with the joint release of a 45-rpm at Philips (The Waltz and the March of the Smurfs) which adapted Renerte's musical themes into songs. The film, like the series, has become very rare, as subsequent animated adaptations have returned this first version to the rank of obscure curiosity.

Initially broadcast on RTB, the program will be exported to the German-speaking market (West Germany and Austria), as well as to the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. In France, the films will only be entitled to a very confidential distribution, limited to the Jean Renoir cinema in Paris. At the moment, only certain episodes are visible in the section dedicated to Peyo at the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels.

In October 31, 2022, it was revealed that IMPS and LAFIG Belgium has made a deal with OTTera to launch a FAST channel known as Smurfs TV featuring the series as well as the 1981 TV series (except for the US due to licensing issues concerning Warner Bros. currently holding the rights on hosting the 1981 TV series in the region). Another article further explained that it will be featured on connected TVs including Xiaomi, Plex, Huawei, VIDAA, TCL, etc. However, it is presumed that the plans never came through.

On October 28, 2023, the official YouTube French channel of The Smurfs started uploading restorations of the first set of episodes of the series, releasing one episode per week to be uploaded.

Episode Listings

The whole series consists of only one season of 9 episodes.

1. The Black Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs Noirs)
2. The Egg And The Smurfs (L'Œuf et les Schtroumpfs)
3. The Smurfnapper (Le Voleur de Schtroumpfs)
4. The Fake Smurf (Le faux Schtroumpf)
5. The Flying Smurf (Le Schtroumpf volant)
6. The Smurf Unknown (Le Schtroumpf cet inconnu)
7. The Smurf And His Dragon (Le Schtroumpf et son dragon)
8. The Smurf Flute (La Schtroumpflûte)
9. The Smurf Robot (Le Schtroumpf-robot)

Voices

• Richard Muller as Papa Smurf
• Marion as the Narrator
• Nelly Beghin as Brainy, Azrael, and Jokey
• Jeannine Cherel as Hefty, Grouchy, Painter, Lazy, and Flying
• Jacques Courtois as Gargamel
• Paul Roland

Notes

• Five episodes were selected and became a part of the film "Les Aventures Des Schtroumpfs": "The Smurfnapper", "The Egg And The Smurfs", "The Smurf And His Dragon", "The Black Smurfs", and "The Flying Smurf".
• The series was initially in black and white, but the last two episodes were in color as RTB provided color television service in 1967, the last year of its airing. It is disputed whether the series was actually filmed in color or not.
• The 1961 animated adaptation of "The Black Smurfs" is the first time Brainy wore glasses as the 1960 version of "The Smurfnapper" and the 1962 version of "The Hundredth Smurf" depicted him without his glasses.
• Production started in 1959, which was two years before the first airing of the series.
• No English versions of this series have been made at present. Also, the series had never seen a proper VHS or DVD release (due to it being overshadowed by the more popular 1980s cartoon series from Hanna-Barbera). However, the French Youtube Channel for "The Smurfs" featured a clip of the episode "The Fake Smurf" to honor the series' 60th Anniversary in 2018, as well as releasing restorations of the episodes as of October 28, 2023 onwards to honor the series' 65th Anniversary.
• This series can be currently seen at the Belgian Comic Strip Center.
• This series used cutout animation to animate the characters, resembling the style of Jay Ward's Crusader Rabbit.
• Unlike the 1981 TV series and 2021 TV series, this show's adaptation featured narration.
• The show's opening credits and title cards were shortened for non-Belgian broadcasts of the series. [1]

Gallery

• The Smurfs (1961 TV series)/Gallery

See Also

• Les Aventures Des Schtroumpfs
• Smurfs (1981 TV series), which was aired 20 years later.
• V'la Les Schtroumpfs!, a vinyl record promoting the series.

External Links

• Dem Leben Des Schlümpfe -- A German website about this series.
• "Le faux Schtroumpf" -- One of the episodes from this series.