On April 24, 1972, Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, one of the greatest geniuses in the history of television, tanned with his ‘Stories to not sleep’ and the wonderful film ‘La Residencia’, I was going to be the director of a new contest for TVE destined to revolutionize everything with its mixture of a cultural and betting program in which the great novelty would be the presence of a gentleman, Don Cicuta, who he was happy every time the contestants lost or took the worst prize of all: the pumpkin. An ordinary pumpkin that would be quite a phenomenon a few years later.
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In its first stage, ‘Un, dos, tres…’ was an absolute national phenomenon that raised Don Cicuta, the villain, to stardom, which even had its own song (‘Tango de Don Cicuta’). When the season ended in 1973, Chicho had three years to improve and tweak the format to perfection. And within this perfection he was creating a full-fledged mascot giving face, limbs and voice to the known worst prize of the program. This experiment culminated in, for many years, the traditional gourd was known as… Ruperta.
The Ruperta pumpkin, to which Chicho himself gave voice, debuted in 1976 thanks to the good work in the design and animation of the Moro brothers, who, if you take a look at their career, are responsible for half of your childhood memories, more or less. Y became a bombshell bigger than Don Cicuta’s, whose actor, Valentín Tornos, had to leave the character for health reasons. In fact, he died a few months after saying goodbye to the public and appointing his substitutes, among whom was Juan Tamariz.
We thought that we had invented merchandising now, but over the years Ruperta had dolls, board games (‘The Ghost Ruperta’), stuffed animals, any stationery item you can imagine and even chewing gum, chocolate bars (which were incredibly good , by the way) and the best known Rupertitas of luck. It only lacked a video game, go. And then, in full swing, His biggest rival arrived: an orange.
Robots playing soccer
‘Un, dos, tres’ was at its height: since there were no other channels, there was no competition. There was no one on the street who did not know Rupertabut neither did he not know that Spain had achieved the greatest possible glory: She was going to be the organizer of the 1982 World Cup! And since 1966, with England and its Willie, the tradition forced him to have a pet.
After an invasion of pet children (Juanito in Mexico, Tip and Tap in Germany and Gauchito Mundialito in Argentina), Spain had a difficult mission: to get rid of the idea that people had of the country abroad and at the same time stop being children to be attractive and attractive. You all know the result: Naranjito defeated Toribalón and Brindis (which weren’t better pets, by the way) and even starred in his own cartoon series, ‘Football in action’with his friends Clementina, Citronio and the robot Imarchi, who also handled the ball without anyone accusing him of doping.
The first reactions to Naranjito were fair: It was a disaster. But in the street and by dint of seeing it every day, the mascot took hold and even today it is quite a symbol, with and without irony. The thing is that it is said that Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, as soon as he saw the design that was approved in 1979, went into a rage: orange, round, smiling and with a leaf as a hat. Naranjito was a clear plagiarism of Ruperta!
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Chicho, who at that time had ‘Un, dos, tres’ on hiatus (he would not return, paradoxically, until 1982), solemnly threatened to “put a cigar in them”… Although those who did it were the Moro brothers. It was not the only controversy of the mascot with TVE: Lolo Rico, from ‘La bola de cristal’, announced that she was pretty sure the name already existed. Chicho publicly tried to get away from the controversy, but statements in the press like this did not help.
I don’t want to get into controversy, but I think that Naranjito does not have quality, nor does it respond to the creative capacity of most Spanish cartoonists. On the other hand, any round fruit that is animated with a face must necessarily resemble the Ruperta. Naranjito is a caricature of Ruperta. You have to keep in mind that he will be the mascot that represents Spain in the next World Cup, and I sincerely think that it could have been done much better.
In the end, nobody ended up happy with Naranjito: Its two authors, María Dolores Salto and José María Martín Pacheco, tried to get the federation, which was exploiting it at ease, to give them more money. Their joy in a well: the soccer federation, which was not there to give dividends or recognition to art, answered them a “If you do not agree with the terms, we choose another pet” quite devastating.
For its part, it is not known whether, due to this controversy, Chicho left Ruperta on May 13, 1983, and its place was taken by the Botilde boot, which sang “I’m old and I know well what I’m saying, don’t think about problems for a while” (one of those tunes that remain etched in your head whether you like it or not). The public completely turned its back on the new mascot, and even if it was replaced again by the Bargain and the Anti-bargain, or by the Boom and the Crack, in the end people wanted Ruperta backwhich since 1984 was in all editions of the program.
For its part, Chicho did not dedicate a program to soccer again until September 1983. Not a second of orange television with legs.