--- John Mage <jmage at panix.com> wrote:
>
> the next to the bottom link on that page
> <http://www.wellesley.edu/Russian/nupogodi.html>
> lets everyone else here in on Chris Doss' sig, and
> introduces you all to
> zayats and volk. anyone from the USSR
> pre-neoliberaldemocraticreform
> holocaust knew these guys well.
>
And the second one from the top is the wonderful Soviet version of Winnie the Pooh, and the third is Cheburashka, who wasn't accepted into the Moscow Zoo because they couldn't determine his/her/its species, but was then luckily befriended by Gena the crocodile.
They show them on Russian TV all the time. I've noticed Nu, Pogodi! getting sampled in Russian hip-hop. Cheburashka is supposedly a huge hit in Japan, with corresponding legal snafus:
On the Market
Back when Cheburashka was launched in the 1960s, creators would have found it hard to picture the ownership disputes that dog it today.
By Anna Malpas Published: April 2, 2004
It should come as no surprise that Japan, the country that fell for Hello Kitty, has also warmed to Cheburashka, a cuddly, furry animal dreamed up by Soviet children's author Eduard Uspensky and brought to life in the 1960s and 1970s in a series of endearingly clunky animated films. While few in the West have even heard of Cheburashka, in Japan, he (for Cheburashka is a he, despite his lack of gender indications) is fondly known as Chebi -- the hero of hundreds of fan sites, and a slogan on everything from stationery to T-shirts.
Found asleep in a crate of oranges, according to the story line, Cheburashka longs to join the Young Pioneers and helps build a House of Friendship for all the lonely animals in his town. Four films were made about Cheburashka's adventures and were even shown abroad, but never to any real success until they hit a public nerve several years ago in Japan.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/04/02/101.html
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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