Sunday July 31, 2022, Christophe Izard, creator of the cartoon “L’île aux enfants” and father of the hero Casimir, died. Today parents, those who watched this flagship youth program in the 70s see a piece of their childhood leave with it.
At 85, Christophe Izard, historic father of cult youth programs in the 1970s, has passed away. From “Children’s Island” to “Albert the Fifth Musketeer” . He leaves behind him the imperishable memory of the hero Casimiran orange hybrid of “nice monster” and big cuddly toys, as well as the legendary song, with words screwed into the depths of every child’s memory of the time: “the time has come.….”. See how the rest of the lyrics come naturally to you!
L’île aux enfants, a mythical program and credits
First a journalist after studying law, Christophe Izard joined the ORTF in 1968, the first public television channel at the time. A pioneer of youth programs, he invented and produced the children’s program “L’île aux enfants”, which was an immediate success. Broadcast from 1974 until 1982, the adventures of Casimir – gastronomic in particular with his incredible “gloubi-boulga” – made the joy of baby boomers, in a good-natured and facetious atmosphere. Indeed, who to eat this mixture based on strawberry jam, crushed bananas, grated chocolate, very strong mustard and sausage? raw but lukewarm? Enough to delight the small palates of the time with disgust, and if the recipe has not remained in the annals of great French cuisine, its title is now part of everyday language, serving to express a “unsavory mix“. With more than 1000 episodes of “l’île aux enfants”, Christophe Izard has also to his credit the show Wednesday Visitors, which from 1975 also broadcast the adventures of another character who was just as crazy and all pink this time, Barbapapa. “Here come the…”, yes, this credits too, you know it well!
Casimir has passed into the ranks of 1970s folklore, and Barbapapa for his part has done the work of updating the content (but not the shapes), to continue to delight young children today. The father of Children’s Island is gone, but his work has passed on to posterity.