Oldschool Polish TV Cartoons

Today in Łodź there has been an opening of a sculpture of three bears from a famous Polish cartoon of 80's. It has reminded me that in Łódź there are many other little figures of cartoon characters. Together they create a path of old but unforgetable cartoons watched by children everyday before sleep. In public television there was an evening programme called "Dobranocka" which was a show for children transmitted at 7 pm, before news. Everyday there was a different cartoon to watch. In 80's and early 90's several animations were extremely popular:
"Przygody Kota Filemona" ('Adventures of Filemon the Cat') which told the story about small white cat which was very clumsy but also very sweet and his flatmate, Bonifacy, who only slept and complained all day.
 "Zaczarowany Ołówek" ('the Enchanted Pencil') was made in the late 60's. It had no dialogues. It tells a story of a boy named Piotr and his dog, aided by an enchanted pencil, which can materialize anything they draw.
"Plastusiowy Pamiętnik" ('the Diary of Plastuś') about a man made from a modelling clay who lived in a boy's pencil case
and, the most loved by every child in Poland - "Miś Uszatek" ('Teddy Floppy-ear') who was still a child but he acted and talked like an adult man... However, the cartoon was also popular in other countries; it is one of the best-selling exports of Polish television.

   

 

The main characters of 'Enchanted Pencil' in Łódź on Traugutta 18 street, before the Łódź House of Culture. (map)

Teddy Floppy-ear on Piotrkowska 87 street, before the Tourist Information Centre (map)

Filemon the Cat and his friend on Zwycięstwa 1 square, by the entrance to the Museum of Cinema (map).

Photos by Marta Rauk from Puszka

You haven't been standing here!

"You haven't been standing here, sir!!!" were the most popular words in Poland during the communism time. In Polish they sound "Pan tu nie stał!!!" and they were used to express the frustration connected with somebody else taking a place in a looong queue to the shop. Sounds strange? It was a pretty normal situation in every place in Poland 40-50 years ago. Under the communist rule, shops were constantly running out of products. Shop supplies weren't sufficient for peoples' needs and people were living in constant lack of something, for example toilet paper, soap, ham, chocolate etc. Even basic products like those were almost impossible to get. That's why gigantic queues were formed in front of the shops. When the goods were delivered, everybody wanted to get some. But unfortunately it was always not enough to please everybody... That's why words "Pan tu nie stał!" became so legendary, everyone was fighting for a place in the queue.

There is a shop called "Pan tu nie stał" (shop online or in Łódź on Kilińskiego street) selling clothes and home accessories bringing back "sweet memories" from that period in Polish history. The graphics used on the t-shirts are old fashioned and most of them is originally from the PRL time (that's how we call the communist period in Poland). Have a look:

"Cześć" is a word for "Hi" in Polish.

T-shirt with a graphic of a traditional Polish dinner served in milk bars

A mug from a Polish milk bar. It was popular also in Polish homes.

A queue to the butcher's in 70's in Poland

  

Warsaw - old pictures , new pictures - part 2

Have you seen The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw? It's not far from the Old Town, next to the Saxon Garden. Well, it looks like typical monument...but take a look at the old postcard. What you can see now it's only a part not existing Saxon Palace (built in 17th century, destroyed during World War II). There are plans to rebuild it, probably the reconstruction will start after 2012.

Every hour there's a change of guards, it's good moment to shot some interesting pictures from Warsaw.
More:
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Saxon Palace

More photos of Warsaw:
Warsaw - old pictures, new pictures part 1
Streets in bloom
When the green turns into gold
Making a panorama

3D VR 1905

Three Dimensional Virtual Reality. It sounds very modern, but we have been having it in Warsaw since 1905! It is called FOTOPLASTICON and is still working in the same way as over hundred years ago.

Address: Al. Jerozolimskie 51 see on google maps Open daily except for Tuesdays 10-18, admission 1PLN (appr. 0,25 EUR), free on Sundays.

Now you can walk through the streets of many cities by using Google Maps street view option. Hundred years ago people had the same need of virtual traveling and fotoplasticons were very popular across the world.
Fotoplasticon gives possibility of viewing photographs, made with technology called stereoscopy. Each eye has it's own point of view (close left one, then right one - you'll see that the view is a bit different- in your brain these two pictures are mixed into 3D view).
So for viewing 3D photographs a "double" picture (see the photo above) is needed. It's made with special camera having two lenses. As the distance between lenses is similar to the distance between eyes, watching this double picture gives impression of three dimensions when you see the left picture with the left eye and the right with the right one – you need some kind of binoculars for it.
Exactly the same trick is made for contemporary 3D movies - there are two views and the glasses you wear in the cinema allow to separate "left" and "right" movie and direct it to the proper eye.






Interesting links:
More about fotoplasticon in Warsaw
Stereoscopy

Warsaw - old pictures, new pictures - part 1

From time to time I buy on Internet auctions old postcards from Warsaw. Then I take my bike and my camera and I ride to see what has changed. One of the most shocking comparison is Marszalkowska Street. One of main streets of the city was totally destroyed during the war, then rebuilt in ugly communist style. The only common thing on both pictures are the towers of The Church of The Holy Saviour Church in the background.

Other posts with photos of Warsaw:
Streets in bloom
Warsaw - old pictures, new pictures - part 2
Making a panorama
When the green turns into gold