15 November 2008

Pop Culture 001 - La Familia Telerín

One of these days you may hear someone refer to the “Familia Telerín” (teh-leh-REEN) as in “Ahí viene la Familia Telerín” (Here comes the Telerín family). The name “Familia Telerín” is an affectionate term for any family with small children. It refers to a time in Mexico (and several other countries) when there was an animated cartoon notice broadcast on the television to remind small children that it was time to go to bed. In Mexico in particular it was broadcast by Televisa (channel two) every night at eight o'clock. This occurred in the 1970's and all the way up throgh the 80's. It started out in black and white and eventually it went to color. La Familia Telerín was an early animation created in Spain in 1964 by two brothers named Santiago and José Moro and it was such a great success that it eventually spread to other Spanish speaking countries.

There were six little children in La Familia Telerín. There names were Cleo, Teté, Maripí, Pelusín, Coletas y Cuquín. The leader was the little girl named “Cleo” which is short for “Cleotilde”. The next was the little boy named Teté whom I believe was named after a famous blind Spanish Jazz pianist named Tete Montoliu. His full name was Vicente Montoliu Massana. He was very popular about the time when the Moro brothers created their animation. The next in line was a little girl named “Maripí” (mah-ree-PEE) which is short for “María Pilar”. Next came the little boy “Pelusín” (pay-loo-SEEN). The name comes from a combination of the words “pelusa” (fluff), “peluca” (wig), and peluquín (toupee). In English we would probably call him “Mopsy” or "Topsy" or something similar. After Pelusín came the little girl, “Coletas” (koh-LAY-tahs). She is named “Coletas” because the word “coleta” means “pigtail” and she has two of them. Last but not least comes the baby “Cuquín” (koo-KEEN). The word “cuco” means “pretty” and the suffix “quín” makes it a diminutive and so in English we would probably say “Cutie Pie”.

When the animated notice would appear on the television screen at eight o'clock there would first be a little speech by Cleo who would say:

Un recado de parte de la tele. Ya va siendo hora de que los peques nos vayamos a la cama. A television reminder. Now it is getting to be the time that us little ones should go to bed.

Then Cleo would shout ¡Ale! (“Come on!”) and they would all march off to bed singing:

Vamos a la cama
We are going to bed
que hay que descansar
because we need to rest
para que mañana
so that in the morning
podamos madrugar
we can be earlybirds.

Here is a little experiment for you to try. Ask any of your Mexican freinds over the age of forty to tell you about the Family Telerín. I'll be that they start singing:

“Vamos a la cama que hay que descansar, para que mañana podamos madrugar.”






6 comments:

GlorV1 said...

I think those little childlike characters are so cute and lovable. The Spanish language is not only romantica but childlike and muy prescioso. Very nice post. Ya me voy a dormir. En uno's dos hora's. Hasta luego.

YayaOrchid said...

Hey Bob, you're really going to town with those videos aren't you! Looks like you're having lots of fun posting them. I still have to learn how to do it. I have an idea, just gotta make a post first.

Chris Sobieniak said...

The kind of things American TV never really thought about! We could've had something like this too if there had been a thought by someone at a network to put that in to remind kids of bedtime instead of their parents! :-)

Anonymous said...

When ever we would visit family in Mexico it was interesting to see how even the Television stations would invest in assuring that the youth would get their rest. They also had comercials reminding children to be on alert and careful around strangers and to always report something strange. I believe their slogan was... Y mucho ojo he!

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing these during the 90s when I'd visit my family in Mexico. Thanks for posting them!

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing this in Argentina in the mid 60's. I still have the wall hanging of Cleo.

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.