WeirdSpace - Culture without borders

La Linea




La Linea Eyes: Not shown
Hair: None
Race: Human


Story: La Linea is a feisty little Italian guy living as a part of an endless crayon line.


Continuity: La Linea
Publisher(s): HDH Film TV
First app.: 1969
Creator(s): Osvaldo Cavandoli
Country of origin: Italy Italy


Background notes: La Linea (the Line) was created by Osvaldo Cavandoli in 1969. Originally the cartoons were created at the agency ODG (Orsini, Damioli, Gandin) as a series of commercials entitled Carosello. The commercials were about Lagostina kitchenware products, and the accompanying narration identified Mr. Linea as "Agostino Lagostina". As a commercial, the series only lived shortly. After the first eight cartoons, the cartoons went from commercials to being short cartoons used as an interstitial program.

The idea with La Linea was pretty basic. Walking along the line he grew out of, he would encounter various obstacles, the sudden end of the line being the recurring gag, and the cartoonist would draw something to help him get past the obstacle. On his adventured La Linea spoke in very understandable Italian gibberish (voice by Carlo Bonomi), giving directions or exclaiming his sentiments and moods. The first cartoons were in black and white but later, around 1976, colors were added.

From 1972 on, La Linea was shown on numerous TV stations in Europe as well as in cinema, mostly as interstitial between commercials, but in many cases as one of the cartoons for children. Some of the cartoons had some visuals that were deemed inappropriate for children, e.g. giant breasts growing out of the ground, and were only shown in the later hours of the day. La Linea was shown in more than 40 countries over the world and ran for around 150 episodes from 1969 to 1991. The series won prizes 1972 in Annecy and 1973 in Zagreb.

La Linea has made a short recurrence in commercials. The Danish realestate company Home used La Linea in some of their commercials around 2003-2004. Later in 2005, he appeared in video for Don't Give Hate a Chance by Jamiroquai in 3D.


Names around the World:
AlbaniaBarum Badum
ArgentinaAbelardo
BrazilA Linha
CanadaLa ligne
CroatiaBajum Badum
DenmarkStregen
FinlandLinus linjalla
FranceLa Linéa
GermanyLa Linea
Lui (sometimes)
GreeceΜπαρούμ Μπαρούμ
HungaryMenő Manó
IcelandLínan
IranAghaaye Khat
آقای خط
IsraelMar Kav
מר קו
ItalyAgostino Lagostina (original name)
La Linea
North MacedoniaБајум Бајум
NorwayStreken
KosovoBarum Badum
PolandBalum balum
Złośniczek (sometimes)
Saudi ArabiaAlSeyed Khat
السيد خط
SerbiaБарум Барум
Barum Barum
Абаракандиши Ди Фјури
Abarakandiši Di Fjuri
SloveniaLinea
Badum Badum
SpainLa línea
SwedenLinus på linjen
TurkeyBay Meraklı
Çizgi Adam
UKLa Linea
USALineman



Cross cultural references:
If you enjoyed this character/series, you might enjoy
Mortadelo y Filemón: Similar type of humor.
Cocco Bill: Similar type of humor.