Humorous Pictures for Children - 2 (Russia)
Few people know that before 1917 there were children's humorous magazines ("Galchonok" edited by A. Radakov). In 1913 Palmer Koks, an artist and a writer, made up a clever and brave tiny creature Murzilka, who headed a group of funny beings. In 1956 this merry company became the main characters of children's humorous magazine "Merry Pictures". This magazine is still teaching Russian children to laugh proving that funny does not contradict with reality and fantasy and laughter hels understand the world and develop intelligence. I. Chemenov, a caricaturist, was the first editor of that magazine, and a lot of famous caricaturists (E. Rotov, V. Lebedev, B. Konashevich, V. Chizhikov, and many others) illustrate it. V. Konashevich used to say that it is possible to draw everything for children if it is talented, that is why the artists tried their best to invent something original and funny.

Murzilka came back to Soviet children in the title of a magazine. His new image - an inquisitive tiny boy in a red cap with a camera- was designed by Kanevsky.

In 1928 a humorous children magazine "Yozh" ("Hedgehog") began to be published in Leningrad. From the very beginning caricaturists drew cartoon strips and funny pictures to illustrate poems by N. Oleinikov and D. Harms. In 1924-1925 K. Chukovsky edited a magazine "New Robinson", in 1936 the first issue of "Kostyor" ("Fire") appeared in Leningrad; stories of Y. Hashek and Jerome K. Jerome were published in it. That magazine came into the history of Russian literature because S. Dovlatov, a famous Russian writer, worked there for some years, and thanks to the "Merry Bell" column, headed by L. Kaminsky, a book "Lesson of Laughter" with humorous stories and caricatures was published.

Nowadays a great number of children's magazines are issued, they are well illustrated by famous caricaturists. The popularity of these magazines gives one more proof that laughter is as necessary for kids as vitamins.
 


1. Fairy tale about Emelya, the Fool. Lubok. Detail. 1872.
6. N. Radlov. Stories in Pictures.
4. B. Malakhovsky. Clever Masha and Heavy Goose. Detail. "Chizh". 1934.
8. E. Rachyov. An illustration of I. Krilov's fable. 1965.


2. P. Koks. New Murzilka. 1913.
7. V. Konashevich. "Merry Figures" (S. Marshak).
9. Kukriniksi. "Konduit" (L. Kassil). 1933.


3. Re-mi. "Crocodile". An illustration to Chukovsky's fairy tale. 1918.
10. P. Pyarn. "A Naughty Boy is Stowing away". 1981.
5. B. Efimov. Caricature of K. Chukovsky.



By Dmitry Moskin
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