El Chavo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| El Chavo del Ocho | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover featuring El Chavo (center) and (from left to right) La Chilindrina, Don Ramón, Quico and Doña Florinda |
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Roberto Gómez Bolaños |
| Starring | Roberto Gómez Bolaños Carlos Villagrán Ramón Valdés Florinda Meza Rubén Aguirre Angelines Fernández Edgar Vivar María Antonieta de las Nieves |
| Country of origin | Mexico |
| Original channel | Televisa |
| Original run | 1973–Still aired |
| No. of episodes | about 420 (including shorts) |
El Chavo del Ocho was a famous Mexican television sitcom that also became a popular hit in Latin America (including Brazil), Portugal, Spain and other countries. It focused on the adventures and tribulations of the title character, an orphan (played by series creator Roberto Gómez Bolaños, "Chespirito") and other inhabitants of a fictional Mexico City neighbourhood or "vecindad".
It first aired on June 20, 1971 as a sketch in the "Chespirito" show, then broadcast on Mexico's Channel 8. In 1973, El Chavo... moved to Televisa and became a weekly half-hour series. The show was canceled in 1979, but shorts were still produced in "Chespirito" from 1980 until 1992.
At its peak of popularity during the mid-1970s, El Chavo... was the most-watched show in Mexican television (with ratings above 60 percent), and had about 350 million viewers worldwide.
Contents |
[edit] Characters and cast
- El Chavo del Ocho (Chaves in Portuguese) (Chespirito), an eight-year-old orphan, is the main character of the series. "Chavo" is mexican slang for kid; his real name is not known (although, in some episodes he calls himself Chente, short for Vicente, after a friend who dies in the orphan home where he was abandoned). He is enthusiastic, creative and well-meaning; on the other hand, he is also rather naive, a fact the other kids use to their advantage. He's not particularly bright (which Roberto Gómez Bolaños insinuated on the launch of the animated series may be consequence of poor nutrition), and is remarkably clumsy, often hitting Quico, Don Ramón and Señor Barriga with balls, shoes, hammers, bricks, chairs or other objects. Chavo arrived to the neighborhood when he was four, and apparently lives in apartment #8 with an old lady (who is never seen, but mentioned in the novel "El diario del Chavo del Ocho"); after her death, he spends most of his time inside his 'secret hideout,' a rain barrel. He has a craving for ham sandwiches (tortas de jamón).
- Quico (Carlos Villagrán), also spelled Kiko, (short for Federico) is a spoiled, overprotected 9-year-old boy, son of Doña Florinda (and a late naval captain whose name is also Federico and who reportedly died, Jonah-style, when his vessel was swallowed by a whale). Arrogant, manipulatory and envious, he always wants to draw everyone's attention to himself, either by screaming loudly or by showing off his newest toy. He also believes, partially due to his mother's influence (and former wealth and status as the wife of a naval officer), that he and his mother are superior to everyone else in the neighborhood; however, he still finds time to play with the chusma (riffraff; in Brazil, "gentalha"), namely Chavo, Chilindrina and Don Ramón. Quico is also noticeable for his black sailor suit, his enormous cheeks, and his minuscule intelligence. In 1978, Quico went off to live with his godmother. He couldn't stand the riff-raff anymore.
- Don Ramón (Seu Madruga) (Ramón Valdés), an unemployed widower. Don Ramón's greatest interest seems to be living an uncomplicated life, but in the vecindad this is a seeming impossibility. He is constantly hounded for the rent (he hasn't paid it for 14 months, a figure that seems to be static since Don Barriga forgives several months off of his rent in several episodes). His daughter (Chilindrina) is a perennial headache and his neighbor Doña Florinda's response to any imposition on her lifestyle is a loud slap on the face. Although rather high-strung and quick-tempered Don Ramón manages to keep a fairly upbeat attitude and to (just barely) make a living doing odd jobs. He's also a fan of all sports and pretends to be knowledgeable in them (having demonstrated boxing, bowling, American football and even bullfighting [with a dummy bull] to the kids), but due to the kids' own shortcomings, he always comes up short.
- Doña Florinda (Dona Florinda) (Florinda Meza), mother of Quico and love interest of Professor Jirafales. She is a widow; her late husband, after which Quico was named, was a naval officer who died at sea and is often said by Quico that he descansa en pez (a pun literally meaning "rests in fish", indicating that he was swallowed by a shark). Doña Florinda has deluded herself into believing she's socially, morally and economically superior to her neighbors (and it is suggested that at one time she was well-off). She is so fiercely protective of Quico that whenever he is upset, she'll beat up Don Ramón without seeking explanation. She is easily recognized by the fact that she always keeps her hair in curlers (except in some early episodes), even at work or on vacation in Acapulco. In later episodes, she opens a restaurant called "Restaurante Doña Florinda".
- Profesor Jirafales (Professor Girafales) (Rubén Aguirre), the school teacher. Highly educated but ingenuous, he carries on a ludicrously innocent relationship with Doña Florinda and patiently teaches way above the heads of his 8-year-old students. When angered, he shouts "Ta-ta-ta-taaaaa-TAH!!!" His last name is a reference to his height ("jirafa" is Spanish for giraffe). The children and sometimes adults refer to him as "Maestro Longaniza" (being "maestro" an alternative for "profesor", both meaning teacher and "longaniza" a long kind of sausage).
- Doña Clotilde (Dona Clotilde), la Bruja del 71 (Bruxa do 71) (Angelines Fernández), a retired woman who chases after Don Ramón. Because she is old and somewhat eccentric, the kids think she is a witch, and refer to her as "The Witch of the (Apartment) 71". Some adults also refer her like that, oftenly by mistake, due to the kids frequently calling her "witch".
- Señor Barriga (Senhor Barriga) (Edgar Vivar), the vecindad 's landlord. Rarely succeeds in collecting rent from Don Ramón and is greeted upon his every arrival by being (accidentaly) kicked, tripped, beaten, or hit by a flying object thrown by Chavo. His last name is a reference to his obesity ("barriga" is Spanish for belly) - it is said his full name is "Zenón Barriga y Pesado".
- La Chilindrina (Chiquinha) (María Antonieta de las Nieves), daughter of Don Ramón. "Precocious" is probably the best way to describe Don Ramón's intelligent and mischievous daughter, who likes to take advantage of her slow-witted friends to play pranks on them and take their toys or snacks. She wears thick-framed glasses, after a few years her wardrobe consisted of a short green-pattern dress and a red sweater that was always twisted on the back. She has freckles and two pony-tails that are always uneven, one significantly higher than the other one. "Chilindrina" is the name of a typical mexican bun, with chocolate sparkles on top, reminiscent of the character's freckles. In early episodes, La Chilindrina has longer ponytails which are cut by El Chavo.
After Villagrán and Valdés left the program in the late 1970s, several characters began to appear more frequently. These include:
- Popis (Pópis) (Florinda Meza). Cutesy and dumb, Popis was usually only present in schoolroom scenes until after Quico left the series, when she filled in for his character in remakes of old episodes. She frequently would say "Acúsalo con tu mamá" ("Tell on him with your mom") sometimes at inapropriate moments, such as when Profesor Girafales told Quico he gave the wrong answer.
- Ñoño (Nhonho) (Edgar Vivar). The son of Señor Barriga, he is as fat as his father, and thus is always the butt of the classroom fat jokes. Ñoño was another classmate, but often appeared around the neighborhood if any scenes needed an extra kid. He is well-studied and good-hearted, but like most of the other kids, naive to say the very least, so he is often taken advantage of. He also substituted for Quico in the later years.
- Godínez (Godinez) (Horacio Gómez Bolaños). An overall and baseball cap-wearing kid who usually keeps to himself and tries to dodge questions in the classroom so he can focus on drawing and playing musical instruments. Godínez is his surname; his given name is unknown. He seems to be a capable student but is totally uninterested. Godínez appears only rarely but is very funny. Horacio Bolaños directed the show for a period. He is brother to Roberto, creator and writer of the series.
- Jaimito the mailman (Jaiminho) (Raúl "Chato" Padilla). A sociable, but forgetful and negligent postal worker who appears in a few of the last episodes and takes over for Don Ramón in the Chavo segments on the hourlong "Chespirito". Whenever he enters the vecindad, he is seen carrying an old bicycle, which he cannot ride because he couldn't learn. Jaimito also is rather lazy and tends to avoid carrying out tasks with the excuse of "avoiding fatigue". He hails from Tangamandapio which, although being a real location in Mexico, is thought by fans of being just a coincidental joke (Jaimito once said that "Tangamandapio is bigger than New York; it's so big, it doesn't appear in any maps").
- Doña Nieves (Dona Neves) (Maria Antonieta de las Nieves). Chilindrina's great-grandmother, who has character traits of both Don Ramón and Chilindrina. In some late "Chavo" episodes and early "Chespirito" episodes, she also takes over for her grandson Don Ramón. Maria Antonieta de las Nieves had been playing a nameless character similar to Doña Nieves for years in a variety of sketches, but she did not work particularly well in the Don Ramón role; for one thing, it was awkward that Doña Nieves and Chilindrina could not appear in scenes together except via special effects. By the late 1980s her character had virtually disappeared from "El Chavo".
Some short-lived characters, who appeared in a few episodes and were never mentioned again, are:
- Doña Eduviges (Janet Arceo). For two episodes, Doña Eduviges lives in the upstairs apartment of the vecindad and interacts with the other characters. Except for dressing differently and living in a different apartment, she acts exactly the same as Doña Cleotilde, right down to her heavy-handed flirting with Don Ramón. The kids even call her "La Loca de la Escalera" ("The crazy lady upstairs"). In the very next episode, Doña Cleotilde is back and Doña Eduviges is never mentioned again. Jaimito the mailman is assumed to have moved into her apartment or one next to it, since he usually came from the same direction.
- Patty and Gloria. At various times in the show's history, Patty (who is Chavo's age) and her aunt Gloria (who is Don Ramón's) move into the upstairs apartment. The men and boys of the vecindad immediately fall in love with them. The 1978 Patty (Ana Lilian de la Macorra) became a regular character, appearing in many episodes of the half-hour version's last season.
- Malicha (Maria Luisa Alcalá). During Maria Antonieta de las Nieves' absence, Malicha briefly replaced her. Much like Doña Eduviges, she disappeared after a small number of episodes and was barely missed.
- Don Román (Seu Madroga) (Germán Robles). In one early episode, Don Román takes Don Ramón's place; he is said to be Don Ramón's cousin.
[edit] Plot and setting
Template:Apartment building in Mexico
El Chavo del Ocho follows El Chavo and the other inhabitants of the vecindad, as they go about in their everyday lives.
The show explores the problems many homeless children face on a daily basis, such as hunger, sadness, and not having someone responsible to watch over them.
[edit] Stages
The main patio, or front yard, is where El Chavo's barrel is located and where the main action takes place. The alleyway on the right leads into another courtyard ("el otro patio"), which has a fountain in the middle. Objects thrown from this yard go over Don Ramón's apartment and into the main yard.
On the outside, often the sidewalk is the main stage shown, where El Chavo sometimes sells fruit juices. In the later seasons, sometimes an unnamed park was shown.
Also, several episodes take place at a school classroom, where Profesor Jirafales teaches. All child characters in the show are in the same classroom.
[edit] Humor style
The show relies heavily upon physical comedy and running gags in order to amuse the audience. Perhaps the three best-known examples are:
Doña Florinda's ruthless defense of Quico. Usually Quico suffers some minor catastrophe (often caused by El Chavo) and screams "Mamá!", which immediately brings Florinda running. Quico then tells her what happened to him and she assumes Don Ramón (who either has also come running to Quico's aid or just happens to be standing nearby, sometimes holding incriminating evidence) is responsible and she smacks him loudly on the cheek. Don Ramón spins comically from the impact and looks surprised at the camera while Doña Florinda says to Quico, "Let's go, sweetheart. Don't hang around with this riffraff." To which Quico always replies "Yes, Mommy. Riff-raff, riff-raff!" and pushes Don Ramón while doing a raspberry. Before leaving, Doña Florinda tells Don Ramón, "And next time, go break your grandmother's toys!" (or other phrase referencing Don Ramón's grandmother). Don Ramón, angered, throws his hat to the ground and stomps it. El Chavo walks over to him and says something like, "Don Ramón, don't break your grandmother's toys, why don't you give them to me instead?"; in response, Don Ramón hits El Chavo on the head (producing a bell sound effect), making Chavo cry (with a high-pitched "pee pee pee pee pee pee!") and go hide in his barrel. Don Ramón follows him and concludes, "pee pee pee pee pee pee. And I don't hit you again just because... my grandmother worked in a toy factory" (or some other unrelated reason) before marching towards his house. Florinda only rarely gets angry at Quico, and often denotes it by calling him by his full name, Federico, at which Quico also begins to cry.
The encounters between Profesor Jirafales and Doña Florinda. Profesor Jirafales enters, and Doña Florinda stops whatever she's doing to go over to him as if spell-bound, sighing "Profesor Jirafales," to which he replies "Doña Florinda."
"What miracle makes brings you here?"
"I came to bring you these humble roses."
"Oh, thank you. They're lovely. But wouldn't you like to come on in and have a cup of coffee?"
"If it wouldn't be too much to ask..."
"No, not at all. Come on in."
"After you."
sighs...
This usually is interrupted or followed by something said by the character involved in whatever Doña Florinda was doing before Professor Jirafales arrived, to which they pay no attention. In addition, Profesor Jirafales can be extremely scatterbrained and therefore sometimes replaces Florinda's name in this dialogue with the name of something he was just talking about or is otherwise on his mind; this is usually something fairly unflattering. ("Doña Mula") Florinda gets confused and sometimes starts misusing the same word herself. These exchanges, whether they go smoothly or not, are always accompanied by Tchaicovsky's "Romeo and Juliet", a gushing piece of classical music. If something happens to disrupt their reverie, the music will slow down to a halt as if someone had unplugged the record player. In spite of their intense feelings for each other, their relationship is assumed to be completely platonic.
Señor Barriga and El Chavo. Whenever Señor Barriga entered the vecindad, El Chavo hit him one way or another. Señor Barriga even congratulated El Chavo when he didn't hit him, to which El Chavo would say, "You hear that, Quico? This is the first time that I didn't hit Señor Barriga..." and then would turn around, or drop whatever he was holding, ironically hitting Señor Barriga.
Mysteries surrounding Chavo. Characters occasionally ask what Chavo's real name is, where he lives, and who he lives with. Every time he is about to answer, there is an interruption and the subject is never brought up again. However, he once mentioned he lived in the apartment No.8 of the neighborhood and being called "del Ocho" ("from the eight") for that same reason.
Crying. Almost all the characters have specific and strange ways of crying. Chavo, as said before, goes "peepeepeepeepeepeepee" in a very high-pitched voice. Quico makes an odd, gargling wail and always leans against a wall near the entrance of the vecindad. Chilindrina spreads out her elbows and then repeatedly pumps her fists inward, screeching "Wehhhhh, wehhhhhh, weh weh wehhhhhh" (she is often faking it, but she does cry realistically if she is sincerely upset). Chilindrina may also add a rubbing of her backside as if soothing a spanking which in most cases never takes place. Under extreme duress, Don Ramón also cries, holding his fist next to one eye, and then the other, going "Reeeeeeeeeeeeeee". Doña Florinda cries almost like Quico. She walks towards the entrance of the vecindad and bellows loudly. She may also cry without walking towards the entrance. In some episodes she crys gargling like Quico
[edit] Famous phrases
Chespirito created several words and phrases that nowadays are widely used as part of the Spanish language, at least in Mexico City and country:
Chanfle. Is a word used mainly by El Chavo, but also used by other characters like El Chapulín Colorado. Is a word that shows surprise or incredulity, like "My God!". Is probably the most famous and used word by Chespirito, mainly because it became the main character's nickname for the soccer movies of the same name: "El Chanfle" and "El Chanfle II".
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta. Is the angry expression shouted by Profesor Jirafales when he loses his temper. When he does that everybody gets quiet, except for El Chavo, that usually is saying something inappropiate about Profesor Jirafales, believing that nobody is listening.
Fue sin querer queriendo. Something like "It happened without wanting to", is usually used by El Chavo when he did something wrong.
Tenia que ser el Chavo del Ocho. "It had to be El Chavo del Ocho" is used by all the victims of El Chavo jokes, mistakes or misunderstandings.
Fijate fijate fijate fijate. Meaning something like "Really really really really" or "Yep yep yep yep yep", is a phrase the Chilindrina uses everytime she's gossiping.
Eso eso eso eso, meaning more or less "That's it, that's it", is often used by El Chavo as a way of saying "Yes", along with moving his index finger up and down, as if it was a person nodding.
[edit] History
[edit] The early years (1971-1972)
By 1971, Chespirito was already well-known in Mexico for his self-titled sketch comedy show, which aired on Televisión Independiente de México (TIM, Channel 8). He had already introduced El Chapulín Colorado and other famous characters.
Chespirito was the show's main creator and star. He called Florinda Meza to act in the show first; Chespirito and Meza later married. Edgar Vivar was the second actor chosen for the show. Chespirito recruited Ramón Valdés because he had known Valdés for years; Valdés, brother of Tin-Tan and el Loco Valdés and uncle of Cristian Castro, had made multiple movies Chespirito had seen. Then, Rubén Aguirre was cast in the show as the character of "Profesor Jirafales". Aguirre and Chespirito had been working on scripts together for years, and Aguirre had already been playing the character of Profesor Jirafales on another Chespirito show, Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada ("Supergeniuses of the Squared Table"), which spoofed current events panel discussion. Carlos Villagrán just happened to be a friend of Aguirre who was a newspaper reporter, and he went to a party hosted by Aguirre. Villagrán did a comedy step where he blew his cheeks out of proportion, and Aguirre told Chespirito about his friend's hidden talent. Villagrán was promptly hired for the show. María Antonieta de las Nieves was a voice-over only actress who used to go to Televisa to do announcements. Upon hearing her voice, Chespirito thought she was perfect for the show. The last ones to be added to the show were Angelines Fernández, a former telenovela actress and Horacio Gómez Bolaños, Chespirito's brother and who had never considered acting before; he was originally to oversee the show's marketing.
The first El Chavo short appeared on June 20, 1971 and featured El Chavo, Chilindrina and Don Ramón.
Several "Chavo" sketches produced before the start of the half-hour series were grouped into half-hour segments and are shown before the "official" half-hour episodes in syndication. Many of these were also re-written and re-shot as half-hour long shows later in the show's life.
[edit] The TV series (1973-1979)
In early 1973, Telesistema Mexicano and TIM merged to become Televisa. After the merger, El Chavo del Ocho became a weekly half-hour TV series.
Until about 1975, many of the early episodes were shorter than 30 minutes and had a sketch (known as entremés) at the beginning featuring Dr. Chapatin, El Chompiras, or one of Chespirito's other characters. In these episodes, Maria Antonieta de las Nieves generally played the female leads and was the first actor credited after Chespirito. After she left Chespirito's shows in 1973, Florinda Meza took over the female roles, and De Las Nieves was given "distinctive" last billing when she returned in 1975. After Valdez and Villagrán left, she was moved to top billing after Chespirito again; by that time all episodes lasted the full 30 minutes. On the hour-long "Chespirito", De las Nieves was often given third billing behind Chespirito and Florinda Meza if playing another character besides Chilindrina; otherwise she always got the special final credit ("...and Maria Antonieta de las Nieves as Chilindrina!").
When Carlos Villagrán left the show, it was explained that Quico had gone to live with his godmother. "He couldn't stand the riff-raff any more.", Doña Florinda explained. Not long after, Ramón Valdéz also left the series, but no explanation was given as to where Don Ramón had gone.
The weekly series El Chavo was canceled by Televisa in 1979.
[edit] The new "Chespirito" show (1980-1992)
Starting in 1980, the "Chespirito" show began to air again, featuring El Chavo, El Chapulín and other sketches. The debut of El Chavo in this new program was auspicious, with a wealth of new episodes being produced (as opposed to many late episodes of the series, which were remakes of early shows). Moreover, in 1981, Valdés returned to the cast, after starring in some unsuccessful shows alongside Villagrán. However, he left again at the end of the year (Chilindrina said he had left the country to look for work and wouldn't come back until he was rich - the implication being that he was unlikely ever to be seen again). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number (and, according to fans, the quality) of new episodes began to decline; once again, many early episodes were remade (with Jaimito and Popis taking the roles of Don Ramón and Quico, respectively). In addition, as Chespirito grew older, he no longer considered adequate to play the role of an 8-year-old kid. As a result, production of El Chavo was stopped in 1992, three years before the cancellation of the "Chespirito" show.
[edit] Animated Series (2006)
After several years of being rerun with huge success; on October 21st, 2006 Televisa launched simultaneously in all latin america an animated version of the program made by Anima Estudios. As a background, a 3D computer model was used, though for the characters, 2D drawings were used, created with Flash technology. A huge program was made to launch it in on a scenario made to immitate the computerized background. Some things about the original program were reminescenced and they showed how the animated series was made.
However, this was not the first attempt to animate it. Previsouly, during the credits, claymation sequences could be watched.
[edit] Impact
The show is the most popular sitcom in the history of Mexican television. [1] The show lasted for 1,300 episodes and has been rerun since its release in the 1970s. The show was so popular in other parts of Latin America and among the Spanish speaking community of the United States that in Peru, for example, other shows involving the main actors of El Chavo del Ocho began to be televised, in Argentina, Ruben Aguirre has been able to enjoy some success playing his character at a circus, and in Puerto Rico, many of the phrases Chavo and his friends used have become normal part of their every day dialogue. In the United States, the show is still shown, on Galavision. The show in the United States is consistently the No. 1-rated Spanish-language cable program. [2]
Surprisingly, El Chavo del Ocho is also quite popular in Brazil (the only Portuguese-speaking country of the Americas), where it is called Chaves. There, Don Ramón is known as Seu Madruga and Chilindrina as Chiquinha. It can be seen in the TV channel SBT, which transmits Chaves since the beginning of the 80s.
Chespirito has established legal battles with former Chavo del Ocho actors, to prevent them from using the show's characters in Mexico without paying him. That is one of the reasons why Aguirre moved to Argentina, where he can use his character's name on his shows, as Chespirito has no copyrights in Argentina.
In 2003, El Chavo del Ocho DVD's were released on the market.
Televisa Studios has been working on an animated series based on El Chavo del Ocho called "El Chavo: La Serie Animada" (see Animated Series section above).
[edit] External links
- In Spanish
- Chavo del 8 (www.chavodel8.com)
- Chavo del 8 Forum
- Chavo del 8 Blog
- Chavo del Ocho Information
- El Chavo del 8 in Esmas.com
- Homenaje a El Chavo del Ocho
- ¡El sensacional Chavo del Ocho!
- In English
- In Portuguese
