It’s possible that Belgian cartoonist Peyo (Pierre Culliford) had something of an out of body experience when he came up with the creation of a band of blue comic characters who skipped about and lived in the forest in mushroom-shaped houses, and called them Smurfs.
It was 1958, and Peyo was working for a comic series titled Johan et Pirlouit that introduced the new creatures as Les Schtroumpfs. The characters proved to be a huge success and the first independent Smurf stories appeared in 1959, together with the first merchandising.
In 1965 the first set of Smurf PVC collectable figures was introduced: the characters included Normal Smurf, Gold Smurf and Convict Smurf (their names are based on their personalities). Since then the Smurf world has included everything from figurines and cereals to movies, Smurfs on Ice and more than 40 Smurf comic volumes.
The most frequently found Smurf figurines were made by German toy company Schleich and were given away as promotional toys. Production still continues today: Schleich produces 8 to 12 new Smurfs each year. They are overwhelming male: Smurfette, Sassette and Nanny Smurf were the only female Smurfs.
The first Smurfs movie, called The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, was released in 1976. In the US, the merchandisers gave away little rubber Smurf figurines at the gas station; one was handed to an American TV executive and the Smurfs TV show, produced in collaboration with Hanna-Barbera Studios and Peyo, came out in 1981. It had higher ratings than Dallas.
More than 150 episodes of animated Smurf cartoons were produced over nine seasons as Smurf mania swept the world. Today there are still entire collector clubs devoted to Smurf merchandise, with the most collectable figures usually being the earlier releases although the Super Smurfs, which were more elaborate and sold packaged in boxes, are also popular. Smurfs were sometimes released specific to certain countries; in Australia the Aussie Rules Smurf was introduced in 1981 and given away across the country by BP, who was the toys’ biggest outlet with an extensive range of figures and playsets.
