When cartoonist Peyo first introduced the Smurfs as supporting figures in a 1958 comic, he had no idea that they would go on to become some of the world's best-loved comic characters. And the story all began with salt...
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60 years of Smurfs
They began as supporting actors and conquered the world: 60 years ago Belgian cartoonist Peyo published the first Smurfs story. The little blue creatures are now found in comics, films, a TV series and as gummi candies.
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The leader
In 1958 cartoonist Peyo introduced the tiny blue-skinned characters in Spirou magazine as side characters in a comic set in the Middle Ages. They were a hit, and they soon got their own series. In the 1980s the Smurfs were turned into a TV series (photo). While most Smurfs are said to be about 100 years old, one episode reveals Papa Smurf be 546. The village leader is the only one to wear red.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives
The archenemy
Always accompanied by his cat Azrael, the evil wizard Gargamel needs to capture Smurfs to create gold. He is apparently the only human being running around in this lost area of the world, and he's not very friendly. Luckily, all of his elaborate plans to catch the Smurfs inevitably fail.
Image: imago/Belga/A. Vanlathem
The creator
Pierre Culliford, best known as Peyo, first worked in an animation studio before publishing his first comic series in the newspaper "Le Soir." After he introduced the Smurfs in his "Johan and Peewit" comics, the popular characters gained their own series. Peyo directed the 1976 film "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute" and supervised the US-Belgian TV series from the 1980s. He died in 1992, aged 64.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/A. Behrmann
The sleepyhead
The Smurfs are generally hard-working types, but there's one exception: Lazy Smurf, also known as Sleepy Smurf. He's the laziest of all smurfs and can be found sleeping anywhere at any time of the day. Most of the Smurfs are named after their personality traits. There are at least 100 different Smurf characters.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives
The female
Long the single female of the series, Smurfette was created by Gargamel, who aimed to have her spy on the Smurfs and sow jealousy among them. She then became a real smurf after Papa Smurf changed her hair from black to blonde — just one of her stereotypically feminine features. The narrative scheme of having a single woman appear among a bunch of males has been dubbed the "Smurfette principle."
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives
The film stars
"The Smurfs and the Magic Flute" was the first animated film starring the blue species. It premiered in 1976 in Belgium but was only released in 1983 in the US, following the popularity of the TV series. A trilogy of Smurf computer-animated films was released from 2011 to 2017. Critics weren't impressed; the new movies obviously didn't have the old-school charm of the original animated series.
Merchandising is another important part of the Smurfs phenomenon. Countless collectible figurines are still being traded to this day. The German confectionery company Haribo has also adopted the cap-topped Smurf shape for one of its gummi candies. They are strawberry or raspberry-flavored, and 100 grams contain 334 calories. Sweet.
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In some films, the supporting actors outshine the main protagonists. The same can be true of comic book characters — and that was exactly the case with the Smurfs.
They first appeared 60 years ago on October 23, 1958 in the Belgian comic magazine Spirou as minor characters in a strip called Johan and Peewit. Their debut story was originally named The Flute with Six Holes, but it was changed to The Smurfs and the Magic Flute once the little blue-skinned creatures skyrocketed to world fame.
From saltshakers to comic book success
The creator behind the smurfs, Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, better known as Peyo, thought the white-capped creatures would be a short-lived phenomenon. But the Smurfs' growing popularity eventually led him to set aside the Johan and Peewit strip and give the creatures a series of their very own, which meanwhile has been translated into 25 different languages.
In the original French, Smurfs are known as "Schtroumpfs." The story goes that Peyo was having breakfast one morning with a friend when he simply couldn't remember the word for salt shaker. "Pass me the schtroumpf," he said. That moment of brain freeze was the starting point for one of the world's most successful comics.
The smurfs have even been immortalized through their four-fingered handprints on Hollywood's Walk of FameImage: picture-alliance/BlackPanther
The little, blue, human-like smurfs live happily in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest, where they work, tinker around and make music. But they have to keep watch for their archenemy, the evil wizard Gargamel. He is perpetually hunting for them because he needs at least one to make gold — though he would rather do away with them all.
Most Smurfs personify either a different character trait, such as Clumsy Smurf or Jokey Smurf, or a different profession, like Farmer Smurf and Doctor Smurf.
The blue creatures made their silver-screen debut with The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. It was released in French in Belgium in 1976, with a German-language version that came out the same year. An English version hit UK movie theaters three years later, but it wasn't until 1983 that this version was released in the US.
The smurfs found their way into the hearts of children in the US as a very popular TV series (above)Image: picture-alliance/United Archives
It took longer for the Smurfs to build a following on the other side of the Atlantic. The turning point was 1981, when Hanna-Barbera Productions, the major American animation studio behind such hits as Scooby Doo and The Flintstones, started the Saturday-morning cartoon series The Smurfs, thereby cementing the little blue creatures in the weekly rituals — and the hearts — of a generation of American children. Two years later, German public broadcaster ZDF began showing the series as well.
Though the TV series ended, the Smurfs were here to stay. New comic books depicting their revelries and mishaps in their enchanted land continue to appear. And in recent years, they became the stars of a trilogy of live-action/computer-animated films. At 60, the little blue creatures are still going strong.
Check out our picture gallery above to dive deeper into the world of the smurfs.
