The Elephant with lots of Torooo!

►Introduction    
►Short History

On the 7.7.1977 the children’s book author, Elfie Donnelly, knocked at Carl Blatz’ door with her idea for a storyteller. Karl Blatz was already involved in the production and marketing of children’s programs. He proved to have a good feeling for the exceptional material that was highly suitable for young children and reached out for „Benjamin the elephant – The World’s First Weather Elephant” the name of the first story that was published as a storyteller by hör+lies Verlag, today KIDDINX.

In 1979 the first Benjamin the elephant books were published by the Pestalozzi Publishing Company. This was something completely new because up till then no character had been first published as a storyteller and then found its way into a book.

In 1987 the first animated film was released on video: „Benjamin the elephant – The Zoo Concert”.

In 1988 Elfie Donnelly transferred the rights to Benjamin the elephant to the hör+lies Publishing Company. From then on all the storyteller stories were written by Ulli Herzog, the director of all KIDDINX-storytellers, in the style of Elfie Donnelly. After his sudden death in March 2003, an author and editing team took over the writing of the new episodes.

In 1990 a Benjamin the elephant-Magazine was published for the first time and until today it is still among the market leaders in the pre-school segment.

In 1991 Benjamin goes on TV. Thirteen animated episodes and four specials were broadcast on the ZDF with great success.

In 1997 the first Benjamin the elephant feature film „His Best adventures“broke all box office records in the children’s film segment.

In 1998 Benjamin tours through Germany with his „Safety First School“. The whole year is under the motto of road safety.

In 1999 the friendly elephant was nominated Unicef-Ambassador. This is an office that he gladly accepted and performed with great dedication. In addition, from then on Benjamin could be seen on computer screens in „The Zoo Game“ and within a short time reached the top position in the children’s’ CD-ROM-Charts.

The year 2000 saw the production start of a new TV series with 52 episodes that was not only produced in German but also in English. This was the starting point of Benjamin’s worldwide career. Up till now the series has been sold to 77 countries. In the same year Benjamin was launched on internet – with many games, stories and regular news. In a short time his homepage www.benjaminbluemchen.de became one of the favorite web pages among children.

In 2001 the first Game Boy Color with Benjamin „A Mad Day at the Zoo“became available.

In 2002 Benjamin celebrated his 25th anniversary. All year he collected friendship greetings and toured Germany. In September as Ambassador of the German United Nations Children’s’ Association, he opened the World Children’s’ Day in Berlin, Germany’s largest family celebration. The TV series started on Super RTL and was very successful.

Since May 2003 Benjamin has delighted children of all ages from March to October in the CentrO.PARK in Oberhausen.

In 2004 the promotion „Benjamin helps Kinder Gardens“was carried out throughout Germany in cooperation with the magazine KINDER.

In 2005 the 100th Benjamin the elephant storyteller was published – the author from then on being again Elfie Donnelly. In this episode Benjamin and Otto find a new friend: Stella Stellini. In autumn the first Benjamin the elephant-Musical has its premiere in Germany.

In 2007 it was Benjamin’s 30th birthday. He celebrated this event with many children, his partners and with lots of surprises. Benjamin’s latest music album „Celebrate with Torooo!“ invited the listeners to sing along, dance and celebrate with him.
All storytellers were released as attractive collector’s editions. Ten MCs or CDs lined up together form a complete picture from the Benjamin environment. Up to the end of the year it was possible to swap old MC-covers for new ones.
From May to September the fans could experience a live performance with their favorite elephant – on the TOGGO-Tour by Super RTL.

A further highlight was the DVD special edition in retro look „Benjamin the elephant Classics“– showing the first animated episodes with the friendly elephant from New Town Zoo.

©  KIDDINX Studios