CARTOON CHARACTERS III: KUKORI AND KOTKODA

Magyar Posta is issuing a numbered special souvenir sheet on the theme Cartoon and Fairy Tale Characters using the characters of the cartoon Kukori and Kotkoda, the creation of the writer Ágnes Bálint and the graphic designer and director János Mata. Fifty thousand copies of the souvenir sheet designed by the graphic artist István Weisenburger were produced by ANY Security Printing Company.

Kukori and Kotkoda was the first cartoon series to be commissioned by Hungarian Television. Two series with a total of 26 episodes were made of the cartoon between 1970 and 1972. The script was written by Ágnes Bálint, and the cartoon was designed and directed by János Mata. The inspiration for the basic idea for the cartoon series came from a colleague of the writer who often complained that her husband was unwilling to do any chores around the house. This is how Kukori, the cockerel, was born, whose laziness annoyed Kotkoda, the hen, in every episode. In 1970 television was still black and white but the series was made in colour as it was intended to be screened in cinemas. For this reason, a cold colour scale was used for the series in order to obtain the right grey tones. The designer created the figures from egg shapes to make them easy to draw by children. Thus the body, head and beak of the hens are egg-shaped.
The three stamps of the special souvenir sheet show the main characters: Hápogi the duck in the left stamp, Kotkoda in the middle stamp and Kukori in the right stamp. In the frame for the souvenir sheet, the poultry-yard provides the surroundings and other characters also appear: Mr and Mrs Turkey, Bald-Neck and Cricket. The first day cover shows the well-known main title of the series and the postmark features the two lead roles, Kukori and Kotkoda. The special feature of the first day cover is the QR code placed on it. Scanning this will bring up information about the stamps previously released in the series, the stories presented and the artists who created them.