The English dubbing of the classic cartoon Calimero (1970-72)

 

One aspect of English dubbing in Rome that has been particularly neglected throughout the years is animation dubbing – largely owing to the fact that there are currently very few cartoons that have been identified as being dubbed in Rome. One animated production that is known to have been dubbed in Rome, however, is the cult classic Calimero about the eponymous little black chicken who always complains about being treated unfairly.

Which version of Calimero am I talking about, you might be wondering, and with good reason, because there have been multiple incarnations of Calimero through the years, but the one we’ll be taking a closer look at here is the version that first turned the character into a worldwide phenomenon: the famous series of 78 television shorts produced from 1970 to 1972. Sadly, these shorts have since faded into obscurity and become difficult to find – particularly in English – but through the tireless efforts of a few dedicated fans such as Kristopher J. Walker, various English dubbed episodes have been found on Super 8 or on compilations released on VHS or Laserdisc and made available on the net. It thus feels fitting to try to piece together some background information on the English dub and to try to identify who dubbed the various characters.

 

 

Background

The character of Calimero was originally created in 1963 by the two Milanese comic artist brothers Toni and Nino Pagot for a series of animated commercials for the Mira Lanza product Ava detergent, shown throughout Italy as part of the advertising show Carosello. These black and white commercials introduced Italian viewers to Calimero, a cute but rather hapless little black chicken (the only black one in a family of white chickens) who wears half of his egg shell still on his head. In the commercials, Calimero usually tries to do something good, but thanks to his total naivety, things never turn out as planned, and he ends up getting scolded and running away. Calimero then runs into a lady who asks him what’s wrong, and he complains that everyone else is treating him unfairly because he’s so small and black, and states that “it’s an injustice!” The lady then tells Calimero that he’s not actually black, just dirty, and she proceeds to wash him with the Ava detergent, revealing that Calimero is actually white.

 

Calimero as seen in the old black and white television commercials.

 

A later print ad in color.

 

The commercials for Ava detergent quickly became very popular with Italian television viewers and would continue to run for many years, turning Calimero into a popular icon in Italy.

 

 

The Calimero shorts

By 1970, the popularity of Calimero in Italy was such that Toni and Nino Pagot decided it was time to give the character his own full-fledged series. They thus created a series of five-minute television shorts – this time in full color and with international distribution in mind. The plots, however, were the same, as the Pagot brothers simply took the old commercials, colorized the animations and created some brief, new wraparound footage.

The concept therefore remained the same: Calimero is a cute but hapless little black chicken who tries to do good, but whose incredible naivety tends to result in unintended consequences which infuriate the adults around Calimero and leads to him being scolded. Just like in the commercials, Calimero will then run away while sulkily complaining to himself that it’s because all the others are so big and he so little, and delivering the now famous catchphrase “It’s an injustice, it is!”

 

Calimero in full color.

The parts from the commercials where Calimero is washed with the Ava detergent were obviously not carried over into the new color shorts, however, and neither was the plot point about Calimero actually being a white chicken.

In addition to Calimero, some of the other characters who appear prominently throughout the series are his parents, Rooster and Cesira; his classmate and nemesis, Peter Duck; his school teacher, Master Owl; and his cute little cousin, Priscilla.

 

Calimero with his parents.

 

Peter Duck, the series' primary antagonist.

 

Master Owl, Calimero and Peter's school teacher.

 

Calimero with his cute little cousin Priscilla.

As the shorts were largely made up of recycled, colorized footage from the old TV commercials, which were very brief, each five-minute short is typically comprised of two separate plotlines, extracted from two different commercials – with the first one comprising the initial part of the episode and then wrapping up midway through and segueing over to the second. Sometimes, the two plots are thematically linked, for example in “Calimero and the Good Deed”, where in the first part of the episode, Calimero and his schoolmates are sent out by Master Owl to do a good deed – with quite disastrous results – and in the second part, Calimero is trying to figure out a nice gift to get for his father on Father’s Day – again with disastrous results. Very often, however, there’s no tangible connection between the two different plotlines.

Initially, a total of 52 five-minute shorts were produced in Italy during 1970-71, and unlike the black and white television ads, this series of shorts was aimed at the international market. According to a small notice in Variety (March 15, 1972), Toni and Nino Pagot’s company, Pagot Film, was able to secure a marketing deal with German distributor Jan Hillgruber of HDH Film, a multi-national distribution company operating from Munich, Milan, Paris and London, and the Calimero shorts were subsequently exported all around the world and dubbed into a variety of different languages, including English. They never made it to the US, but were, however, sold to other English-speaking markets, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and Ireland.

 

A short piece in Variety (March 15, 1972) about the growing success of Calimero.

 

This page from Variety (January 9, 1974) demonstrates the enormous international success enjoyed by Calimero in the 1970s.

 

Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misinformation about these shorts floating around on the net, with a lot of people confusing the shorts with the subsequent Calimero TV series that was produced in Japan in 1974. This series, which was animated by Toei Animation, consists of 45 episodes of about 20-25 minutes each, whereas the original shorts are only five minutes in length and were produced in Italy without any Japanese involvement. In 1992, a second Japanese Calimero TV series was produced by Toei Animation, whereas the most recent incarnation of Calimero is an Italian CGI-animated series from 2013.

 

 

The English dub

The English language version of Calimero was handled in Rome by American actor Roger Browne, who adapted the scripts into English, cast all of the voices and directed the dubbing sessions, which were recorded at the Fono Roma studios.

Browne, who lived in Rome from 1960 to 1980, is better known for his on-screen starring roles in a string of Italian peplum and Eurospy films, but he was an active dubbing actor during all of his years in Rome, and, starting in 1969, even served as president of the English dubbing union ELDA (the English Language Dubbers Association) for several years. He was not really a dubbing director, however, and it was down to pure chance that he ended up handling the English version of Calimero.

 

Roger Browne (1930-2024).

 

“Calimero fell in my lap,” Browne explained in one of the numerous emails we exchanged during 2023-24. “I just happened to be in the office when the producer from Milano called and Chris [ELDA office manager Chris Selheim] put him on to me. I told him I would send him a list of our current directors. He said he was in a hurry to get started, the loops were cut, and since I spoke such good Italian why didn’t I do the translation/adaption and direction? I said gladly. I had only directed two small commercials before.”

Whereas Calimero’s voice in the Italian language version was provided by Ignazio Colnaghi, the same actor who had voiced him in the TV commercials, Browne decided to cast a woman as Calimero’s voice, and his choice fell on German dubbing actress Uti Hof, who spoke excellent English, but with a slight yet distinctive German accent that had made her a regular at dubbing European-accented characters in a string of giallo, Eurospy and WW2 films.

 

Uti Hof (1936-2022).

For her performance as Calimero, Hof modelled her voice after the Italian original, but made the character her own. “My voice was like the Italian but a little more child-like,” Uti Hof herself explained in a comment to a post about Calimero on her Facebook page in 2017, adding: “That was my favorite job!!!”

Her performance was very much to the satisfaction of Roger Browne, who stated: “Uti Hof was perfect as Calimero with her cute little accent. The producer loved it – Signor Palermo from Milano, or vice versa.”

It is not clear exactly who the producer Browne refers to as Signor Palermo was, but a possible candidate would be cartoonist and composer Ferdinando Palermo, who was a frequent collaborator of Calimero’s creators, Toni and Nino Pagot, and who composed the musical score for the series. Regardless of who he was, though, Signor Palermo took a keen interest in the creation of the English dub of Calimero, and this was quite unusual, as most Italian directors and producers did not concern themselves with the English language versions of their films, and rarely, if ever, showed up to supervise the dubbing sessions or approve of voices etc.

“We never had any direct contact with producers other than picking up payments in the office. They chose their directors who took it from there,” Browne explained. “Only exception would be Signor Palermo with Calimero. He was from Milano, a ‘foreigner’, giving us a project well paid, so I welcomed him in the sala, introduced him to all the dubbers, made him feel good. He spoke no English. I always checked with him if he was happy with each loop. He always was.”

 

 

The second batch of episodes

The success of Calimero was such that by 1972, the shorts had been sold to 27 countries, and according to a small notice in Variety (July 19, 1972), this led to the commission of a further 26 episodes, thereby bringing the total episode tally to 78. This second set of episodes were also dubbed into English, but unlike the initial batch, they were not handled in Rome, but apparently in Paris. This theory is corroborated by the fact that Uti Hof commented in a post about Calimero on her Facebook page in 2017 that she had dubbed the series in both Rome and Paris. It would seem she was brought to Paris to continue on as the English voice of Calimero and thus help maintain continuity with the earlier episodes. None of the other voice actors from the Rome-dubbed episodes were retained, however, and consequently, the voices of all characters other than Calimero were re-cast with Parisian English dubbers (among whom we can recognize Gordon Heath), and some character names were slightly modified, too.

 

Short piece in Variety (July 19, 1972) referencing the commission of a new batch of Calimero episodes.

 

A few Facebook comments by Uti Hof in 2017 about working on the dubbing of Calimero, including how she dubbed the series in both Rome and Paris.

 

No attempt was made to model the new voices after the original performances, and the differences are sometimes jarringly stark – none more so than in the case of Peter Duck, whose voice in the initial episodes was that of prolific Rome dubber Rodd Dana – known for his classically masculine voice – and who in the new episodes has been replaced by an adult female trying to impersonate a little boy’s voice!

Interestingly, it’s not just the new voice cast that sets these 1972 episodes apart, as there are also notable differences in other areas, such as narrative structure. Unlike the earlier batch of episodes, which were divided into two halves with separate plotlines, these later episodes are devoted to a single plotline.

Calimero expert Kristopher J. Walker theorizes that these last 26 episodes may initially have been produced specifically for France, and points to the fact that they all feature French signs and that the dialogue specifically cites French currency like francs and centimes, whereas the earlier episodes would use dollars and cents.

 

 

Some examples of English signs featured in the initial 52 episodes.

 

Various examples of French signs and currencies seen in the final 26 episodes.

If ever in doubt of which version you are watching, be sure to check the copyright dates at the end of the episodes. The episodes dubbed in Rome all carry a 1970 or 1971 copyright date, whereas the ones dubbed in Paris come with a 1972 copyright date.

 

All Rome-dubbed episodes feature a 1970 or 1971 copyright date at the end.

 

A 1972 copyright date as seen at the end of all the Paris-dubbed episodes.

 

 

Characters and English voice actors

Here is a breakdown of all the characters and their English voice actors – based on the currently available English episodes (many are still missing):

 

Calimero

Calimero is the eponymous protagonist of the series. He is a cute little black chicken who wears half of his egg shell still on his head. Calimero is well-meaning but terribly naïve, and his attempts to do good have a tendency to turn out badly and result in him being scolded by the various adults, and many of the episodes end with Calimero running away while complaining about being treated unfairly because he’s so small and uttering the catchphrase “It’s an injustice, it is!” There are, however, several episodes in which things actually turn out well for Calimero in the end, but even then, he usually finds some reason to complain.

Calimero was voiced by German actress Uti Hof in both the original episodes dubbed in Rome as well as the later ones dubbed in Paris, thus making her the only voice actor to have participated in the dubbing of the entire series.

 

Calimero's voice actor, Uti Hof.

Rooster

Rooster is Calimero’s father. As the name implies, he is a rooster, though unlike Calimero, he is white. A fairly affable but also quite temperamental type, Rooster is shown throughout the series as working a number of different working-class jobs (gas station attendant, cleaner, signalman, traffic policeman etc.), from which he is inevitably fired thanks to the well-meaning but ill-considered acts of his young son. Nearly every episode has him getting furious with Calimero, and yelling the catchphrase “Get out of here! You’ll be the ruination of me yet!” or some slight variation of it.

In the initial 52 episodes dubbed in Rome during 1970-71, Rooster’s voice was provided by Walter Williams, an American stage actor and long-time dubber and film actor in Rome. In the final 26 episodes dubbed in Paris in 1972, the character was renamed Gallettoni (which is also his name in the original Italian language version) and re-cast with a different voice actor who is currently unidentified.

 

Walter Williams, the original voice of Calimero's father.

 

Peter Duck

Peter Duck is a young mallard duck who is a classmate of Calimero, and the series’ primary antagonist. Unlike Calimero, Peter comes from an upper-class family and is spoiled, pampered and used to getting his will, and he regularly torments and sets up Calimero to get him into trouble. Peter’s malevolent behavior goes unnoticed by the adults, who are swayed by his outwardly polite demeanor, though there are a few episodes in which he meets his just desserts, such as “Calimero and a Wonderful Summer” and “Calimero from Snow-flakes to Millions”.

Peter Duck was also an antagonist in the 1974 Calimero TV series, but was retconned into being a good friend of Calimero in the 1992 and 2013 series.

In the first 52 episodes done in Rome, Peter Duck was voiced by prolific 1960s leading man dubber Rodd Dana, who remembered dubbing the role when I spoke to him in 2023. “I did those Calimero cartoons with Uti Hof,” Dana told me. “I can’t remember the funny voice I did for my character, but I think he was Calimero’s duck pal, buddy, or whatever. Good Lord, I probably did 600 other parts, and I think, today, I only recall a dozen of those assorted characters. Jokingly: before losing my back teeth, I could do Donald Duck as well as the Disney original.”

For the episodes dubbed in Paris in 1972, Peter’s voice was recast with an unidentified female voice actress impersonating a little boy’s voice.

 

Rodd Dana, the original voice of Peter Duck.

 

Master Owl

Master Owl is Calimero and Peter Duck’s school teacher. He is a rather pompous type who seems to think highly of himself, and he easily loses his temper when things don’t go his way. Master Owl is one of the most frequent ‘victims’ of Calimero’s well-meaning deeds, which nearly always end in involuntarily negative consequences for the temperamental school teacher, who inevitably responds by hurling out the catchphrase “Get out of here, you dirty little runt!” or some slight variation of it.

At present, the actor who voiced Master Owl in the 1970-71 episodes dubbed in Rome has not been positively identified, but it may have been Dan Sturkie, one of the top dubbers in Rome throughout the 1960s. Master Owl’s voice is quite different from Sturkie’s normal speaking voice, but there are various inflections that do sound like him, and Roger Browne also recalled having cast Sturkie for the English dubbing, albeit not in which role. The character was re-cast with a new – and also currently unidentified – voice actor for the 1972 Paris-dubbed episodes, and his name was modified to Professor Owl.

 

Dan Sturkie, the original voice of Master Owl...?

 

Cesira

Cesira is Calimero’s mother. She is a white hen with a yellow bonnet, and is portrayed as a kind and doting housewife, renowned for her delicious risotto. Cesira appears in many episodes, but unlike her husband Rooster, she seldom features prominently in any of the plots.

In the initial Rome-dubbed episodes, Cesira was voiced by American actress Cicely Browne, who was one of the all-time great character actress dubbers in Rome during the 1960s and 70s. She was replaced by a different, currently unidentified voice actress for the later episodes dubbed in Paris.

Cicely Browne, the original voice of Calimero's mother.

Mr. Fox

Mr. Fox (sometimes also referred to as Foxy) is a cunning fox who is always up to no good – constantly thinking up sly tricks to con or steal from other characters. He usually ends up being foiled by Calimero, whose naivety causes him to unwittingly expose Mr. Fox’s schemes.

In the Rome-dubbed episodes, Mr. Fox was primarily voiced by Scottish character dubber Charles Borromel, but in the episode “Calimero and the Rascals” he was dubbed by Dan Sturkie – presumably due to Borromel’s unavailability at the time of recording. For the episodes dubbed in Paris, a different dubber (possibly Billy Kearns, but not sure) took over as the voice of Mr. Fox.

Charles Borromel, the original voice of Mr. Fox.

Priscilla

Priscilla is a cute yellow chick who is Calimero’s cousin. The two of them mostly get along well, except when Priscilla puts Calimero in a cradle and demands that he play her baby. Adults all seem to find Priscilla adorable, but she’s shown to have a bit of manipulative streak and is prone to use crying and wailing to get her will.

Priscilla only appears sporadically throughout the series, but she would later be featured far more prominently in the 1974, 1992 and 2013 incarnations, in which she is Calimero’s girlfriend rather than his cousin.

It has not been possible to positively identity the actress who did Priscilla’s voice for the 1970-71 episodes recorded in Rome, but it seems that it might have been British singer Chrystel Dane, who did a lot of English dubbing in the 1970s. Dubbing actor Roger Worrod, who has remained in contact with Dane, told me that the only specific production she can remember dubbing is Calimero, and considering how few female roles there are in the series, it seems likely that Priscilla may have been the character dubbed by Dane, who would have been in her early 20s at the time. Priscilla also appears in some of the episodes dubbed in Paris in 1972, but none of these are currently available in English and it is thus impossible to comment on her Parisian voice actor.

 

Chrystel Dane, who may have been the voice of Priscilla in the episodes dubbed in Rome.

 

The Rat Gang

The Rat Gang is a trio of criminal rats who are always trying to pull off a robbery of some sort. They frequently prey on Calimero due to his naivety, and try to rope him into their schemes, though this usually backfires on them.

Whereas some of the later incarnations of Calimero refer to the Rat Gang as the Cocos and name the three members Pepe, Popo and Pipi, they are not given individual names in the currently available English language shorts, though they are at one point referred to as Pepe’s Gang in one of the episodes dubbed in Paris (“Calimero Between Devils and Witches”). The leader is a tall rat who usually wears a purple scarf around his neck; the other two members of the gang are a big, fat rat and tiny one.

In the Rome-dubbed episodes, the rat leader was primarily voiced by Australian character dubber John Stacy, but there exists at least one episode in which he was instead dubbed by Canadian dubbing actor/director Ted Rusoff – presumably due to Stacy’s unavailability at the time of recording. For the Paris-dubbed episodes, African-American dubber Gordon Heath took over as the voice of the leader.

 

John Stacy voiced the rat leader in most of the episodes dubbed in Rome.

 

Gordon Heath, the voice of the rat leader in the Parisian episodes.

 

Bobby the Dog

Bobby the Dog (not to be confused with the more minor character of Bobby the Wolf) is a big, burly dog, who in spite of his gruff exterior is a good friend to Calimero. He is always trying to stop Mr. Fox from stealing eggs or fish, but as he is not particularly bright, he usually relies on Calimero’s help in order to foil Mr. Fox.

Bobby was voiced by American character dubber Michael Tor in the original episodes dubbed in Rome. For the later episodes dubbed in Paris, he was replaced with another actor who is currently unidentified.

Michael Tor, the original voice of Bobby.

Mr. Principal

Mr. Principal is the principal of Calimero’s school. He is an old, bespectacled bird who recurs throughout the series, typically showing up to check on what the schoolchildren are up to. Quite often, Calimero’s actions inadvertently cause the principal to become angry with Master Owl.

Although portrayed as a white bird in most of his appearances, the principal is oddly enough shown as being black in the episode “Calimero and a Lot of Talk”.

Mr. Principal was voiced by a currently unidentified actor in the 1970-71 episodes dubbed in Rome. For the 1972 episodes dubbed in Paris, the character was renamed Mr. Headmaster and was voiced by Gordon Heath.

Mr. Mayor

Mr. Mayor is the mayor the town where Calimero lives. He is a big fat pig and shows up whenever there’s some kind of big happening or event in town, but usually without playing any prominent part in the plot.

In the original Rome-dubbed episodes, Mr. Mayor was voiced by well-known American character actor dubber Richard McNamara. He was replaced by a different and currently unidentified actor for the episodes dubbed in Paris.

 

Richard McNamara, the voice of the mayor in the Rome-dubbed episodes.

 

 

Peter Duck’s Father

Peter Duck’s father is another character who makes occasional appearances throughout the series. In the Rome-dubbed episodes, he is referred to as Mr. Minister, implying that he has a position in the government, and he is shown to be extravagantly rich and to have spoiled his son rotten. Despite being rather condescending, he does show gratitude towards Calimero for helping him out of trouble on some occasions.

Peter’s father was voiced by legendary American character actor dubber Tony La Penna in the Rome-dubbed episodes. He was replaced with a different, currently unidentified, voice actor for the Paris-dubbed episodes. For these episodes, he is no longer referred to as minister, but is instead addressed with the honorific title of commendatore.

 

Tony La Penna, the original voice of Peter Duck's father.

 

 

Additionally, here’s a small list of voice actors who dubbed various one-off characters:

- Charles Borromel – voice of Duck Sergeant, Weasel, Falcon, Faux Great Uncle, Tavern-keeper

- Michael Tor – voice of Mr. Lion, Doctor, Restaurant Manager, Presenter of “Best Person of the Year” award

- Richard McNamara – voice of Bobby the Wolf, Pickpocket Victim, Race Better

- Tony La Penna – voice of Santa Claus, Race Commentator, TV Interviewer, Radio Announcer

- Ted Rusoff – voice of Theophilus, Mr. Foreman

- John Stacy – voice of Shopkeeper

- Veronica Wells – voice of Old Lady

- Gordon Heath – voice of Mr. Cook, Mr. Gattoni

 

Hopefully, some of the remaining unknown voices will eventually be identified, too. Unfortunately, Roger Browne was not able to help fill in the blanks. Other than Uti Hof, he could not remember who he had cast in the additional roles, and he did not recall having used people like Rodd Dana or Cicely Browne. “Funny, you know more about how I cast Calimero than I do!” he said when I reminded him. “I only remember Uti, Dan Sturkie, maybe Ed Mannix, and Charles Borromel, who I owed.”

Despite being a prolific dubbing actor, Browne did not cast himself in any of the roles. “I didn’t do anything in Calimero – not really a cartoon voice guy,” he explained. “And I was making enough writing and directing and wanted my friends and colleagues to get a share.”

 

 

Availability

As already mentioned, the Calimero shorts have largely faded into obscurity and are difficult to find. The episodes currently available with English dubbing come largely from two compilations releases:

• The first one, which is named simply Calimero, was released on VHS and Betamax in the UK in 1981 and subsequently on Laserdisc in 1983. This compilation includes 13 of the earliest 1970-71 episodes, and it can be watched on the Internet Archive.

• The second release, named Calimero and the Wonderful Summer, was also issued on VHS and Betamax in the UK in 1981, but unlike the first compilation, it never made it to Laserdisc. This compilation is also comprised of 13 episodes, and include both some of the 1970-71 ones dubbed in Rome, as well as some of the later episodes dubbed in Paris. As a result, the voices frequently change back and forth between the Rome and Paris voice cast on this release, which has been made available on YouTube by Calimero superfan Kristopher J. Walker.

Additionally, Kristopher J. Walker also has a few episodes sourced from Super 8 on his channel, and there also exists a Vimeo channel which has a few rare episodes in English, although for some reason they’ve all been split into two parts.

 

If you have any further information about the English dubbing of Calimero, or know where to find more episodes in English then please don’t hesitate to let me know.

 

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