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Romanian Theater For Children On Tour

The echo of the rich activity of Romanian theater for children on four continents has surpassed even that of theater for adults. This was possible because, in 1965, eleven countries, including Romania, founded in Paris, ASSITEJ – the International Association of Theater

Creangă And Gopo

Gopo's Little Man (see Short History - click on Scurta istorie to see movie) I have been studying the Gopo archive belonging to the National Film Archive for some years, and now the first volume goes to print. It contains only a part of the legacy left by the film genius,

From The Musical Folklore Of Children To The Comic Opera For Children

In 1954, the great Romanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brăiloiu (1893-1958) held a scientific presentation at Colloque de Wegimont in Belgium that amazed all specialists present in the audience, because it unsettled all theories regarding the musical culture of children

Clockwork Animals

Mom and Dad weren't well-off or anything and, apart from that, the 60s offered only a limited choice of toys, at least in our neck of the woods. Back when he was working for the Maintenance Department of the Bucharest Transport Services, Dad would bring me – on Father

Exuviae

excerpt REGNUM PUERILE I was pondering, among other things, about the ways of ogres and dragons, as people were wont to talk about them so much. They were bad, they were mad, they were downright evil – and frightening, though not existing in point of fact. This must

What I Did In The Summer Holidays

excerpt  Then on another day I didnt get up to much apart from loafing around the house aimlessly and especially up in the apricot tree where dad didnt know I could climb and get away with it because what does he know? He comes home in the evening and if he plays with

Sweet Holiday Camp

School always began on September 1st and ended on the last day of May. September 1st was the first day of school and it started off with an impressive festivity. All of us, dressed-up and with flowers in our hands, went to the official square where the first bell was rung.

The Rattlebike

When I go rattleriding my rattlebike up street,You're toppling in my wake on every sideAnd goggle at my progress from the sleetBefore you stand up rattlestupefied.  The rattleengine of my rattlebikeRaprattles and backfires in frightful fits. Girls call me names –

The Erstwhile Snows

Winters in Ramnicu Valcea were quite mild in those times, though there was plenty of snow (I guess this is the cliché of those whose childhood memories are blurred by their excessive subjectivity); anyway, they unfolded following a certain ritual: at the beginning of December

Elegy For Wee Beings

Here was once the bedof a child who was borne,in a doll's box,to the park of earth and stone.  Since then, in their corner obscurethe lead soldiers stand dumb,stock-still by the trumpetthinking of battlesand victories imaginary.  A tin express trainin the wee cardboard

Across The Border

THE CLASS TEACH' You don't fool me, Ghiţulescu! You've got Kents, bless your wallet! Throw one over, 'cause I'm poor, my mother's unemployed and keeps me only on shots of glucose, she has no food to give me. Come ooooooon, please! Ghiţulescu

The High School Kids

The movie made after the novel (aka The Graduates, 1987, directed by Nicolae Corjos, b. 1935 - click here to see fragment) – a simple, old story (a young man, Mihai, comes to the big city – Bucharest – to learn in high school, where his passion for math and philosophy