"La Linea" Cartoon Series

La Linea ("The Line") is an Italian animated series created by the Italian cartoonist Osvaldo Cavandoli. The series consists of 90 episodes which are about 2-3 minutes long each which were produced originally broadcast in the Italian channel Rai between 1972 - 1979. Over the years the series aired in more than 40 countries around the world. All episodes of the series are available today on DVD version.

Due to its short duration (usually 2 minutes 30 seconds), it has often been used in many networks as an interstitial program.

The tune played in the background of the series was created by Franco Godi.

Even though the episodes are numbered up to 225, there are, in fact, only 88 La Linea episodes. The Lagostina series had 8 (5 min) episodes, the 100 series had 56 (101-156), and the 200 series had 26 (200-225).

The cartoon features a man (known as "Mr. Linea" or, in some parts of Europe, "Balou", as well as "Linus på linjen" (Linus on the Line) in Sweden, "Badum badum" in Slovenia, "Menő Manó" (Walking Pixie) in Hungary, "Mar Kav" (Mister Line) in Israel, "Bajram" in Albania, "Streken" in Norway, "Stregen" in Denmark, "Línan" in Iceland, "Baljum Baljum" (Баљум Баљум) in the Republic of Macedonia, "Bay Meraklı" (Mr. Curious) in Turkey, "Bajum Badum" in Serbia and "Lineman" in the U.S.) drawn as a single outline around his silhouette, walking on an infinite line of which he is a part. The character encounters obstacles and often turns to the cartoonist to draw him a solution, with various degrees of success. One recurring obstacle was an abrupt end of line. The character would often almost fall off the edge into oblivion and get angry with the cartoonist and complain about it. He was voiced by Carlo Bonomi in a version of Milanese dialect resembling gibberish as much as possible, giving the cartoon the possibility to be easily exported without dubbing. The voice resembles Pingu's, the Swiss animated penguin, which was also voiced by Bonomi.

The character's relationship with his cartoonist is very similar to that of Daffy Duck's plight in the Warner Brothers' 1953 cartoon short Duck Amuck where he too is at the mercy of the cartoonist (Chuck Jones). Their reactions to their artists' whims are also very similar in as they both try to work with what is drawn around them, but often end up hurt and losing their tempers.

The first 8 episodes of the series were, in fact, created to publicize Lagostina kitchenware products, and the accompanying narration identified Mr. Linea as "Agostino Lagostina, a sharp little man with a truly expressive nose." After the 8th episode, however, the series broke its association with Lagostina.