Professor Balthazar,
Zagreb, a Croatian trademark

Listen to the Professor Balthazar Theme Song
composed by Tomica Simović, Zagreb:

Professor Balthazar, living in the Balthazar City, is the most successful project of the Zagreb School of Animated Film, Zagreb Film, Croatia.

Zagreb Film

Zagreb Film - Cartoon Series

The creator of Professor Balthazar is Zlatko Grgić (1931-1988), and the name was coined by Zdravko Štalter. His name is written in Croatian as profesor Baltazar.

Zlatko Grgić in 1967, Zagreb, in creative mood working on Shoe Inventor - the first film from the Professor Balthazar series; source [Sudarić]

About twenty people participated in this project, and we mention just a few more names from this very creative team: Ante Zaninović, Boris Kolar, Milan Blažeković, Zlatko Bourek, and Tomica Simović - the author of lovely music.

The team that started the Professor Balthazar series in 1967 in Zagreb: Zlatko Grgić (on the left), Ante Zaninović, Boris Kolar, Zdravko Pavičić; source [ Sudarić].

Zlatko Grgić and Tomica Simović (on the left) going to a Zagreb pub to discuss the adventures of professor Balthazar and the accompaning music. Source [Sudarić].

From Shoe Inventor, 1967; source [ Sudarić].

Professor Balthazar is popular throughout the world even today. The episodes have been shown with great success in many countries, like Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Iran (!), USA, Australia, New Zealand, etc. The Professor is especially popular in Scandinavian countries.

57 episodes have been created between 1967 and 1978,
with duration 5 to 10 minutes each.
We provide the titles in Croatian and their translation into English.

Series I, 1967-1969, Zagreb:

Series II, 1971-1972, Zagreb:

Series III, 1977, Zagreb:

Series IV, 1978, Zagreb:

For a detailed information see Animirani filmovi - Zagreb film [PDF]

Professor Balthazar's Lab

Professor Balthazar, like every true professor, is always ready to answer questions, even those addressed to the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Croatia:

In Croatia, and especially in his native Zagreb, there are more and more complaints concerning the disappearance of Professor Balthazar from TV programs:

Source: www.u7i15.com

In 1997 the Republic of Croatia issued a nice stamp in 350,000 copies, devoted to the Zagreb School of Animated Film, see here.

Professor Blathazar should be acquainted with modern technologies for his students; source.

Solving extremely difficult problems...

Professor Balthazar is surrounded with books and friends.

The following photos come from a German web-site TV-Kult:

And the photos are accompanied with the following comment:

"Bal- Balthazar, Bal- Balthazar, Balthazaaar"

Professor Balthazar ist schon ein genialer Erfinder! Er baut die verrücktesten Maschinen, so hat sein Motorroller z.B. mechanische Füße, die den Roller antreiben - und zum Fliegen benutzt er eine umgebaute Waschmaschine, die Auftrieb durch ein buntes Windrad erhält.

Wenn er mal wieder mit einem Problem konfrontiert wird, geht er auf und ab um sich eine Lösung auszudenken. Das kommentiert dann die Stimme aus dem Off mit den Worten "Er überlegte... und überlegte... und überlegte... und dann hatte er eine Idee!". Professor Balthazar läuft zu seiner fantastisch-bunten Wundermaschine, die als Lösung letztendlich immer einen Tropfen eines wundersamen Chemiekaliencocktails ausspuckt, den der Professor dann in einem Reagenzglas auffängt. Tropft er den Inhalt dieses Reagenzglases auf den Boden, entsteht wie durch Zauberei immer genau das, was zur Lösung gerade benötigt wird. Meistens ist es eben doch wieder eine von seinen fantastischen Maschinen, die so aus dem Wundermittel entsteht. Und die führt natürlich dann dazu, dass alles wieder gut wird...

Oliver Goltz (geb. 1966) schrieb am 18.10.2007:
Ganz dunkel noch in Erinnerung, wie ich als ca 5 jähriger vor dem Fernseher saß und völlig fasziniert war von Prof Baltasars Erfindungen

marko (geb. 1968) schrieb am 28.04.2007:
Ich habe Prof.Balthazar als Kind sehr gerne gesehen und sollte wiederholt werden denn das Kinderprogramm war früher besser als heute

christian hornbostel: habs gefunden!!! hier kann man sicherlich alle filmen kaufeeeen!!!!

Schmidt, Andrea (geb. 1966): Ich fand die Sendung und auch die Anfangsmelodie der Sendung total toll. Bal..... balthasar.....bal.....balthasar.....bal....balthasar....balthasar

It seems that Professor Balthazar was an inspiration even in fashion (source):

Here is an explanation for those who can read Swedish:
Mönstret pa den här klänningen fran "Mina" paminner mig lite om ett skivomslag fran en av "James & Karins" skivor (ni vet "älgarna demonstrerar"). Men även lite om nagot som skulle kunna vara taget ur exempelvis professor Balthazar. Det känns riktigt 70-tal iallafall, och jag älskar klänningen. Fast den är lite väl dyr för min planbok just nu. -Hej kurslitteratur för 1000 spänn! För den som har lust att punga ut med 820 pix finns den pa Asos.

There have been attempts to create 3-dimensional version of Professor Balthasar, like this one in Denmark (source):

Der blev i 1970'erne lavet 60 afsnit af tegnefilmserien "Professor Balthazar" af den kroatiske tegner/forfatter Zlatko Grgic for Zagreb Film.

And here are some comments in Dutch :

'Professor Balthazar' is een geniale uitvinder. Hij bouwt de gekste machin's; zo drijven mechanische voeten zijn motorscooter aan en om te vliegen gebruikt hij een omgebouwde wasmachine, die door een kleurrijk windwiel wordt aangestuurd. Als hij weer eens met een probleem wordt geconfronteerd, rust hij niet voordat hij een oplossing heeft bedacht.

'Hij dacht na... en dacht na... en dacht na... en dan, "EUREKA!", had hij een idee!' Professor Balthazar loopt naar zijn fantastische wondermachine, die als oplossing uiteindelijk een druppel van een wonderbaarlijke chemicaliëncocktail uitspuugt, die de dokter dan in een reageerbuis opvangt. Als hij de inhoud van de reageerbuis op de grond laat vallen, dan ontstaat er als bij toverslag altijd precies dat, wat als oplossing nodig is. Meestal is dat weer een van zijn fantastische machines, die uit het wondermiddel ontstaat. En zo loopt alles altijd weer goed af...

Professor Balthazar is popular even in Iran:

DVDlab company from Rome, directed by Predrag Radanovic originating from Zagreb, is finishing digital restoring of the popular Zagreb Film series of "Professor Balthazar". To this end, about 400 kg of negatives of the original series has been transported from Zagreb (ie from Hrvatske kinoteke and the arhives of Zagreb film) to Rome in January 2007. Soon it will be possible to see 49 restored episodes on TV and DVD in English.

Baltazar grad - Balthazar City

Below is a demo of digital film restoration process with MTI Correct DSR, which compares the old and restored versions. This is a part of 9 minute film Hanibalove alpe (Hannibal's Alps, 1968). We could mention that the accompaning voice in this restored (English) version is unfortunately male, while in the Croatian original it is female. Let us point out that the whole (unrestored) original series is already available for some time on ten excellent DVD's in Croatian and in English. Long live Professor Balthazar!

Within the building of Zagreb Film, Vlaska street 70, one can see nice dolls representing professor Balthazar:

The entrance to the building of Zagreb Film is recognizable by its symbol - a horse:

In 1998 the School of Animated Film (Škola crtanog filma) has been founded for children attending primary schools in Zagreb, under the direction of Zagreb Film:

Professor Balthazar is without any doubt the most successful project of the Zagreb School of Animated Film.

The name of The Zagreb School of Animated Film was coined by Georges Sadoul, a famous French film theorist, already in 1959 during the Cannes Festival. According to www.taborfilmfestival.com, Sadoul described "...the unique artistic-philosophical style of animated films that emerged from the Zagreb Film Studio."

Dušan Vukotić, Zagreb; Source [Sudarić].

Here we mention a famous Croatian animated film Surrogate (or Ersatz) by Dušan Vukotić (1927-1998), which was the first European film ever to win the prestigeous American OSCAR for Animation (1962).

Dusan Vukotic, Zagreb, with his 1962 OSCAR for animated film Surrogate (Ersatz), created in 1961

As we see, Vukotic's 1961 Surrogate (or Ersatz) precedes Grgic's Professor Balthazar for six years. It is also worth mentioning that the composer of music is the same - Tomica Simovic:

tiii-ra taaa-ta-ta-ta tiii-ra-taaa-ta-ta...

yes, da, oui, si, ja! Ersatz is the best cartoon movie... (source [ Sudarić])

Another Vukotic's very nice and poetic film:

If you come to the city of Zagreb, do not miss to visit the Zagreb Municipal Museum (in Croatian, Muzej grada Zagreba). Its permanent display, Section 34, is devoted to the Zagreb School of Animated Film.

Professor Balthazar series is available on 10 DVDs, 50 min each, issued by Zagreb Film - highly recommended! Please, contact Zagreb Film, and indicate if you want Croatian or English version:

• via e-mail marketing@zagrebfilm.hr
• tel. +385 1 4558 417
• fax +385 1 4557 086
• address: Zagreb Film, Vlaska 70, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
• web: www.zagrebfilm.hr, contact

Sources and related articles:

• Profesor Baltazar , Wikipedia, in Croatian
• Professor Balthazar, Wikipedia, in English
• Zagreb Film
• The Zagreb School of Animated Film , in Croatian
• www.taborfilmfestival.com
• Joško Marušić: Kako spasiti zagrebačku animaciju
• Zlatko Sudarić (ed.): Zagrebački krug crtanog filma, 1-4,
  Zavod za kulturu Hrvatske i Zagreb film, Zagreb 1978. (The Zagreb Circle of Animated Film: Part 1 has 462 pp, Part 2 has 243 pp, Part 3 has 355 pp, Part 4 has 517 pp, altogether 1577 pp, covering the period till 1978 only! Parts 1 and 4 contain rather detailed summaries in English.)
• Croatian Tales of Long Ago, fantastic project by Helena Bulaja, Zagreb
• Škola crtanog filma Dubrava

Darko Žubrinić, Zagreb, 2008

Croatia - its History, Culture and Science