People who served as prototypes for world-famous characters

• 1. Behind many characters, whether they are cartoons, commercials or films, there are prototypes of real people and a rather interesting story. For example, they depicted historical figures on playing cards with "pictures" that appeared in the French deck and are similar to those that have come down to us. For example, the king of hearts is Charlemagne, and the jack of clubs is Lancelot.

• 2. Few people know that in the cartoon "38 Parrots" they put a hommage to Lenin. But this became known only in 2015, when production designer Leonid Shvartsman, who worked on the project, spoke about this.

• 3. Surely, many people know the comics about the young journalist Tintin, published by the Belgian artist Hergé. As for the character’s appearance, the author partially borrowed it from his younger brother, but the main features were taken from the 15-year-old Boy Scout from Denmark, Palle Hulda, who traveled around the world as a teenager.

• 4. It's no secret that Monopoly was created to teach players the principles of doing business, therefore, it is not surprising that the famous entrepreneur, namely John Pierpont Morgan, who consolidated American industry, became the prototype for this perky man with a mustache.

• 5. The creators of "Mr. Proper" say that they took the image of an unknown sailor from the United States as a basis. However, many are convinced that the actor Yul Brynner, who played in the movie The King and I, served as the prototype. At the time of release, the film was popular, and soon after that, the well-known Mr. Proper appeared to everyone today.

• 6. Today, everyone is used to the way the Mario character looks, but in the 80s there were problems with this. Initially, he was conceived to be outwardly similar to Popeye, but due to copyright problems, the idea could not be realized. His name also changed, until an American businessman with Italian roots, Mario Segale, who rented warehouses to a Japanese company, showed up at Nintendo. He scolded the president of the company for overdue rent in front of all employees, which is why the game character was named after him. The businessman did not mind, but demanded a fee.

• 7. It turns out that the characters with the "Love is ..." inserts have their own story. Originally, New Zealand-based artist Kim Kasali drew drawings on a napkin for her future husband. The drawings became popular soon and brought wealth to the woman.

  After the death of her husband, Casali was left alone with three children and could no longer draw, so she transferred the rights to the images of happy little men to artist Bill Asprey. She herself was completely engaged in the education of her children.

• 8. Elsie Chrysler Cigar, who drew comics, reproduced the image of his fellow countryman Frank "Rocky" Feigel, who worked as a bartender, always holding a pipe in his mouth and ready to fight in the well-known Popeye. By the way, this image suited the man so much that “Inspiration for the sailor Popeye” was written on his grave.