Editing Cheburashka (section)

==History==
[[File:The Soviet Union 1988 CPA 5917 stamp (Gena the Crocodile. Cheburashka. Shapoklyak).jpg|thumb|left|222px|A Soviet postage stamp featuring the ''[[Gena the Crocodile (film)|Gena the Crocodile]]'' animation.]]
Cheburashka is an iconic Russian cartoon-character who later became a popular figure in Russian jokes (along with his friend, [[Gena the Crocodile]]). According to the creator of the character, Eduard Uspensky, Cheburashka is an "animal unknown to science", with large monkey-like ears and a body resembling that of a cub, who lives in a tropical forest. He accidentally gets into a crate of oranges, eats his fill, and falls asleep. The crate is eventually delivered to a grocery store in an unnamed Russian city (hinted to be Moscow), where the rest of the main story unfolds.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last =Balina |editor1-first =Marina |editor2-last =Rudova |editor2-first =Larissa |title =Russian Children's Literature and Culture |date =2013 |publisher =Taylor & Francis |isbn =9781135865573 |page =166}}</ref> 

The puzzled store manager finds the creature in the crate when he opens it; he takes him out and sits him on the table. The creature's paws are numb after staying in the crate for so long, and he tumbles down ({{langx|ru|label=none|чебурахнулся|cheburakhnulsya}}, a Russian colloquialism meaning "tumbled") from the table, onto the chair, and then onto the floor. This inspires the store manager to name him ''Cheburashka''. Words with this root were archaic in Russian; Uspensky gave them a new lease on life. ''The [[Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language]]'' (1882) of [[Vladimir Dahl]] gives the meaning of "cheburashka" as another name for the [[roly-poly toy]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author= Dahl, Vladimir |encyclopedia=The Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language: Er-Ve |title= ЧЕБУРАХАТЬ|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2O8GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA603|language=ru |year= 1882 |publisher= Изд. Т-ва М. О. Вольф|location= [[St. Peterburg|Спб.]]|oclc= 1661885|page= 603}}; online version: {{cite web|lang= ru|website= Толковый словарь живаго великорусскаго языка|year= 2008–2022|last= Dahl|first= Vladimir|title= ЧЕБУРАХАТЬ|url= https://slovardalja.net/word.php?wordid=42877|quote= '''Чебурашка''', об. '''ванька-встанька''', куколка, которая, как ни кинь ее, сама встает на ноги.}}</ref>

[[Censorship in the Soviet Union | Soviet censors]] tried to stifle the Cheburashka films, because they made fun of nitpicking bureaucrats, factory directors, and the [[Young Pioneers (Soviet Union)|Young Pioneers]]; Cheburashka and Gena couldn't join the Young Pioneers because they didn't know how to start a Pioneers' bonfire and could not march. The phrase "only the best can be on the Pioneers" was added as a compromise.<ref name="MissingTreasure"/>