Mr. Prokouk

{{Short description|Series of Czech puppet stop motion films by Karel Zeman}}Mr. Prokouk ({{langx|cs|Pan Prokouk}}) is a character created by Karel Zeman for a series of Czech animated short films in the 1940s and 1950s.

Prokouk, a stop-motion animation puppet made of wood,{{citation|last=Sadoul|first=Georges|title=Dictionary of Film Makers|year=1972|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|page=286|isbn=9780520021518|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvsZikRu-hAC&pg=PA286|authorlink=Georges Sadoul}} is a sympathetic, irrepressible everyman character{{citation|last=Berry|first=Mark F.|title=The Dinosaur Filmography|location=Jefferson, NC|publisher=McFarland|year=2002|page=145|isbn=9780786410286|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TBruAAAAMAAJ&q=karel+zeman+prokouk}} with a bristling mustache, a long nose,{{citation|last=Pinteau|first=Pascal|title=Special Effects: An Oral History|location=New York|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|year=2004|page=233|isbn=9780810955912|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6IsAAAAYAAJ}} and a pork pie hat.{{citation|title=Mr. Prokouk and More! Zeman Shorts, 1946-1955|work=A Ship With Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation Of Karel Zeman|year=2001|author=Czech Center, New York|authorlink=Czech Centres|publisher=Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive|url=http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN13682|accessdate=2 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202215848/http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN13682|archive-date=2 February 2015|url-status=dead}} The French newspaper Le Monde described the character as an "animated cousin" of Jacques Tati's character Monsieur Hulot,{{citation|title=La Magie Karel Zeman: les chefs-d'œuvre miniatures de l'enchanteur tchèque|work=Le Monde|date=20 January 2015|first=Noémie|last=Luciani|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2015/01/20/la-magie-karel-zeman-les-chefs-d-uvre-miniatures-de-l-enchanteur-tcheque_4559392_3476.html|accessdate=2 February 2015}} and the catalogue of a 2001 Karel Zeman retrospective at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive suggested that Prokouk might be taken as Zeman's alter ego. The short films in which he appears are comic{{citation|last=Hames|first=Peter|title=Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition|year=2009|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|location=Edinburgh|page=196|isbn=9780748620814|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KyuxuVvHRcC&pg=PA196}} with a didactic touch.

The character first appeared in the 1946 short Podkova pro štěstí ("Horseshoe for Luck").

Prokouk became the most well-known character in Czech animated cinema{{citation|title=An Inventive Mind Colors Filmmaker Karel Zeman's Art|date=15 February 2001|first=Charles|last=Solomon|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-15-ca-25514-story.html|access-date=2 February 2015}} and a familiar figure in Czech culture. The films were especially popular with young audiences.{{citation|last=Dobson|first=Nichola|title=Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons|page=217|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2009|isbn=9780810858305|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cf3bsozs4-EC&pg=PA217}}