What happened to Hilarius the Mouse?

Marja-Liisa Mattilan there is a Hilarius Hiiri hand puppet sitting in the closet. The mustache has thinned, but you can recognize it as the familiar mouse from TV.

When Hilarius Hiire’s “mother” Mattila invented the character in the early 1990s, there weren’t too many domestic children’s programs.

– I thought that there should be a character like this at the level of a child. Hilarius understood children in all matters. If no one came to the birthday party, Hilarius organized a party there. Very humane things that speak for the child, says Mattila.

When Mattila, who worked as a journalist, made the Hilarius Hiiri pilot episode, MTV was immediately interested. MTV did not have any domestic children’s programs. Ylekin was interested in Hilarius.

Mattila says that at the time of the hand puppet, the program had the best viewership figures. Also Hilarius Hiiri and Loru-Liisa -film found its audience. The hand puppet quickly changed to a larger figure.

At first, children were asked to participate in the MTV TV series through acquaintances of the creators, but later there was a long line of interested people.

In some episodes, Mattila also used professional actors. Hannele Lauri, among others, have acted with Hilarius Hiire Jussi Lampi and Simo Salminen. Arja Koriseva sang the theme song of the series.

True stories

Many thought that doing a children’s program would make them rich. Mattila knew the real side of the matter. He describes that, compared to adult series, children’s programs were paid for at a fraction of the cost. However, the expenses were the same.

The first Hilarius Hiiri programs were produced by the Church Information Center.

– The church information center did not dictate anything, and they did not demand anything religious. In a few episodes, we went to Sunday school. Olli, the son who found Hilarius, also prayed that Hilarius Hiiri would be allowed to stay in their home, that is, that his mother would give permission, Mattila says.

Mattila and his brother Jorma Kihnula founded Hilarius Hiiri Oy. As producer, Kihnula was responsible for, among other things, acquiring financiers, Mattila for content.

The episodes of the TV series dealt with, among other things, bullying, parental separation and serious illness. Sometimes the theme was getting a pet, sometimes camping.

– All were true stories, about a child’s life. It fascinated the viewers, says Mattila.

Conquering the world

Later, a product family was built around Hilarius Hiire. In 2022, almost all children’s characters have been commercialized, but in the mid-1990s Hilarius was the only Finnish character of its kind. And that caused an upset.

However, according to Mattila, the general atmosphere was a message that it was not appropriate to make products with children’s characters. Mattila says that the stores still stocked products based on foreign characters. For example, Pokémon products were very popular.

Hilarius adventured in school backpacks, life jackets and exercise books. Kihnula concluded sponsorship agreements and was responsible for the product family.

Besides the program, Mattila also wrote children’s books about mice. Hilarius also ventured into plays.

– With the products, we were able to cover the filming costs, Mattila says.

Hilarius’ home village, adventure park Viherlaakso was built in Jyväskylä.

Hilarius Hiiri also aroused interest in the world. Mattila and Kihnula traveled to Tokyo in 2001 to present Hilarius Hiire’s Good Deeds Christmas Calendar. Finland’s snowy landscapes impressed the Japanese, and Mattila had to convince them that it was not a snowy set.

– We planned that Hilarius the Mouse would start to be made as an animation. The character would have been the same at heart, but the topics would have been handled slightly differently in the animation, Mattila says.

Everything looked good. The Hilarius animation was in the modeling phase.

Around the same time, Mattila’s life took a tragic turn. 47-year-old Mattila was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2002. Mattila also lost her ability to speak and received speech therapy. Even moving was difficult.

– The production had to be stopped, even though I would have liked to continue. The doctors were of the opinion that writing scripts, directing and traveling around Finland were too stressful, says Mattila.

Mattila had acquaintances working in the same field, but could not find a successor.

Hilarius reruns ran on television and the Jyväskylä theme park remained open. However, no new content was created. In 2006, Viherlaakso was closed.

New beginning

In 2007, Lastentähdet Oy bought the rights to the Hilarius Hiiri character. Hilarius Hiire’s village was founded in Peurunka in 2010. The corona pandemic has also changed the plans of the mouse.

– The village of Hilarius Hiire has been on hiatus for two years. We are thinking about how we will continue next year, but this year was still a disaster, says Lastentähdet Oy Marko Haapahuhta.

You can bump into Hilarius at a few gigs this summer. Corona restrictions have made the owner cautious. The intention would be for Hilarius to play gigs in the fall and winter.

– We also shoot episodes of Iltasatu, which will be published on YouTube in the fall. In them, Hilarius reads fairy tales to children, Haapahuhta says.

Haapahuhta states that finding a new target audience “hasn’t come like dinner for Manu”. When the consumption of DVDs has decreased, Hilarius has also had to take over the internet and today’s social channels.

Haapahuhta knows that the parents of today’s children can remember Hilarius from their own childhood.

Yes, even the new generation has gotten to know Hilarius. Hilarius the Mouse Paws-song’s video has been viewed nearly 900,000 times on YouTube.

A generational experience

Marja-Liisa Mattila hasn’t forgotten Hilarius either – and neither have the children.

When Mattila went to the bank for a loan negotiation, there was a bank manager in his thirties.

– When it turned out that I invented Hilarius the Mouse, he said that he watched it and liked it. Half an hour went by talking about Hilarius, Mattila laughs.

In 2018, Mattila received information that the brain tumor has recurred. It has been four years since the harsh treatments, but MRIs are taken regularly.

Mattila is happy that the beloved mouse’s story has continued.

– Hilarius has kept his positive attitude as a friend of children, Mattila is happy.

However, there is sadness in the air.

– I loved making programs. It was a passion that filled my life. Sometimes there are dreams that need to be forgotten. Now I use my creativity, for example, to put flowers and the waterfall I built in the yard, says Mattila.

Thirty-year-old Hilarius Hiiri has changed over the years, but those working with the character throughout the ages have kept the core idea bright.

– Hilarius Hiiri is everyone’s friend, Haapahuhta answers as if from a pharmacy shelf.