Канадалық француз балалар телебағдарламасы "Passe Partout" туралы

Canadian French language children's television program

Passe Partout (pɑːspaʁtu; ) was a Quebec French language children's television program produced by Radio Québec (later Télé Québec) that was originally in production from 1977 to 1992, and was revived in 2019 with a new cast. It aired on Radio Québec as well as on Radio Canada for thirty minutes, incorporating both live actors and puppets although neither group interacted with each other.

When Sesame Street was released in 1969, the possibility of translating it into Quebec French for broadcast in Quebec was considered. However, the conclusion was that Quebec children would not be able to identify with an American television show, and thus the Quebec Minister of Education began investigating the possibility of a children's show shot in the province. In 1973, the project was handed over to producer Laurent Lachance. However, internal conflict between Lachance and Radio Québec led to several delays, and ultimately, to Lachance stepping down as producer. The government then turned towards private enterprises, and on February 14, 1977, contracted JPL Production to produce the show. In its original run, episodes were produced only until 1979, which were then repeated on the network until the government announced a new contract to produce 50 more episodes in 1983. The commentary for the first season's DVD mentions that the Quebec Minister of Education was being pressured to take over the pre school program as part of the regular program (prématernelle). It reveals that the government, experimentally, opted to invest in a show that could have a comparable outreach for the curriculum for a fraction of the cost of establishing and maintaining an actual educational program of similar content within its school system.

Live action segments usually featured the activities and relationships of several humorous and infantile characters: Passe Partout (French for "skeleton key" or "master key") (a woman dressed mainly in blue (purple in the reboot) played by Marie Eykel, in the reboot, Elodie Grenier), Passe Carreau (French for a tailoring device to iron seams) (a woman dressed mainly in yellow (pink in the reboot) played by Claire Pimparé, in the reboot, Gabrielle Fontaine) and Passe Montagne (French for "balaclava") (a man dressed in brown (red in the reboot) sporting butterfly shaped bowties played by Jacques L'Heureux, in the reboot, Jean François C. Pronovost). Other characters that appeared less frequently were André (a young adult male played by André Cartier), Julie (a young adult female played by Jocelyne Goyette), Fardoche (a male farmer played by Pierre Dufresne, in the reboot, Widemir Normil) and Grand mère (a neighbouring older woman that played grandmother for the actors). The latter would sometime narrate legends (the actress playing Grand mère, Kim Yaroshevskaya, used to be the hostess of another children show called Fanfreluche where she also acted as a storyteller). In the reboot, she was portrayed by Danielle Proulx. Later in the show's run, the show added two people of colour, a Haitian immigrant named Passe Tourelle (played by Joujou Turenne) and a Vietnameise character named Passe Midi (played by Daniel Dõ). In 2019, a completely new character appeared for the reboot series. (Chadi Alhelou as Tancrède). Apart from the distinctive costumes of the main actors, the live action segments had a surrealistic feel due to the absence of any visible walls: all doors, windows and portraits were seen to hang in mid air. Whether this was due to budget constraints or artistic choices is unclear. Segments in this category could either be educational (counting, language skills, memory work, etc. ), musical (featuring original songs composed in a traditional folk style), moralistic (personal responsibility), or storytelling.

Unlike the live action segments, these were filmed in a realistic environment (although of course scaled down). The various sketches involved the twins Cannelle (girl) and Pruneau (boy). Their stories often featured Perlin and Perline (their parents), grand papa Bi (their maternal grandfather), Madame Coucou (a single and coquettish neighbour), Rigodon (their same age male cousin), Ti Brin (the slightly older bully/bad influence) as well as their classmates: Doualé (a girl from the fictional country of Cantaloupe) and Mélodie (Cannelle's friend who often acted as an object of pity). Another character that never interacted directly with the children (although they often conversed, largely perhaps in the children's imagination) was Alakazou, an anthropomorphic zebra who hosted Cannelle and Pruneau's favourite TV show. More often than not, the puppet segments dealt with social and moral issues relating to children. In one notable instance, the children's father lost his job and went on extended unemployment benefits, making their future uncertain. Later in the series run, new puppet characters included Minella, who spoke French with an Italian accent, and Jade and Mirio, who were Vietnamese and Haitian respectively. The members of the band are fans of the program and of its composer, Pierre F. Brault.

The cast of the 2019 revival includes Élodie Grenier as Passe Partout, Gabrielle Fontaine as Passe Carreau, Jean François Pronovost as Passe Montagne, Danielle Proulx as Grand Mère and Widemir Normil as Fardoche.