Passe-Partout

For other uses, see Passepartout (disambiguation).

Passe-Partout
Genre	Children's television series
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	French
Production
Production company	Radio-Québec
Original release
Release	1977 (1977) – 16 January 1992 (1992-01-16)
Release	2019 (2019) – 16 August 2024 (2024-08-16)

Passe-Partout (French: [pɑːspaʁtu]; lit. '"skeleton key" or "all-purpose"') was a Canadian French-language children's television program produced by Radio-Québec (later Télé-Québec) from 1977 to 1992. It was revived in 2019 with a new cast and cancelled once more in August 2024. The show, which also aired on Radio-Canada, for thirty minutes per episode, included both live actors and puppets, though there was no interaction between the two.

History

When the American children's television show Sesame Street was released in 1969, the possibility of translating it into French for broadcast in the Canadian province of Quebec was considered. However, it was concluded that Quebec children would not be able to identify with an American television show, and thus the Quebec Ministry of Education began exploring the possibility of a local children's show. In 1972, the project was undertaken by producer Laurent Lachance.

However, internal conflict between Lachance and Radio-Québec led to several delays, and ultimately, Lachance stepped down as producer. The government then turned to private enterprises, and on 14 February 1977, contracted JPL Production to work on the show. In its original run, episodes were produced only until 1979, and these were then rerun on the network until the government announced a new contract to produce 50 more episodes from 1983 to 1984.

Concept

Live-action segments

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); Passe-Carreau (tailoring device to iron seams), a woman dressed mainly in yellow (pink in the reboot); and Passe-Montagne ("balaclava"), a man dressed in brown (red in the reboot) sporting butterfly-shaped bowties.

Other characters who appeared less frequently were André, a young man; Julie, a young woman; Fardoche, a farmer; and Grand-mère, a neighbouring older woman who played grandmother to the characters and would sometimes narrate stories. Later in the show's run, the characters of Passe-Tourelle, a Haitian immigrant, and Passe-Midi, a Vietnamese man, were added. In 2019, a new character, Tancrède, appeared.

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.

Cast and characters

• Marie Eykel / Elodie Grenier as Passe-Partout
• Claire Pimparé / Gabrielle Fontaine as Passe-Carreau
• Jacques L'Heureux / Jean-François C. Pronovost as Passe-Montagne
• André Cartier as André
• Jocelyne Goyette as Julie
• Pierre Dufresne / Widemir Normil as Fardoche
• Kim Yaroshevskaya / Danielle Proulx as Grand-mère
• Joujou Turenne as Passe-Tourelle
• Daniel Dõ as Passe-Midi
• Chadi Alhelou as Tancrède

Puppet segments

The sketches in the puppet segments 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 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, new puppet characters included Minella, who spoke French with an Italian accent, and Jade and Mirio, who were Vietnamese and Haitian, respectively.

In the reboot series, Madame Coucou is a lesbian, Mélodie is Asian, and a new Haitian character, Kiwi, is introduced.

Interlude

In between segments, short films were shown. These included animation, art, or children's testimonials. These were often intended to have educational value and showcased daily happenings in children's lives, from going to the dentist, getting X-rays, starting school, playing with friends (or alone), cleaning a bicycle, or simply going to bed.

Legacy

On 29 September 2009, a compilation album titled Génération Passe-Partout was released, featuring songs from the show performed by contemporary Quebec musicians such as Cœur de pirate, Marie-Élaine Thibert, the Lost Fingers, Martin Deschamps, Lynda Thalie, Florence K, Tricot Machine, Stéphanie Lapointe, Fred Pellerin, and Kaïn.

Passe-Partout is mentioned in the song "Les étoiles filantes" by the Repentigny-based neo-trad band Les Cowboys Fringants, from their 2004 album, La Grand-Messe.

Revival

Passe-Partout was rebooted in 2019 with a new cast that included Élodie Grenier as Passe-Partout, Gabrielle Fontaine as Passe-Carreau, Jean-François C. Pronovost as Passe-Montagne, Danielle Proulx as Grand-Mère, and Widemir Normil as Fardoche. The first episode aired on 25 February, with a viewership of over 70o,000. The show ran until 16 August 2024.