Series

This series
is composed of five volumes of scripts from the TV show "Chez
Hélène," produced and broadcast by CBC. The first volume contains the
scripts for episodes 1 to 25, broadcast from October 26 to November 27, 1959;
the second, those for episodes 26 to 60, broadcast from November 30, 1959, to
January 15, 1960; the third, those for episodes 62 to 85, broadcast from
January 19 to February 19, 1960; the fourth, those for episodes 86 to 110,
broadcast from February 22 to March 25, 1960; and the fifth, those for episodes
111 to 135, broadcast from March 28 to April 29, 1960.

The series
documents the content of the popular children's TV show devoted to teaching the
French language to English-speaking preschoolers. Using dialogue that
alternated between French and English, the shows aimed to teach simple words
associated with concepts like colours, animals, food, the furniture and rooms
found in the home, clothing, things found in nature, opposites (hot/cold,
big/small, clean/dirty) and action verbs (eat, drink, jump, hide, run, fly,
laugh, dance). More abstract concepts like hunger, thirst, smell, sadness,
fear, surprise and secret were also covered. The content of each show revolved
around themes that would extend over multiple episodes, often inspired by
children's stories (for example, "The Three Little Pigs," "Goldilocks
and the Three Bears," "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding
Hood") or well-known songs ("Sur le pont d'Avignon," "Frère
Jacques," "Quand les poules vont au champ," "Au clair de la
lune," "Promenons-nous dans les bois," "Il était une
bergère"). As the main character, Hélène Baillargeon-Côté carried the
action. In addition to talking to her friends Suzie the mouse, Diana and her
brother Peter, Compère L'Heureux, Pamela the butterfly and Riquet the dog, she
would clearly illustrate what she was saying with the help of pantomime,
images, figurines and scale models. She would also demonstrate various
activities (baking cookies, making crafts, doing a jigsaw puzzle).

In
addition, the scripts provide information on other contributors to the show,
such as J. J. Faure, Mervyn Rosenzveig, Lise Bourgeois, Simone Poitras, Raymond
Duplantie, Marie Brewer, Paul Jodoin (Jodouin), Marion C. Demish, Maurice
Gagnon and L. Shapiro. Numerous handwritten annotations illustrate Hélène
Baillargeon-Côté's involvement in the production of the show. In the first
volume, several press clippings pasted onto the endpaper, including a March
1960 article by Thelma Dickman entitled "Is Canadian TV harming your
child?" chronicle the show's popular and critical success. Finally, the
series contains a copy of the Debates of the Senate from
January 27, 1960, which mentions television and radio programs, including
"Chez Hélène," that encourage English-speaking Canadians to learn
French.