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.