Sunday, May 3, 2009

THE PLOUFFE FAMILY

One of the first TV series in Quebec which was enjoyed by  both French and English.  Does anyone remember the characters and are there any photos out there of the Famille Plouffe? There were about 4 or 5 brothers and sisters and I remember one brother was a priest.  Used to love that show!  Diane

 

 

37 comments:

Madeleine Buckley said...

I think the father was Ovide...the daughter was Cécile and she was married to Onésime, the bus driver. There were two brothers, Guillaume and Emile. I'm not sure about the mother's name, but Thèrese is in my mind. Then there was tante Floride, can't remember the uncle. I absolutely loved that show. It was on Wednesday nights, right before wrestling. Now this has brought back memories.

Sandy Walsh said...

I loved it too - here is what I got when I googled it. They were famous enough to end up on google

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/familyplouff/familyplouff.htm

john allison said...

Ah yes!!!! I remember them well!!!!!

pauline garneau said...

That one brother was so so good looking I wanted to marry him. Pauline

Les F said...

Well that's pretty good recall, Although I know the name well,and have heard it often, I cannot say I actually would have watched the show,unless my parents watched it ,and we didn't really pay attention??? Funny thing though, just the mention Plouffle family is a reminder of our past...which really was near the infancy of TV watching,,,(We got our first new TV in 1957) & I got to go & test the tubes in the corner store (although that was in the early 60's).....hahahahaha Remember that.?

Les F said...

194 episodes,.that's alot of broadcasting & in todays world ,they would all be mega millionaires, as I believe the bnchmark for syndication is 100 episodes,where afterthat,the residuals pour in,,,,I wonder what these folks got paid? probabluy not that bad ,because your dollar went a long way in those days... interesting facts on that link: Merci .................................HF&RV

Madeleine Buckley said...

I went out after posting the last message. Hubby reminded me that the two sons were Guillaume (the good looking one, Pauline) and Napoléon. Emile Genest played his part. That's where I got the Emile from...lol. And now I seem to think the mother's name was Jeanne.

We got our tv in '52....remember the old Indian head? And it was on for like two-three hours a day. Then when they extended the time it was one show in English, then one in French. No matter what language we watched EVERYTHING. It was such a wonderful thing! I think a lot of us in my age bracket learned more French from tv than we ever did in school.

Sunday evenings we had Lassie, Our Miss Brooks, and Ed Sullivan. We always hurried to have our baths before those shows came on.

Les F said...

Saturday mornings would have the Adventures of the Lone Ranger (and KeemoSabe?) , then SkyKing ( cowboy sort of guy who travelled in a twin engineplane) then (it was off to Steinberg's with the wagon to make some dough for the Savoy movie in the afternoon... Saturday Night was for HNIC
Sunday Night was Bonanza & wasn't Ed Sullivan on Sunday night too? back to Saturday I seem to Remember the Don Messer Jubilee & maybe the Juliette show, (parents shows,but we all watched I guess)./............................funny old memories....

pauline garneau said...

As sure as we all went to mass Sunday morning we watch Ed Sullivan Sunday night. And do you remember Life with Elizabeth sponsored by Borden's Elsie the cow.My mother loved our pet Juliette,(who was the older man with her) and Gisele Mackenzie there was a hit parade show.It is fun remembering.Pauline

john allison said...

Life with Elizabeth with Betty White. 4 star Theatre after Ed Sullivan. With Dick Powell, Ida Lupino, Charles Boyer, and David Niven....

Diane Roberts said...

Yes Pauline, Guillaume was the good looking one! Also hockey mad and a temper if I recall correctly. Wish we could see reruns of old shows like that....Diane

Diane Roberts said...

Winston, I now remember all the shows you mentioned...this has got to be good for all our brain cells!. Remember George Burns & Gracie Allen Show, Sid Caesar, The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason...AND the Canadian comedy team Wayne & Schuster. They were on the air for years....corny humour, but it was very popular...Diane

Les F said...

La famille Plouffe was a Canadian television drama, more specifically a téléroman, about a Quebec family that first aired in the French-language on Société Radio-Canada in 1953. The show was created to fill a void in francophone television in Canada. Whereas the English Canadian television branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation could broadcast English-language shows from American stations, the Francophone component of the CBC, Radio-Canada had to develop its own programs for French-Canadian viewers from the earliest days of television in Canada. This show was one of the few that helped to launch the téléroman genre of programming in French Canada, interestingly around the same time the first telenovelas aired in Latin America.

The series was also broadcast, dubbed into English as The Plouffe Family, on CBC Television the following year and ran on both networks until 1959. The series was revived in the 1980s as a miniseries.[1]

The series was based on the novel Les Plouffe, by Roger Lemelin. It chronicled the daily life of a working class family in the years following World War II. The family included patriarch Théophile, a former provincial cycling champion who had settled into life as a plumber, his wife Joséphine, a naive but kind-hearted mother who doted on her adult children, and their children Napoléon, Ovide, Cécile and Guillaume.

Les F said...

there is a number of different portions of episodes of La Famille Plouffe available on Youtube,for those of you who watched this show,you might recognise some of them, Keep in mind the show was filmed in French originally and then dubbed into English later (years later than the original)
here's one lonk, and from there you can check out the others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gglzbi8e374

Diane Roberts said...

Thanks for that Les, I absolutely loved watching the film clip and the whole family were in it!
Great memories and perhaps it would be a good idea if all us Quebecers wrote to the CBC to rerun the series or at least produce it on DVD. I'm sending off my vote for a DVD right now!...Diane
Great Canadian TV History!

Les F said...

DVD ,.no sweat ,here you go, take your pick,.
http://www.imavision.com/fr/estore,wcicatalogue,type-c,id-688.html

you might also try searching the CBC archives & see if there is an order division there, perhaps they have translated versions ,if you prefer that.
http://archives.radio-canada.ca/clip.asp?IDClip=9810 try this link, it opens a media player,but you can search the CBC archives from here as well,.good luck ....HF&RV

pauline garneau said...

Hi Les I forgot what all the characters looked like.That was a great link. Thanks Pauline

Sandy Walsh said...

Great link - I had forgotten that Emile Genest was in that - he went on to act in quite a few things after that.

Diane Roberts said...

You're a legend Les! Now I'll definitely have to brush up on my limited French! Richard's fluent so he'll be my translator. I finally worked out why I had such difficulty learning French. We had lessons in school everyday which taught us so called "proper" French, then when we heard it on the streets, most people were speaking a Quebecois form of french....not anything like what I was being taught. Also, most of my neighbours and friends were English, so I didn't have much of an opportunity to "tune in" to the jouel being spoken. Totally confused me and unfortunately I never mastered the language. Still take lessons occasionally, but I tell Richard the only way I'll ever learn is to live in France for at least a couple of months...at least that's my solution and I'm sticking to it! ...Diane

SANDRA PENNER said...

Pauline, Have you ever seen that movie called "LA FLORIDA" ? now that movie reminds me of the Plouffe Family,I saw it years ago on a VCR, but it should be available on DVD, it's hilarious!!! Its available in french and english. Okay, how many people remember "Pepineau & Capucine" which was the puppet show way back before The Plouffe Family...hummmmmmm...I bet Les does??

cookie

john allison said...

Papineau......I have told my wife, my kids, and my grandkids about that show..... It was the stupidest show I have ever seen. Being that we only had the two channels, I watched it just for the sake of it. Numinum........... numinum ....that was the sound from that puppet......Life was fun tho!!!!!! Still is!!!!!!

SANDRA PENNER said...

Okay Winnie....How about "Our Miss Brooks" who starred Eve Arden,who later played a teacher in the original "Grease" movie with Travolta? That's as good as my memory can get!!

cookie

john allison said...

I have the Grease album and movie because my grandkids and I would watch it all the time when they lived here. I also played the music when I did the treadmill. Our Miss Brooks. "If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter!" Just so many old programs to remember. Also the radio programs.......Life with Luigi, Duffy's Tavern, Mr and Mrs North. I could go on all night.....

pauline garneau said...

Hi Cookie I think the one you are referring to La Florida is an Elvis Graton movie and all his movies are hilarious he is always making fun of something.
Did you ever put steel wool on the antenna to try to get the American Channels? Didn't work to well the sound would come in and a ghost like picture sometimes that was good enough.
I remember Father Know Best but there was another one called Life with Father it was about a family with with three sons.That was all good stuff for the time .
Pauline

pauline garneau said...

Do you remember trying to make a deal with someone to hold the antenna with the steel wool on them?The deal was, you hold them then I'll hold them, .Pauline

john allison said...

Pauline. I remember Life With Father. I believe it starred Leon Ames. He eventually owned a Ford dealership called Leon Ames Ford.....

SANDRA PENNER said...

Pony..Yes we did put steel-wool on the indoor antenna to bring in channel 3 or channel 5 so we could watch American Bandstand and try to dance their steps!! What memories....Life with Father ,I can see the father now with a large mustach??right/wrong??

cookie

SANDRA PENNER said...

Winnie...what a coincidence..years ago I picked up the VCR of "Grease",which doesn't work on todays equipment, so I'd better buy the DVD before thats obsolete!! It sure brings us back to the 50's and 60's doesn't it? At least there was a beat to the Rock n' Roll music back then that we could all dance to...............
cookie

SANDRA PENNER said...

Winnie,I forgot to tell you that back in either late '50's or early '60's, Elvis was on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, and Wayne placed the old kodak box camera on top of books and a table and actually took photos of Elvis while he was performing,black and white of course....next time you talk to him ask him about it......

cookie

john allison said...

I will ask hime bout his photography career!!!! Short lived as it might have been!!!

pauline garneau said...

Sandra does he still have the pictures?
Talking about Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town Show do you remember an act that the guy did the Lancers Dance It use to be so funny. I can't remember his name.
Zorro and Robin Hood if no one mentioned them were good .Then Peyton Place in the 60's.

Pauline

Sandy Walsh said...

Pauline - he was Mr. Pastry - he was really funny

http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/other/mrpastry.htm

Also the Gail Storm Show - sort of like the original Love Boat - was a big one

SANDRA PENNER said...

Pauline, I will ask Wayne if he still has those Elvis Photos next time we chat. SandyWest mentioned The Gail Storm Show, that sure brings me way back! Also I recall "Mr.Pastry" also, what a hoot !!
cookie

pauline garneau said...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=victor+borge++&rlz=
Hope this works But do you remember this guy from Ed Sullivan

SANDRA PENNER said...

Pony, Oh Yeah, Victor Borge, we have seen him a couple of times b4 he passed away on PBS..such a great entertainer My Mom always enjoyed watching him way back when.... I see tonight on PBS is another repeat of "Doo-Wop" music. I am a number uno fan of "Andrea Bocelli" and Josh Groban....what voices they have!! Of course,I listen to the old Cd's of the '50's..'60's..and some '70's....etc.etc. Some folks were talking about BBQ Chicken restaurants awhile back...My Mom worked for "The Chicken Coop" on St.Catherine St. way back in the late 1950's..sometimes she would bring home some of their meals...mmmmmmgood.....I still have a truck drivers appetite,but am very lucky I don't put on the pounds....good genes I suppose....

cookie

pauline garneau said...

Cookie it's funny how "back then" how we never mentioned our parents like they didn't exist and now all these memories are all about when they were with us and how lucky we were to of had them.We never talked about what they did or how hard they had to work.
I'll add El Divo ,and this great voice of the 50's I remember going to the Savoy and crying all through the movie . I think it was his life story but it was soooo sad.
I'll experiment again with copy and past do you remember
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=mario%20lanza&rlz=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#hl=en&q=mario+lanza&rlz=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&start=40

Diane Roberts said...

I remember seeing the life story of Mario Lanza in a movie at the Savoy. I also remember seeing Gone with the Wind there three times and Elvis's first...Love Me Tender. I think it was the Savoy, but could have been Fifth Ave....Diane