Passe-Partout

Passe-Partout (French for "master key" or "all-purpose") was a French Quebecer language children's television program produced by Radio-Québec (later Télé-Québec) that was in production from 1977 to 1993. It aired on Radio-Québec as well as on Radio-Canada for thirty minutes, lasting on some networks until 1993. It incorporated both live actors and puppets although neither group interacted with the other.

When Sesame Street was released in 1969, the possibility of translating it in Quebec French for broadcasting 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. After two years (in 1973), the project was handed over to a 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 toward private enterprises, and, on February 14, 1977, contracted JPL Production to produce the show.

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 (a woman dressed mainly in blue played by Marie Eykel), Passe-Carreau (a woman dressed mainly in yellow played by Claire Pimparé) and Passe-Montagne (a man dressed in brown sporting butterfly-shaped bowties played by Jacques L'Heureux). Other characters that sometime appeared 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) 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).

...
Wikipedia