Fanfreluche

Fanfreluche was a French-language Canadian children's television show made in Quebec by Radio-Canada. The show made its debut in 1968 and ran for forty-six episodes until 1971. It starred Fanfreluche, a living doll (played by Kim Yaroshevskaya) who retold fairy tales and legends to the viewers. When the story went a way that displeased her, she would physically enter it to "fix" the ending which sometimes put her in a perilous situation.^[1]

For the racehorse, see Fanfreluche (horse).

From the character in this show, prominent Montreal businessman and Thoroughbred horse breeder Jean-Louis Lévesque named one of his fillies Fanfreluche. Believed to have used the name to please a grandchild, Levesque's filly became a Canadian and United States champion racehorse in 1970.

The theme song was composed by Herbert Ruff.^[1]

History

In 1957, Fanfreluche made her first appearance as a character of the children show Le grenier aux images. Following this, Fanfreluche became a recurring character in the children show La boîte à surprise (1956-1967).^[1] Yaroshevskaya, originally from Moscow, based her character on stories from russian poet Pushkin and the ballet Coppélia.^[2]

Between 1968 and 1971, Kim Yaroshevskaya wrote and played as the titular character in every episode. ^[1]

Radio-Canada ran regular reruns from the 1968 to 1982, with partial reruns in the 90's.^[1]