1, Rue Sésame

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1, Rue Sésame is the original French Sesame Street co-production, which premiered on January 4, 1978.
The French Muppet characters are Toccata the large Albatross, Mordicus the saxophone-playing blue Grouch, and Trepido (a pink snail).
A similarly titled French co-production debuted in 2005, called 5, Rue Sésame.
==History==
The series was executive produced by Michel Berthier from TF1 and Lutrelle Horne from CTW. The show ran for a total of 4 seasons and ceased production in June 1982.
The 1st season featured Toccata and Mordicus, as well as a cast of four adults (Roger, Odile, Clémence and Maxime) and two children, Fabienne and Rodrigue. Each of the characters (except for Odile who had a leitmotif and the two aforementioned children) had their own signature song, along with two duets (by Toccata/Mordicus and Roger/Clémence) and an occasional closing "street anthem" sung by the entire cast. These songs would be randomly performed in various episodes.
By spring 1979, Clémence, Maxime, Fabienne and Rodrigue were dropped from the show for the 2nd season, and were replaced with Dominé (Maxime's father), Catherine, and Marie-Lise. Vendredi, Marie-Lise's boyfriend also made occasional appearances during 1979, as both characters only appeared for this season. Additionally, a new Muppet character, Trepido the snail (originally named Subito) joins the cast. It's also at this point where Roger, Dominé, and Maxime form a singing group, "The Sésame Trio". Additionally, the episode plots became weekly stories although this practice would also last for this season only. 
Starting with the 3rd season in fall 1980, the show underwent a number of changes, following in a new format. The show's opening and closing title sequence with Toccata, Mordicus, and the children was replaced with a set of generic, decorative stills for the opening credits. The end credits were accompanied with children's drawings, with two sets being used interchangeably between the final two seasons. The segments were now shown grouped together in an orderly fashion, under their own title: usually, a street scene would be shown first (although only one or two would be included from this point forward), followed by the Muppet segments ("Au théâtre Sésame") and the cartoons ("Le jardin des Petits"). Afterwards, a new set of segments, known as "Des yeux pour voir", would either feature Toccata or Mordicus or both characters venturing outside of their normal terrain and engaging in various activities. These segments would be filmed on-location instead of taped, and the duo were rarely accompanied by the other street characters, usually Roger and Trepido. Sometimes, an additional filmed segment would appear as a short "Gag", while "Des yeux pour voir" and the street scenes would be switched occasionally.
Since these segments were now named, they would usually be preceded by a short introductory animated title sequence, except for "Au théâtre Sésame", which would open with a short live-action sequence featuring a pop-card of Bert and Ernie.
By 1981, Odile stopped appearing regularly, and a new member, Augustine, joined the cast. The show eventually ended on June 24, 1982, with the last episode, "Voyage aux Amériques". In the episode, everyone is invited by Mordicus's unseen American cousin, Johnny Mordicus (not Oscar the Grouch) on vacation to visit Sesame Street in the USA. Ironically, a rumor circulated that the series' cancellation was influenced by the then-new presidency of François Mitterrand, since the show's American roots clashed against Mitterrand's anti-Americanism views.
==Character Translations and Voices==
As with other co-productions, most of the characters were renamed. A few had different voices on certain albums than on the show, and sometimes multiple names were used for the same character.
English Name 	French Name 	French Voice Actor
Ernie 	Ernest 	Philippe Dumat
Bert 	Bart 	Henry Djanick
Cookie Monster 	Macaron 	Georges Atlas
Grover 	Grover 	Francis Lax
Count von Count 	Le Comte(sometimes, Vampirouette) 	Georges Atlas (early episodes)Jacques Deschamps
Herry Monster 	Hyacinthe(Lhorrible in some books)	Jacques Deschamps
Kermit the Frog 	Kermit la grenouille 	Jacques Ebner
Betty Lou 	Gertrude 	Béatrice Delfe
Roosevelt Franklin	Roosevelt 	Unknown
Guy Smiley 	Guy Sourire 	Unknown
Frazzle 	Farfelu 	Not Applicable
Farley 	Frédéric 	Unknown
Twiddlebugs 	Vibrillons 	Unknown
Oscar the Grouch 	Oscar le Grincheux 	Unknown
==Cast==
===Puppeteers===
*Lucien Morisse as Toccata
*Georges Mosca as Mordicus
*Catherine Coste as Trepido
===Actors===
*Roger Elcourt as Roger (1978-1982)
*Maxime Arcos as Maxime (1978-1979)
*Edith Garnier as Odile (1978-1981)
*Monique Tarbès as Clémence (1978-1979)
*Fabienne Dauvin as Fabienne (1978-1979)
*Rodrigue Mallet as Rodrigue (1978-1979)
*René Lafleur as Dominé (1979-1982)
*Nicole Évans as Marie-Lise (1979-1980)
*Daniel Tarrare as Vendredi (1979)
*Diane Dalby as Catherine (1979-1982)
*Caroline Cler as Augustine (1981-1982)
==See also==
*1, Rue Sésame Merchandise
==External links==
*French fansite
*French intervieuw with Roger Elcourt
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Category:International Sesame Street Shows