"Sol et Gobelet" (1969) TV series

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Maurice Falardeau

Genre:

Family | Comedy

Cast

Luc Durand	...	Gobelet
Marc Favreau	...	Sol
Suzanne Lévesque	...	Isabelle

Country:

Canada

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Company:

Société Radio-Canada

A classic

Imagine Bozo the Clown and Charlie Chaplin's tramp getting together in an allegorical, philosophically-rich happy foray into the thousand-and-one aspects of everyday life... "Sol" is the philosopher of the two while "Gobelet" (the late great Luc Durand) is the more child-like of the two...

Note that Sol (Marc Favreau) was a one-man show virtuoso in Québec, Canada - and since the show's demise, he had gained, until his own untimely passing, wide praise and acclaim for all of his appearances on stage in the guise of the loquacious Sol, who substitutes ludicrous French words for the correct French words with wit and flair. A clown like no other - still, only in Québec's so-called "star system" could a clown from a children's show move on to this kind of career... There was only one other who came close - Patof - but he merely stuck to the same children fare material in his post-cancellation appearances, simply reprising his TV character... Sol does have the monopoly in this field of clowns making clever plays on words - Slava, the recent phenom-clown from Russia is essentially a stage act himself - and is completely stoic, a mime à-la-Marcel-Marceau if you will. Sol will hold on to this monopoly I guess - for a long time to come, in historical records.

Of Marc Favreau's collaboration with Luc Durand, I have nothing but fond memories. Durand co-wrote the show. And I highly recommend just about any episode - but in particular the one featuring Judith Paré as a somewhat mischievous mermaid! Each episode though was a little gem in its own right; and it never failed to be sophisticated, even though, essentially, nothing more than simple material meant primarily to amuse and stimulate a child's imagination.

Sol et Gobelet remains, thus, nothing short of this: great TV fare that would have taught even Mister Rogers and Captain Kangaroo a thing or two...! A classic true and true! But - seulement en français, oui!