Some 4.4 million French people tuned to TF1 in January for Merci Dorothée!, a four-hour long tribute to the former TV presenter, singer and actress known simply as Dorothée.
Viewers, mostly in their 50s, did not care that Dorothée, 71, had aged somewhat since her TV heyday, that her porcelain-like face was faintly lined or that her clothing was more sober.
It was as if she had never left their screens.
“You are a singer, a comedian, a TV presenter, a producer, a pioneer in many sectors. More than that, you are our ‘Madeleine de Proust,’” said Nikos Aliagas, the show’s presenter, over the roaring of her fans.
It was not the first time that Dorothée had been the subject of a nostalgic career review, but the reception remained the same – a testament to her legacy and her impact on French people.
Dorothée's iconic TV shows
Dorothée has been the substitute mother, sister, nanny, and best friend of a generation of French children born between the early 1970s and ’80s thanks to Récré A2 and Club Dorothée, two children's TV programmes that aired on France 2 and TF1.
These shows and the subsequent 1,000-plus hours of primetime TV she occupied each year from the late 1970s to the late ’90s helped her build an empire in the entertainment business.
Children born during these years often refer to themselves as ‘Generation Dorothée’.
When Club Dorothée stopped suddenly in 1997 and she disappeared from the public eye, she left a void in many fans’ hearts.
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“We all share, in ourselves, a small part of you. Because you were there during our first baby steps, tantrums, kisses – failed, most of the time – heartbreaks. More than a TV presenter, you shouldered us during childhood, holding our hands and those of our parents. And then you left…” tearful journalist Faustine Bollaert told her in 2010.
“I think a lot of people share the same emotion,” she said, trying to regain her composure.
Frédérique Hoschedé was born on July 14, 1953 in Paris, the daughter of an engineer father, Maurice Hoschedé, and housewife mother, Jacqueline Hoschedé.
She had an older brother, Jean-François, who died in 2009, and is a descendant of the painter Claude Monet.
What they say about her
“She was like a second mother…at times, the first [laughs]. She was there 24/7. Younger generations cannot imagine what it was like to have ONE kids’ show. Before school, she was there. You came home, she was there.”
Frédéric Molas, aged 42, co-founder of YouTube channels Joueur du Grenier and Bazar du Grenier, on growing up watching Club Dorothée.
Imagine what Dorothée could have done, with the audience ratings she enjoyed, the popularity she enjoyed, the credit she retained with children, to entertain, to pass on, to amaze, to teach... credit she is now losing because of her commercial excesses, which are beginning to shock even her ‘fans’.”
Extract from Le ras-le-bol des bébés zappeurs by Ségolène Royal, who waged a war on Club Dorothée and Japanese shows deemed too gory and violent.
“Should Dorothée be burned?”
A headline from VSD magazine on February 5, 1993, depicting Dorothée as Joan Of Arc, and questioning why Dorothée was the subject of so much hatred by Canal +
A fascination with British and US culture was born on a school trip to England when she was 13, where she discovered pop music, musicals and movies. She graduated with a degree in English in 1972.
She was spotted in 1971 by TV producer Jacqueline Joubert while performing one of Alfred de Musset’s novels, which she had adapted and starred in herself.
She subsequently landed several appearances on TV shows in the 1970s, both as an announcer and presenter, and played three minor cinema roles.
Ms Hoschedé garnered mainstream popularity when Ms Joubert moved into directing France 2’s children’s schedule and gave her a job presenting Récré A2, initially a summer-only show. Ms Joubert advised her to choose a new stage name, as Frédérique was considered too androgynous.
The show was soon expanded to air every weekday, ultimately becoming a decade-long success story, with children tuning in for the compilation of sketches, songs, and games.
In that time, Dorothée was convinced by producers to start making children’s songs.
She released 10 albums between 1980 and 1985, with several songs becoming hits. As of today she has sold 20 million albums, according to Quotidien, and she toured around France with sold-out shows.
Dorothée was hired by TF1 in 1987 when the government opened TV channels to privatisation. She moved with most of the crew, performers and workers, changing the name of the show from Récré A2 to Club Dorothée.
It was with this show that Dorothée reached nationwide stardom and left a lasting impact on generations of French children (see box).
Similar to Récré A2, what was initially meant as a weekly live show on Wednesdays turned into a daily show with Dorothée and her fellow presenters shooting 20 hours of content per week with six hours live on Wednesdays. Some 2,000 hours of content was shot each year.
Club Dorothee vacances, 1987Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
The show had a 55% audience share for viewers aged four to 14. Indeed, it was so popular that artists such as Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis performed with her on stage in 1993 during the Dorothée Rock’n’roll Show.
Children could also claim a free Club Dorothée membership card that gave them special deals, coupons or autographs. More than 700,000 had been distributed by the summer of 1997.
Club Dorothée was also innovative in introducing French children to a number of Japanese shows, such as Dragon-Ball Z (see box below). It has also been credited with popularising French sitcoms, thanks to the mainstream success of Hélène et les Garçons.
Dorothée toured in China with a singing show, and shot small cameos for the Japanese show Bioman and the BBC’s The Wild Bunch.
“I have not had a lot of private life. About 99.9% of my time was taken up by TV, stage shows, recordings etc. But I do not regret it,” she said on ‘Il était une fois…Dorothée’ (Once Upon A Time…Dorothée), a TMC documentary about her in 2010.
TF1 pulled the plug on the show in August 1997, afraid that AB Productions, the company that produced it, would turn into too big a rival.
The termination of Club Dorothée affected its star immensely, colleagues have suggested in documentaries and interviews. In an unfortunate coincidence, Dorothée’s mother died on the evening of the final episode.
Dorothé subsequently spent 13 years out of the spotlight, sharing no details about her private life in that time.
She attempted painting but said that, despite Claude Monet’s genes, she lacks the talent for it.
She also made a brief return to stage at the Olympia in 2010, but ticket sales were only half the venue’s capacity.
However, as well as the tribute show earlier this year, it has been announced that she will voice-over a character in the upcoming French version of Smurf, the movie, to be released on July 16.
Of the place she still holds in many viewers’ hearts, she said: “The term ‘
grande famille
’ (big family) may seem stupid but there is truth to it. I have seen people get married, children born, growing up and eventually getting married themselves. We knew each other very well.”
