Surrounded by love, the luminous Kim Yaroshevskaya, our now eternal Fanfreluche, left us slowly at 101 years old.
For the generations of children from the Quiet Revolution, including myself, its flagship show greeted us when we came home from school. Later, new generations will discover her as a grandmother at Passe-Partout.
Adults will also be treated to his numerous creations and interpretations in theater and on screen. A generous, brilliant, free, complete and formidable talented artist.
In my childhood, sitting on the living room floor in front of my black and white television, Kim Yaroshevskaya lit up the screen so much, with her unique costume and make-up of a story doll, that I still had the impression of see in color.
Smiling, determined and radiant, she invited us to enter her great book of tales. Tales that she rewrote in her own way or created from scratch with her abundant pen.
In the 60s, like other legendary children’s programs on - – La Ribouldingue, And Pirate Bowls, Grujot and Delicate, Bobino, Ground and Cupetc. –, Fanfreluche appealed first of all to the intelligence of children.
Photo d’archives
To their intellectual intelligence, of course, but also, without counting their refined humor, to their emotional, imaginative and humanist intelligence. Yes, humanist.
For Kim Yaroshevskaya, who arrived in Quebec as a young orphaned refugee from Russia, in her head, the whole world was her playground. And in doing so, she made it ours.
An avant-garde vision
While Quebec was emerging from its too long Great Darkness and in 1967 it would welcome the planet to the Expo, its benevolent vision towards all humans, wherever they come from, including its own imagination, was truly avant-garde.
Living like many other children in a dysfunctional family with more than modest means, Fanfreluche also offered me a refuge. An enveloping refuge full of hope for a better future.
Coming back from school, the darker reality suddenly stopped when I turned on the TV. Family anxiety was momentarily swept away.
We must never underestimate the saving power of what nourishes the imagination and dreams of a child growing up in a difficult environment.
Because this soothing refuge also led to the quest for other refuges, other possible paths. School. The books. Friends. Creation. Writing. The theater. Cinema. Music, and even the dream of traveling one day.
Find refuge
Hadn’t Kim Yaroshevskaya found refuge here herself? What a wonderful gift she will give us later by offering us ours through the immense path of her imagination.
With Fanfreluche, we saw through the force of example that opening up to the world requires opening up to oneself in order to better reach out to others.
Kim Yaroshevskaya understood this long before us. In Fanfreluche, she also taught us perfectly.
No wonder for his magnificent book Venerablescovering more than 80 Quebec personalities of so-called advanced ages, the great photojournalist Jacques Nadeau chose her to be the cover.
Kim, the essential. Fanfreluche, our mother at heart.
Thank you for existing. They are truly blessed to all those who will hear you in turn tell them a beautiful tale in your own way.
Wherever you are, have a good trip.
