Facilitator of It Cartoon for more than twenty years, Philippe Dana was one of those who launched Canal+. On this Monday, November 4, anniversary of the creation of the encrypted channel, he remembers for Tele-Leisure some memories of this unique day for him and for television.
Canal+ is 40 years old! Inaugurated on November 4, 1984, the encrypted channel launched many hosts, comedians and journalists. Among them, Philippe Dana. Known by an entire generation as the one who embodied the Sunday meeting It Cartoonhe also worked on many of the channel's programs in addition to his cult show. But it was in a completely different register that he got his start: when the program was launched, he was in charge of the weather forecasts. During an interview for Tele-Leisurethe TV man shared with us some memories of a day that would mark the history of the small screen in France.
“I remember the moment when the antenna started“: Philippe Dana talks about his memories of the launch of Canal+
“This November 4, I remember my day and certain very specific moments” Philippe Dana explains to us. “I remember the taxi outside my little apartment in Asnières. I often took it during rehearsals before the launch of Canal+ and it still had a manual counter, certainly tampered with, because I always arrived with incredible notes!” he still has fun today. Then comes D-Day, the moment when it all begins after weeks of rehearsals: “I remember the moment when the antenna started, when the bottle of champagne came on the screen. I remember André Rousselet in management, saying a word for the subscribers or Michel Denisot's set: his first guest was Gérard Depardieu and I was going to present my first weather report. I was in charge of those in the morning and Alain Chabat those in the evening“. Because yes, that's how both of them made their debut on the channel, like a certain Christophe Dechavanne shortly after. This November 4, the party was on the screen, but not only that.
Philippe Dana (It Cartoon) remembers November 4, 1984, the day Canal+ was created: “I have very clear memories of the afternoon party.“
Canal+ was then rue Olivier de Serres in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. “We shared our premises with the Ministry of Youth and Sports” specifies Philippe Dana. To mark this important moment for the PAF, the channel organized an event: “I have very clear memories of the afternoon party.it was great” explains the former host of It Cartoon. “At the time, I was 23 or 24 years old and I saw Michou – the director of a Parisian cabaret very well known at the time – accompanied by lookalikes of Dalida, then the real Dalida, followed by Rita Mitsouko – Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin -, the Telephone group, politicians – Jack Lang, Georges Fillioud, then Minister of Communication -, and a whole bunch of people that I only saw on television. For me it was magical” he details as if all this had happened the day before. Now retired, the host writes: his work In the land of toonspublished by Kero, is reissued this November 4. With four decades of hindsight, he concludes with a smile: “I was lucky to be at the right time, in the right place. During the first years, it was a repeat of that first day: it's quite extraordinary that it could last so long“.
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