the daily life of a tireless little soldier

“Since you've been gone, we've spent almost every Wednesday at the police station! » A man who recognized Dorothy in the metro thus approached him to evoke the absence that was hard to bear after the sudden cessation, in 1996, of the “Club Dorothée”.

With the hindsight of time, we realize how much this should never have happened. The audience was still at a maximum and the host was more than ever adored by the public. Complex internal struggles between the channel's managers and the producers of these 22 hours of air time per week have, unfortunately, put an end to an adventure which has every chance of remaining unique in the history of the small screen.

Announcer's booth

Dorothée could not imagine such a journey when one afternoon in the early 1980s, the telephone rang in the small announcer's booth at Antenne 2 where, several times a week, she was on duty to announce the programs. She also hosts “Récré A2” on Wednesdays. That's where his correspondent spotted him. His name is Jean-Luc Azoulay, he has just created a record label and wants to have it record original children's stories, written by the poet Bernard Dimey. Naturally shy, she hesitates for a long time, and ends up giving the green light.

Unfortunately, despite regular reminders to the author, the texts will never arrive. Azoulay proposes an alternative solution: an original story whose text, but also the songs would be interpreted by Dorothée. The interested party's refusal was immediate: it was not her job. She nevertheless ends up being convinced and will never regret it. Neither does a generation of children and adolescents. The album Dorothée in the land of songs was so successful that it became a musical at the Olympia. The machine has started and is not going to stop.

Dorothée drum beatingunder a marquee for the Christmas holidays, receives a visit and congratulations from Jacques Chirac, mayor of Paris. 45s now sell in the hundreds of thousands, if not more. In the playgrounds, we hum the refrains of To make a song and of Whoa the liar. The move from Antenne 2 to TF1 in 1987 became a form of consecration. Those that Jacques Brel called the “dear little heads” jostle to attend the “Club Dorothée” on Wednesday afternoons, and write by the tens of thousands in the hope that their name will appear in the list of birthdays of the day.

Full everywhere

Between two shows, she reunites with her musicians Les Musclées and her backing singers, for concerts which are sold out everywhere, from Bercy to the Zénith across France and even in 1990 in Shanghai, on the occasion of an Arts festival of which she is the guest of honor. In 1996, she set a record on the stage of what is today the Accor Arena: 33 concerts lasting more than two hours, in 11 days, from morning to evening, in front of packed stands, on the occasion of the Christmas celebrations. Marathons which, behind the scenes, never stopped him from caring, on a daily basis, for the members of his team. She always thought of others before worrying about her own fate.

This is how she had been educated by her mother and, in her mind, this life lesson became a duty. Considering oneself as a “little soldier”never showing the slightest sign of fatigue, she perfectly respected a meticulous schedule, worthy of a minister. His days regularly began with his entry, around 6:30 a.m., into a café next to his Parisian apartment. Some mornings, while eating breakfast, she placed headphones on her ears in order to learn, for the afternoon live broadcast, the words of a song written the night before.

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Regularly viewing and choosing new cartoon series among all those offered by Americans and Asians was also part of his regular concerns. This shows if TF1 is right today to tell him « merci »but should also add: “Come home!” ». Far from the small screen, she has built a universe where she lives happy days, but it is obvious, when you know her, that the desire to want is always present in her eternal child's soul. His return to a show that has, of course, nothing to do with Club Dorothée would, without doubt, be a good audience asset.

But we must not forget that directed by François Truffaut in Love on the run then by Robert Enrico in Bill your faceshe demonstrated that she was also an excellent actress. A recurring role in a series is one of his secret dreams. A fiction that deserves to become reality.