XXXXXOn the occasion of the centenary of  " La Semaine de Suzette " The Paris  Museum  celebrates with a new exhibition of the magazine and its dolls,  particularly the legendary Bécassine as well as the little Bleuette and her wardrobe. Almost a thousand objects are presented, coming from both the collection of the Museum and from private collections.

XXXXX Also copies of La Semaine de Suzette, original albums of Bécassine, the rare and old dolls, the unusual objects ....an absolutely fabulous universe! !

The Children's Magazine,  La Semaine de Suzette

X XXXXX The magazine " La Semaine de Suzette " was created in 1905 by Henri Gautier, at the time of the separation of the Church and the State. The editor set the tone before its launch t :

XXXXX" The Semaine de Suzette will be the entertaining complement to a religious and intellectual education   ". The objective of the review  : " to entertain, to amuse to educate through serialized novels, stories, illustrated histories, games, competitions, plays, poetry,  indoor and outdoor games, needlework, recipes. While inculcating public-spiritedness, morality and charity. "

XXXXX The newspaper appeared  on Thursdays for 55 years, from 1905 till 1960 and had a hundred thousand regular  subscribers. who even returned after an interruption of 6 years at the time of the Second World War .,

Les toutes premières Bleuette

 

XXXX" Suzette   ", the typical reader,  was between 10 to 15 years of age, but was sometimes younger or  older... There were " Suzettes " who continued their dear subscription after their marriage! Suzette often attended private school in the big cities but also went to public school in smaller towns. She was mostly French, lived sometimes in colonies, or if she was foreign, wished to perfect her understanding of the French language by reading the Semaine de Suzette and often found one or several correspondents by the way of the column " La Petite Poste ". She was usually of the Catholic bourgeois middle class.

XXXXX Many of the Suzettes, today grown old, preserve their magazines and especially their Bleuettes, their Bécassines or their Bambinos about which they speak with emotion.

Les attendrissantes 6/0

 

The dolls of La Semaine de Suzette

 
XXXXX Among the six dolls of La Semaine de Suzette , two of them are well known,  still appreciated and remain very popular. You all know them, young people or  older, girls or boys! They are The dolls of La Semaine de Suzette : Bécassine and Bleuette.  

Bécassine, the heroine, was born with the first number of the Semaine de Suzette on February 2, 1905,

XXXXX The comic strip was written at the last minute to complete the last page of the first issue. Bécassine returned to the magazine a little later, and in a very unpredictable way. This naive and kind Breton girl, always wishing to be helpful, approaching everything in what was to her a very logical way, was born under Jacqueline Rivière's pen and Joseph Porphyre Pinchon's delicious pencil. Carried on from 1913 by Maurice Languereau, nephew of Mister Gautier and future partner, known under the pen name of Caumery, she continued to be drawn by J.P. Pinchon, except for two years in 1915 and 1916 when J.P. Pinchon was mobilized in the Dardanelles, she was drawn by the well known draftsman Zier.

XXXXX In the avant-garde of the current events of her time, Bécassine was alternately an aviator, schoolteacher, mountain climber, driver of a motorcar, and made long journeys to distant places.  In 1922, Bécassine became the nurse of the famous Loulotte, in fact the little baby of Maurice Languereau who was the inspiration for many stories.

Bécassine de Reine Dégrais et autres créations de cette artiste

XXXXX

XXXXX In 1913, there began a series of 27 albums drawn by Pinchon and written by Caumery, first being "   The childhood of Bécassine   ". Today Edition Hachette-Livre/Gautier-Languereau, the publishing house, continues reprints inspired by the original albums, adapting the texts to our time which is no longer that of Bécassine.

XXXXX As the first feminine heroine of a comic strip, Bécassine became partially a timeless myth integral to our French collective memory. She is presented in the form of dolls wearing the incomparable outfit, in cloth dolls made by Reine Dégrais, then in a multitude of objects: umbrellas, lamps, mechanical toys, ashtrays, key rings, salt and pepper shakers, dishes and kitchen ware, and figurines to name a few. ....

XXXXX he survived very well after the disappearance of La Semaine de Suzette in 1960.

 

 

Bleuette, the mascot,

fwas the important doll of several generations of small girls. The enormous wardrobe  resulted from two sources: a beautifully designed and made collection of ready-to-wear clothing that could be bought directly from the publisher or by mail,  and the clothing made by the girls themselves from the many patterns published in the column "   Nous habillons Bleuette   " of " La Semaine of Suzette "

XXXXX Offered as a premium to the subscribers in 1905, she was made by the S.F.B.J. and for a long time measured 27 cms, then 29cm from 1933.
XXXXX Bleuette's marketing finished in 1960 with the end of the publication of the magazine. Since then she, as well as her wardrobe from both sources, has been very collectible and very desirable and she has been, for about twenty years now, the object of numerous books.

XXXXX Even today, older " Suzettes " look for the doll of their childhood with nostalgia anda new generation of collectors, many of them foreign, search for her because of the surprising wealth and the variety of her clothes.

XXXXX The other dolls were presented in the magazine without however having the success of the two previous ones :

XXXXX Benjamine, small sister of Bleuette,  born in 1926 was sold for only a short time.

XXXXX Bamboula, a short-lived small black baby, lived only  during the time of the Colonial Exhibition of 1931 and disappeared with it.XX

XXXXX Bambino, her little brother with a baby body was born in 1928, measuring 25 to 27 cms, had  also a rich and beautiful wardrobe reflecting the fashions of early childhood. He disappeared with the review in 1960.

XXXXX Rosette, the big sister of Bleuette, measuring 35 cms, accompanied Bleuette and Bambino from 1955 till 1960.

 

 

 

 

Déguisements réalisés par Mathilde Héritier

 

Belle vitrine pour de nombreux Bambino

Meeting with authors

On the occasion of the publication of the book "    Bleuette : son trousseau de confection Gautier-Languereau, 1905-1960   " by Monique Couturier and Samy Odin, the " Musée de la Poupée-Paris " presents :

On Sunday , April 3, 2005 from 14 hr till 16 hr

A meeting with the authors of other works on the dolls of La Semaine de Suzette and a autograph session.

M. Couturier and S. Odin for "    Bleuette : son trousseau de confection Gautier-Languereau, 1905-1960  "

Bernard Lehembre for " Bécassine. Une légende du siècle ",

 Colette Merlen for "   Bleuette, la Poupée de La Semaine de Suzette   "

Anne-Marie Porot for "   Bambino   "

Hélène Bugat-Pujol for "   Bécassine éternelle  " , "   Bleuette résiste, 1940-1949   " , "   Bleuette défile, 1940-1949   "
"   Le Petit Bambino de Suzette ", "   Suzette gentille cousette "

Marie-Edith Charles and Elisabeth Chauveau  for "   Nous habillons Bleuette 1923-1933   "

Doris Lechler for " Bleuette - Her Gautier-Languereau Ads and Catalogues of Fashion - 1905/1960 "

Albert Bazin for "  Les Chapeaux de  Bleuette "

All these small dolls wait for you in the Museum Poupée-Paris.

Information

Musée de la Poupée-Paris Impasse Berthaud 75003 PARIS M° Rambuteau
Tel. : 01 42 72 73 11
< > < www.museedelapoupeeparis.com >

 

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Tous droits de reproduction même partielle, rigoureusement réservés ©
La présentation des poupées dans les vitrines est l'oeuvre de Guido Odin
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02.02.05