Chez Helene

Chez Helene was a children’s TV show that was cleverly sandwiched between The Friendly Giant and Butternut Square (the precursor to Mr. Dressup). I remember it in black and white.

I didn’t really like Chez Helene because it was almost entirely in French. Helene, a white-haired grandmother type, spoke French; Suzie, a mouse puppet who lived in Helene’s house, spoke English; and Louise, a young woman who visited, was bilingual. Needless to say, of the three of them, I liked Suzie the best. But she was not my favourite character.

There was also a man who Helene looked in on, by looking into a lamp and saying the magic words “Abree, abraa, abree, abraa.” He didn’t talk at all, but he always did something funny. I don’t remember his name, but he was my favourite. Unfortunately, he wasn’t on every episode.

Does anyone else remember him?

I couldn’t find an episode of the show on the internet, but here’s part of a recording that I found on Youtube.