Dear students, welcome to your Quebec culture course. The subject this morning is Mrs. Dominique Michel, who is celebrating her 90th birthday today.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
I’m talking to you about a lady whose under 20s cannot know the full importance of her existence. And that’s what we’re going to fix immediately!
Dominique Michel, born Aimée Sylvestre, was born on September 24, 1932 in Sorel. Her childhood dream was not to become a TV star, because TV didn’t exist. She first became a singer. OK, that’s not Ginette Reno’s voice. His qualities as an interpreter are elsewhere. She emanates a sweetness, a sun, a kindness, a tenderness that vibrates from the first notes. When we listen to her, we immediately feel that she loves us. His greatest success is Watching over the porch, a classic starring Quincy Jones. All the same.
It is by doing comedy that she becomes the monument that she is. With her comedy partner Denise Filiatrault, another legend, she lights up the nights of Montreal. Denise is the tall, unrestful rogue, Dodo is the little, unrestful naïve. Together is hell! Their duo travels from cabarets to TV, with the show Me and the other. In 1966, all of Quebec follows the adventures of two single friends, resourceful and liberated. The guys in their show are dominated. the girlpowerit was Dodo and Denise who invented it.
PHOTO ARMAND TROTTIER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Dominique Michel and Denise Filiatrault at the 1979 ADISQ gala
Ah, I see questioning looks in the classroom. Sleep? Yes, Dodo. We very quickly called her by this diminutive, as we do only for people who are part of the family. You can’t please everyone and your father. Except Sleep.
In 1972, me and the other become me without the other, but their destinies will be forever linked. At the same time, the review of December 31 becomes a tradition as entrenched as the Christmas turkey. All Quebecers pause their New Year’s Eve to turn on their TV. During the last hour of the year, millions of us are gathered in the same living room. And the one who receives the nation is Dominique Michel. The stars follow one another in the most watched show, but the one we almost never do without is her. She will bid farewell to Bye Bye many times, and will come back to it just as often. Jean-Pierre Ferland and Tom Brady only imitated him.
Why does Dodo make us laugh so much? Because she makes people laugh to please. Like a best friend, make us laugh. Because she loves us. Not with bitches, not with bad guys.
There is in all his characters a sweet madness, a seductive vulnerability, something sooooo cute ! Even his Michel Chartrand (the greatest union leader in the history of Quebec, by the way), we feel like taking him in our arms.
There is a soul in his eyes that is reminiscent of that of Charlie Chaplin. She is one of us. She is not above us. She is us.
PHOTO ARCHIVES RADIO-CANADA
Dominique Michel imitated Denise Bombardier at Bye Bye from 1985.
When Dodo does her antics, we all watch her like a parent watches their child clown around. Completely gaga. Completely sold. Laughter is born of complicity, and we have never been so complicit with an artist.
In addition to triumphing on the small screen, in many sitcoms, doing one-woman shows, pubs, the front page of small newspapers, Dominique also shines on the big screen, both in light comedies and in award-winning films. Oscars.
When someone is everywhere, all the time, for a year, you get bored. It is said to be overexposed. Dominique Michel has been everywhere, all the time, for more than 50 years, and we never had enough.
We wanted more. We miss her “guidguidihaha” so much since she retired.
What is unique about her fame is that no other celebrity is jealous of her. Why ? Because no one is as benevolent as her on a film set. Because no one in the business is as happy with the success of others. Dominique has helped, encouraged, sponsored, brought to the fore half of the directory of the Union des artistes.
We are lucky to have him.
Dominique Michel has been making this world a better place for 90 years.
My students, normally when we want to show the greatness of a star, we give figures, the number of records sold, tickets sold, ratings, trophies won… She has plenty of these dizzying records, but the greatness of this lady goes beyond. It’s deeper. It’s love. It is sincerity.
Well, the lesson is over.
I hope you realize all that it represents. You will only be better informed.
My beautiful Dodo, you are the queen of showbiz Quebec.
The Queen of Hearts.
I am already preparing the rest of this presentation: there will be another generation to make aware of your influence, when you are 100 years old.
Happy Birthday !
I love you !
xxxx