WHAT: Performance by Father Frenchie
WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Sunday, June 10
WHERE: Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston
TICKETS: $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students. Call 689-2000.
The show will be recorded live for a CD to be released in the fall. Reindeer Records also plans to re-release the original “Frenchie’s Greatest Bits” at the same time.
OK, confess, where do you get your material, Father Frenchie?
LEWISTON – Father Frenchie, a character developed and portrayed by Louis Philippe, a well-known entertainer who spent much of his early years in Lewiston, will make an appearance Sunday, June 10, at the Franco-American Heritage Center.
A graduate of St. Dominic Regional High School, Philippe performed in many area bands and acted on local stages. He later worked in New York City and returned to the Portland area, where he continues to sing, act and produce records and shows.
Louis Philippe (Gagne III) is the grandson of former Lewiston Mayor and Franco-American advocate Louis Philippe Gagne, and cousin to Michael Gagne, who created the original role of Frenchie in 1985 and developed it into a popular radio personality heard on WBLM.
Controversy ensued in 1993 when a non-French-Canadian attorney traveling through the city heard one of Frenchie’s radio bits and believed it made fun of the French. He filed a complaint with The Maine Human Rights Commission, which contacted WBLM. The station maintained that the character was not making fun of French men, that he was a fictional person who occasionally called in to the station speaking with a broken French accent – and, in fact, was a well-known and loved part of the Franco culture as Canadian immigrants of the early 1900s adapted to the American way.
Nonetheless, news of the complaint hit the media, prompting angry responses from letter-writers and politicians calling for radio station boycotts and Frenchie’s removal.
In response, Philippe launched a Francos For Frenchie campaign, which garnered worldwide attention and support from coast-to-coast, and in Europe. Despite the wave of support for Frenchie, however, Gagne voluntarily removed his character from the airwaves.
To keep the legendary character alive, Philippe, who owns the independent record label Reindeer Records, collaborated with Gagne and WBLM to release a cassette called “Frenchie’s Greatest Bits,” a souvenir of the hometown fun-loving sometimes irreverent character. The product sold out.
Shortly thereafter, Philippe was asked to host an annual volunteer banquet at St. Patrick’s Church in Portland. With cleric garb borrowed from then-Pastor Coleman O’Toole, and material he adapted from his cousin’s stock supply, Philippe hosted what was to be a one-time event as Father Frenchie.
“A new character was born and Father O’Toole refused to take the shirt back telling me, ‘I have a feeling you’ll need it again.’ I did, indeed,” said Philippe.
About 15 years have passed since then and Father Frenchie continues to bring his comedy mostly to senior citizen groups and audiences at church halls and private functions throughout the state.
A self-proclaimed Ambassador of Goodwill, Father Frenchie brings his message of peace and love to people of all denominations. Complete with broken accent, misused language, double entendres and colorful characters, he shares typical everyday life experiences as a traveling Catholic priest. Philippe readily admits that the bulk of his material is jokes adapted from the same bunch of comedy e-mails most everyone reads, forwards and deletes – although Father Frenchie will tell you they are all stories he heard in the confessional booth.
“In all my years of portraying this character, I recall one woman who clearly did not care for it,” Philippe said. “By comparison, Father Frenchie has made many people cry simply because of the accent that brings people back to childhood, to simpler and safer times. Some have told me that I make the vocation of priesthood a positive and accessible reality. Others are devastated to learn I’m not a real priest. I just play one on stage.”
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