55
Pictures and Texts in Children’s Newspapers
The last issue of the merged Coeurs vaillants—Ames vaillantes series,
published on September 8, 1940, names Lyon as the new “provisional” ad-
dress of the paper’s editorial office. The nameplate contains a message from
Pétain superimposed on an image of the French flag: “All French people,
proud of France; France, proud of each French person; such is the law that
we want to instill.” Although still reduced in size, with only four pages instead
of eight, it contains three brightly colored strips, including an installment of
Hergé’s Land of Black Gold.
20
The inside spread offers three morally instruc-
tive stories, solutions to previously run puzzles, and guidelines on how to
help rebuild France (using Pétain as a role model because he “is working
harder than everyone else”). Another reminder about the need to work hard
to build a new France is found in the issue of February 14, 1943, in a visually
striking strip showing two outlines of France. The outline on the left is filled
with lazy, complaining little boys lounging on a country full of fissures, while
the one on the right is peopled with boys wearing the “coeurs vaillants” uni-
form, working hard to push the broken pieces back together, and calling on
the lazy boys to help them. Across the top is the caption: “There are those
who destroy. There are those who build.” And across the bottom, the ques-
tion is posed: “Which team will you join?”
When the Germans entered Paris in June 1940, the publication of all chil-
dren’s papers was suspended. Several months later a few of those weeklies had
returned to newsstands, nine had moved to unoccupied France, and at least
nine new papers could be found in the capital (but many of those survived
only a few months). One paper created during the first fall of the Occupation
that outlived all its competitors was Gavroche, whose first issue came out
seven days after the signing of the Armistice on October 24, 1940, and sold
127,000–198,000 copies a week over the fifteen months of its existence. The
choice of title is interesting for two reasons. First, it is immediately identifi-
able as being “French,” but in case the origin of the name escapes some read-
ers, the first issue announces that “from the very first page, you will follow
the escapades of the descendant of the famous Gavroche, hero of Les Mis-
érables by Victor Hugo.” Second, rather than suggesting entertainment for
young children, as Mickey and Jumbo might have done, the title gives a more
mature name and face to the same virtues highlighted in the title Coeurs vail-
lants, but it emphasizes at the same time the notion that life is not all work
and no play by describing the character Gavroche as “witty, fun-loving, but
full of courage.”
A close look at the sixty-six issues of this weekly shows that its primary
goal was to entertain its readers who were anxious to find a new weekly to