Intervilles

Jeux Sans Frontières did not appear from nowhere. Its direct ancestor was a French summer programme, Intervilles, in which towns competed against each other in games held in front of a crowd and a television audience. This chapter looks at that programme, the people who made it, the French setting that made it work, and the post-war idea of reconciliation that surrounded the international version. Facts here are drawn from general television history; the chapter flags the claims that vary between sources.

French Television in the Early 1960s

French television in the early 1960s was a state-run service, with one channel at the start of the decade and a second arriving in 1964. Television sets were spreading through French homes, and the broadcaster was looking for popular programmes that could fill the summer and bring in a wide audience. Public-service television of this period combined education with entertainment, and games between towns suited both: they were cheap to produce on location, they had built-in local interest, and they could be broadcast live.

Intervilles

Intervilles first went on air in 1962. The format was simple. Teams of local people from two or more towns competed in a series of physical and comic games, in a stadium, with the local population in the stands and the mayors in attendance. Points were awarded for each game and the town with the most points won. The programme ran as a summer series and became a regular feature of French television, returning in later decades.

A well-known part of the programme's identity was the use of animals, in particular a young cow or calf (la vachette) released into the arena to chase or be avoided by competitors. The details of which games appeared in which year are better left to a programme history, but the pairing of sport, slapstick and rural humour was constant.

The People Behind It

Two names recur in the history of the programme. Guy Lux (1919–2003) was a television producer and presenter who became one of the best-known figures in French light entertainment. Claude Savarit worked with him as a producer on the show. Other presenters and commentators, whom later chapters discuss, joined as the show developed. Credit for the original idea is often given to these two together, though accounts differ about who proposed what, and the chapter does not try to settle the question.

Post-War Reconciliation and Town Twinning

After the Second World War, western European countries made a conscious effort to rebuild links between peoples who had fought each other. One practical form was town twinning (jumelage), in which a French town formed a lasting partnership with a town in another country, especially Germany, with exchange visits between schools, clubs and councils. Twinning was widespread by the 1950s and 1960s.

This background matters because the international version of the show took the town-against-town idea across borders. A twinned-town contest between friendly nations fitted the mood of the time. It is also the setting for the legend, discussed in Chapter 3, that the show's international form came from the leaders of France and Germany. The link between twinning and the show is an interpretation that later writers have emphasised, so read it as context and not as proof of the show's origin.

A Tradition Older Than Television

Local competitions between villages and towns, with sport, music and food, are older than broadcasting in most of Europe, from village sports days to fairs and festivals. Television added a camera and a national audience. This is why the show felt familiar to viewers even when the specific games were bizarre.

Exercises

Next chapter: 1965: The First Contest, which follows the launch of the international version and weighs the origin stories.