30 Days of Hogan's Heroes - Day 1

[belphegor1982]

I'll be putting longer replies in insert cuts to keep my entries friend-list-friendly, because goodness knows I go on and go about things I like. (The image is mine - I used text from one of my unfinished stories and drew the pen. What d'you think?)



Okay, let's do this! :o)

Day 1 - Favourite male character.

Louis LeBeau. I love the passion, the snark, the loyalty, the occasional silliness … and I guess I’m not indifferent to Robert Clary’s charm. It’s unlikely that he still has this Parisian accent now, but every time LeBeau says something in French gets a face-splitting grin from me :o) I think part of it is because it’s so rare to come across a French character played by a French actor/actress in English-language fiction, and a likeable one at that.

LeBeau is a kind, generous soul, always ready to defend a friend and 95% committed to continuing and winning the war (the remaining 5% is entirely devoted to women in general, and sometimes Marya in particular). He’s the guy you want at your side in a fight or across the table for a game of cards – and, truth be told, in front of the stove, cooking something hot and invigorating, even if the name sounds foreign and exotic (doesn’t for me, though, but I can easily picture other people/character’s reactions :o).

For all that he’s five foot three, he’s the largest ham around as well as the biggest mouth in camp beside Newkirk. Case in point, when prisoners are complaining about the decided lack of comfort of having to hide in the tunnels with thirty other people:

Sergeant: No, I want [the Germans] to rescue us.
LeBeau: What kind of soldiers are you? You’re not thinking of the thousands of lives you can save! You only care about eating and sleeping! Have you forgotten we’re fighting a war and why we’re fighting it!?
Sergeant: Okay, Frenchie, before you break into the Marseillay…
LeBeau (peeved): Marseillaise. (“How to Escape from a Prison Camp Without Even Trying”)

He’s also pig-headed, proud (bordering on the overconfident), and has a tendency to say cutting or cruel things (in particular to Carter when he’s fouled up something); he’s also claustrophobic and can’t stand the sight of his own blood (the show never stated if he was like that with other people’s). I like him a lot, warts and all.

For a show that was never big on internal continuity, especially characters’, and had no narrative arc whatsoever, the script writers sure wrote engaging characters :o)

Comments

[debriswoman]

:-) Hi, Bel...even I knew which character would feature, and I haven't seen the series:-)
Your description is great...a flawed good guy.

Does he share characteristics with your favourites from other series?

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised :D And yes, every character in HH is flawed one way or another, and it only serves to make them more endearing. Your question made me ponder whether my favourites had characteristics in common; well, they have flaws and vulnerabilities (that's why I'm iffy about characters described as "flawless" - it comes from a good place, I suppose, but I like my characters a little cracked along the edges, thank you!). They also have quirks, sometimes unusual talents (unusual in the environment they live in, anyway - that's why I seem to fall so often for loveable rogues and crooks with hearts of gold); they're the little guy (both literally and figuratively) and they're resourceful. That's it for now :o)

[marie1964.livejournal.com]

What would you describe Kinch's flaws as?

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

...That he doesn't feature more prominently? That we don't hear him enough? Honestly, I don't know. Kinch is a puzzle to me, because he brings a stability, a sort of quiet warmth to the show (and the team) and the show isn't the same without him, and I love him as a character, but he doesn't have easily identifiable flaws. You have to give credit to Ivan Dixon: "straight men" have a potential for being boring, but Kinch never is - in fact, in the few Kinch-centric episodes, it's the opposite: there's a definite sense of potential in his character. I wish there'd been more of him :-/

[marie1964.livejournal.com]

True on all accounts-- I do love Kinch, but he's usually bottom at my list of favorite characters, usually because he doesn't have as much "presence" as the others do.

[debriswoman]

Shades of grey are always more interesting:-)

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! And colours are interesting, too :o)

[debriswoman]

That's the artist in you speaking:-p

[marie1964.livejournal.com]

I do like your image, it's very inventive and creative.

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it :o]

[ivybramble.livejournal.com]

I do so enjoy 'listening' to you explain things, particularly character related things. (Even for shows I haven't watched.) Here's to characters with cracks along the edges! :D

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot :o)

There's a very, very good French scriptwriter (dead now, unfortunately) called Michel Audiard, who said, "Heureux soient les fêlés, ils laissent passer la lumière" (Blessed/Happy are the cracked, they let light shine through them). I think by "cracked" he meant more "slightly off-balance" than "not smooth all over", but the point still stands :o]