French producer Marc Gaudart was responsible for this series of fifteen-minute fables with animal characters, based on stories by the 17th-century poet La Fontaine.
Cinematographer Fritz Spiess had to spend "hours studying each of the animals used in the series to get to know the different problems posed by each--such as a mouse who refused to ride in canoes, a bored monkey who was fascinated by studio wires and rafters, and a rabbit who became so fond of sitting in a jeep that he refused to get out and race with a turtle" CBC times The celebrated fables of 17th-century poet/fantasist Jean de la Fontaine were brought to life on this weekly, 15-minute Canadian children's series.
But instead of utilizing cartoons or puppets, this program used actual animals, borrowed from Lorna Jackson's farm in Mount Albert Ontario; she enacted the fables on tiny scale-model sets.
It was up to the series' supremely patient cinematographer Fritz Spiess to elicit the proper expressions and reactions from his non-human actors, and to gently coerce the "cast" into cooperating for the camera (a well-publicized incident occurred when, during filming of the "Tortoise and the Hare" sequence, the hare chosen as the lead character could not be persuaded to leave the tiny set and race with the equally blasé tortoise).
He directed a French comedy that was also called "Fables of La Fontaine" in 1962, the exact title of this film is "Les quatre vérités" This 15-minute series was broadcast on Thursdays at 5:15 p.m. (Eastern) from 2 January to 3 July 1958.