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Over one hundred and fifty years ago, Victor Hugo created a character, Clopin Trouillefou. The military leader of the Paris Gypsy tribe, Hugo's Clopin was a witty, charismatic, committed but unattractive scoundrel. The summer of '96, Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame brings Hugo's character to the big screen. Largely faithful to Hugo's characterization, Clopin's only changes include the addition of dashing good looks (brought to us by Mike Surrey) and a brilliant singing voice (courtesy of Paul Kandel).
Unprecedented, Clopin is the only supporting character in a Disney film to has inspire such a strong, cult-like following. These pages are our home. Here we'll introduce ourselves and share what we love about Hugo's and Disney's realization of Clopin. We'll also breath a little of ourselves into him. So enthralled by this minor character, many fans are left craving more. Disney has yet to respond to our requests, so in the meantime we're filling in the blanks for ourselves.
Clopin's appeal isn't limited to a romantic one, though. His sensibilities, leadership ability and powerful voice has attracted folks as well. Below is the list of fans who have no mushy feelings about our leader, but dig him nonetheless. To distinguish them from the CSG's, we'll simply refer to them as Clopin's Tribe for now. We know there are more of you out there. Stand up and be counted!
Larissa MacKenzie - the woman who started it
all by conceiving the idea of "Clopin's Secret Girlfriends" For over a
year she was one of the foremost devotees of Clopin Fandom, writing fanfiction,
creating this fanclub, being active on the forums lists and first planning
to make a Clopin FanFiction site. Then - poof! She Mysteriously Dissapeared.
One day she was here, the next she wasn't. Noone has heard from her since.
The CSGs stagnated, not being updated. Her fanfiction was forever left
on the most excrutiating cliffhanger. Not a peep, not a whisper for the
last two and a half years.
Fortunately for Clopin's admirers there was
another wonderful fanclub - Clopin's
Gypsy Band - for them to have fun in. Sue Kruse took on the responsibility
of the FanFiction site,(which she has
since passed on to another) La
Page de Clopin continued to thrive. But the memory of the CSGs lingered
on. Members flaunted their numbers with pride, non members looked on enviously,
vainly trying to get an e-mailed response from Larissa. Nothing! Nada!
Zero! Zip! Zilch!
Until one day a young upstart (moi) decided
enough was enough. If Larissa no longer cared for the CSGs, that did not
mean that all Clopin fans should forever more be excluded. At the very
least the list could be kept updated. I went to the forums with a proposal
- copy the files, keep the list updated - what do you think? The response
was unanimously positive. The only drawback was the moral ethics
of copying someone's site without their permission. After all, noone
really knew what had happened to Larissa. She could be dead in a ditch
(god forbid), studying her mind out, moved to another country - or planet!!!
Or she could simply have lost interest and moved on. Her email address
simply no longer worked, and none of her websites got updated. So donning
the identity of Sherlock Harls, I went to People
Search and typed in "Larissa MacKenzie". SUCCESS!!!!! I got a different
e-mail to the one on her site, and an ICQ number. I set to work, writing
her an e-mail, explaning what was going on and what we wanted to do. Phooey.
A few minutes later, it was returned to me "user does not exist". FOILED
AGAIN!
Hence, this section. It is to disclaim myself
as the creator of the CSGs and give credit where its due. Wherever Larissa
is or whatever she's doing, she was the original creator of the CSGs, and
we'll forever more be grateful for it. We've not taken the site to "steal"
it, merely to keep one of the oldest parts of the fandom alive. If Larissa
ever comes back, I'll be happy to turn ownership over to her again. But
in the meantime, its just not fair to wannabes to let the CSGs stagnate,
especially if members want to remember themselves as such. I sincerelyhope
that Larissa does not mind. :) Here's a link to the original CSG website,
where you can see how it all began:
This Hunchback Ring page is maintained by Harley
Quinn.
Click to see the previous,
the homepage,
or the next.
Additionally, if you're like most Clopin fans, you'll want to have your finger in every Clopin-pie! In order to get you a little closer to that goal, I suggest you tiptoe over to the entrance to Clopin's Gypsy Band and whisper your name to the hostess. Cross her palm with a little silver (or a polite request) and become a Bandmember.
All images of Clopin are the sole property of Walt Disney Pictures.
They have been used on this non-commercial site without specific
consent. If the owners feel this use infringes on their copyright, the
images will be removed on request.
All other unique images on this page © Harley Quinn 2000 - until
the end of time.
The original design of this page is the sole property of Larissa
MacKenzie and has been reproduced without permission for the sake of the
Clopinfandom. Larissa has only to say the word and it will be removed.
Original design copyright © 1996 Larissa MacKenzie
Clopin's Tribe was created in June of 1996 and last updated on April 20, 2000
Last update by creator, Larissa MacKenzie,
August 6, 1997
