'De Doorsnee Cabaretist Is Teveel Wijsneus En Te Weinig Feestneus'

‘De doorsnee cabaretist is teveel wijsneus en te weinig feestneus’ Toon Hermans, a popular entertainer in the Dutch decade of social theatre involvement. Tessa Reijnders I381187 15-07-2010 Master thesis CAST Supervisor: Wiel Kusters Words: 43.708 “Er moeten kinderlijke dwazen zijn die dansen in het bonte pak met de koperen belletjes, al gaan de doodsklokken dreigend over het land. Er moeten mensen zijn die zonnen aansteken voordat de boel verregent, die zomervliegers oplaten als het ijzig wintert, die confetti strooien tussen de sneeuwvlokken. Er moeten er zijn die aan de uitgang van het kerkhof ijsjes verkopen en op de puinhopen mondharmonica spelen; door de tranen heen blijven lachen. De clown uithangen.” 1 “There have to be childish fools who dance around in their many-coloured costumes with copper bells, when the threatening funeral-bells are ringing. There have to be people who light up the suns before everything is spoiled by the rain, who fly summer-kites when it is icy winter, who scatter confetti between the snowflakes. There have to be people who sell ice-creams at the exit of the cemetery and play the mouth-organ on the rubbles; who laugh through their tears. Who play the clown.” 1 (Hermans, 1976, p. 69) 2 Table of contents 1. Preface p. 6 Notte bella margarinata 2. Introduction p.8 Toon Hermans 2.1 Dutch cabaret and Toon Hermans p.9 2.2 Research questions p.11 2.3 Role of theory p.12 2.4 Sources p.15 3. Research method p.17 3.1 Analysis of the One Man Shows p.17 3.1.1 One Man Show 1971 p.20 3.1.2 One Man Show 1974 p.22 3.1.3 One Man Show 1978 p.24 3.2 Analysis of Tussen mei en september p.26 4. The Dutch age of social theatre involvement p.32 4.1 Dutch cabaret in the forties, fifties, sixties and seventies p.32 4.2 Actie Tomaat p.36 4.3 Toon Hermans and his times p.39 5. Self-portrayal versus imagery by the public, critics and journalists p.41 5.1 Childhood and poverty p.41 5.1.1 Childhood and poverty in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.44 3 5.1.2 Childhood and poverty of Toon Hermans in the newspapers p.53 5.2 Long way to recognition p.54 5.2.1 Long way to recognition in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.59 5.2.2 Long way to recognition of Toon Hermans in the newspapers p.62 5.3 Clown p.64 5.3.1 The theme of the clown in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.65 5.3.2 The theme of the clown in the newspapers p.74 5.4 Modesty p.76 5.4.1 Modesty in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.77 5.4.2 Modesty in the newspapers p.82 5.5 Devotion p.84 5.5.1 Devotion in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.86 5.5.2 Devotion of Toon Hermans in the newspapers p.90 5.6 Joyfulness p.92 5.6.1 Joyfulness in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.93 5.6.2 Joyfulness of Toon Hermans in the newspapers p.97 6. Theatre and humour p.100 6.1 Social theatre involvement p.107 4 6.2 „Engagement‟ in the work of Toon Hermans in the seventies p.114 7. Identity versus image p.121 7.1 Desired identity p.121 7.2 Physical identity p.122 7.3 Image p.124 8. Conclusion p.127 9. Bibliography p.131 10. Word of thanks p.133 11. Appendix p.134 5 1. Preface Notte bella margarinata, Moet je 's wat horen, Notte bella margarinata Smoesjes d'amore. Loena loena Fietsebel harmonika, Loena, Loena, Nel koppie thee.2 „Notte bella margarinata‟, was my first encounter with the work of Toon Hermans. The music teacher at my primary school thought my class this song, and also other „kolder‟ songs: songs with no particular meaning, in a kind of foreign language but then again also understandable as Dutch. „Notte bella margarinata‟ has been imbedded in my memory since and sometimes words like „loena‟ or „fietsebel‟ can trigger the melody in my head and as a result the song will stay in my head for several days. At that time, at that age, at that primary school, I had no clue who Toon Hermans was. And even later on, when my mother gave me a little book with poems of Toon Hermans called Elke dag een treetje, I did not know who he was or what he was famous for. The only thing I knew at that time was that I wanted to make poems just like those in that little blue book. I tried and tried and sometimes I felt like a real poet, but my poems were never as good as those of Toon Hermans. I learned of his humour and his One Man Shows in the Dutch television programme Andermans Veren, a series about Dutch cabaret. This television series showed fragments of famous Dutch comedians through the course of time and amongst these fragments there were also highlights of the One Man Shows of Toon Hermans, like „meneer Verkade‟ and the conference about Sinterklaas. Never in a million years did I suspect back then that I would learn so much about Toon Hermans in the future. In 2009 I was approached by the curator rural history and archaeology of Museum Het Domein in Sittard , Kitty Jansen-Rompen, to assist her in putting together an exhibition about the famous Dutch comedian Toon Hermans. The 2 (Hermans, 2008) 6 exhibition would be a significant part of the project Toon 2010 in Sittard-Geleen in honour of the ten year anniversary of the death of Toon Hermans. I was thrilled with the challenge which was offered to me (although I made some exhibitions before3, I never made an exhibition about a comedian) and from that moment on I did a lot of research on Toon Hermans and his work. For the course of one year I looked at his One Man Shows, read his poems and books with stories, listened to his songs and looked at his paintings, drawings and movie Moutarde van Sonaansee. Next to the research on paper and screen I had the opportunity to meet with the sons of Toon Hermans, Maurice and Gaby Hermans and his former manager Herman van Hove. These people offered me an inside look into the life of Toon Hermans. Due to these conversations and several visits to the storage of all the belongings of Toon Hermans I became fascinated with his personality and the great diversity of his work. My research resulted in the exhibition Typisch Toon, an exhibition on the multi-talent Toon Hermans. I wrote the exhibition concept, selected the items to display in the museum, wrote the exhibition texts and composed the catalogue for the exhibition. The year of research on Toon Hermans and my fascination with his personality made my decision to write my master thesis about him therefore a very obvious one. 3 I made an exhibition of a contemporary artist, Christy Hengst in the BBK Galerie in Aachen, an exhibition of a contemporary mulit-media artist, Arno Coenen, in Museum Het Domein and an exhibition in cooperation with Maastricht University in Museum Het Domein, Sound Souvenirs. 7 2. Introduction Toon Hermans (1916-2000) is considered to be one of the most famous Dutch cabaret artists of the twentieth century. Toon Hermans is most famous for being the first Dutch cabaret artist to perform a One Man Show. Although Danny Kaye in America and Maurice Chevalier in Europe already performed One Man Shows, this kind of theatre and cabaret, an individual on stage, was unknown in the Netherlands. Toon Hermans performed his first One Man Show in 1956. He entertained the audience on his own, for more than three hours. He brought the audience humour, conferences, acts and songs which he all wrote himself. Toon Hermans was and still is very well known, not only in the Netherlands, but also in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. Most of the time his shows were sold out long before and when his One Man Shows were broadcast on television, all the people stayed at home to watch it, leaving the streets abandoned. Toon Hermans is considered to be one of De Grote Drie together with Wim Sonneveld and Wim Kan. De Grote Drie was a term invented by the media for the three most influential Dutch cabaret artists of the twentieth century. Sonneveld, Kan and Hermans were influential in their own way, because all three of them had a very different approach on how to compose and perform a cabaret show. Wim Sonneveld (1917-1974) performed cabaret with high literary quality and a touch of France. He did not discuss politics in his show, but he also did not perform foolishness. His cabaret consisted of sentiment and satire. Wim Kan was a very political cabaret artist. He brought mostly political jokes and drew caricatures of politicians. Toon Hermans was considered the most popular artist of the three. He performed a kind of humour which was foolish, childish, clownish and personal. His humour spoke to the hearts of the audience and did not consist of politics or related topics like environmental pollution, birth control and ongoing wars. His humour was focused on silly laughs and sunshine in the dark days.

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