''Das feuerrote Spielmobil'' was a

German television Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first public television station in the world, named ''Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow''. In 2000, the German television market h ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

, broadcast from April 21, 1972, to July 12, 1981. A total of 184 episodes of the series produced by

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

(BR) were broadcast in the afternoon program of ARD. The concept of the series was developed and produced from 1969 as a successor of the children's series "''Spielschule''" and shot in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, because the BR managers considered, that the social situation in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

was not correctly represented by ''

Sesamstraße ''Sesamstraße'' (, Sesame Street in English) is a German children's television series in Germany, and a spin-off of the first preschool programme ''Sesame Street''. It airs primarily in Germany and the surrounding German-speaking countries. The ...

'' and therefore needed a replacement program. In the show a red minibus, equipped as a camera car, drove across the country and showed encounters with people and their stories. At the beginning of the series the ''Spielmobil was'' an

Opel Blitz Opel Blitz (''Blitz'' being German for "lightning") was the name given to various light and middle-weight trucks built by the German Opel automobile manufacturer between 1930 and 1975. The original logo for this truck, two stripes arranged loose ...

. The aim of the series was to stimulate the imagination of the audience and to teach social interaction. In the first five episodes the two dolls ''Maxifant'' and ''Minifant played'' in the series, which then got their own series, because the production partners separated. Instead, the puppets ''Biff'' and ''Wuff'' (designed by Jan Gulbransson) and the

animated character Character animation is a specialized area of the animation process, which involves bringing animated s to life. The role of a character animator is analogous to that of a film or stage actor and character animators are often said to be "actors wit ...

''Wummi'' were used. During the episodes several fairy tales were recounted, especially

Grimms' fairy tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob Grimm, Ja ...

such as

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brother ...

, ''

Doctor Know-All "Doctor Know-all" () is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 98 in ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne-Thompson type 1641 about being in the right place at the right time. Another tale of this type is '' Almondseed ...

,'' or ''

The Brave Little Tailor "The Brave Little Tailor" or "The Valiant Little Tailor" or "The Gallant Tailor" (German: ''Das tapfere Schneiderlein'') is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 20). "The Brave Little Tailor" is a story of Aarne–Thompson T ...

''. In addition, stories with Felix (Uwe Falkenbach) and brother Tom (Erich Schleyer), of which 25 episodes appeared on DVD, the thin Mr. Schwarz (Josef Schwarz) and the fat Mr. Kern ( Peter Kern) as well as with the dream car. The best-known season within the series was ''" Das Haus mit der Nr. 30"'' (The House with the No. 30) that was on air from 1977 to 1979 with 41 episodes. Other well-known contributors from the theater and cabaret scene were, Jörg Hube, Anja Franke,

Michael Habeck Michael Habeck (23 April 1944 – 4 February 2011) was a German actor who was best known for providing the German dubbing for Oliver Hardy after Bruno W. Pantel died. Habeck, who was born in Bad Grönenbach, also dubbed several characters in ...

, Frithjof Vierock, and

Marion Kracht Marion Kracht (born 5 December 1962 in Munich, Germany) is a German actress. Currently she resides in Berlin. Selected filmography *''Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best'' (1971) *''Passion Flower Hotel'' (1978), as Jane *' (1981), as Gerti *''Ein Heim ...

. A technical innovation in television at the time was, that the graphical representation of the fairy tales, e.g. ''Doctor Know-All'', ''The Blue Light'', ''The Brave Little Tailor,'' or ''The Old Sultan'' was designed with the bluescreen technique. Further episodes ran under the title ''Geschichten mit Philipp Sonntag und seinem Traummobil'', ''Kern und Schwarz'', ''Felix und Bruder Tom''. In spring of 2009, the German

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

Museum acquired the original car (an Opel Blitz, year of construction: 1962) of the first season, which remained almost unchanged, from its last owner. His brother had bought the ''Spielmobil'' from the BR in the early 1980s and took it to

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in the course of the emigration to

Otjiwarongo Otjiwarongo ( hz, beautiful place) is a city of 28,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital of Otjozondjupa. Otjiwarongo is situated in cen ...

.TV-Kultbus in Namibia gefunden auf welt.de, retrieved 2 December 2013. https://www.welt.de/welt_print/article3203784/Rueckkehr-des-feuerroten-Spielmobils.html

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feuerrote Spielmobil, das 1972 German television series debuts 1981 German television series endings German children's television series German-language television shows Das Erste original programming

See also

References

External links