display

In Armin Maiwald's life, one big round jubilee follows another.

A year ago, the co-inventor of the famous “Sendung mit der Maus” celebrated his 80th birthday.

Now the show is 50 years old, which is why the WDR broadcasts a series of birthday programs.

And next year Armin Maiwald's production company Flash will also be 50 years old.

"This is getting dizzying, isn't it?" I asked him on the phone.

Maiwald sat in his office in Cologne's Eigelsteinviertel and replied: “Yes.

Although the mouse is actually older.

We shot the first laughing and non-fictional stories back in 1969, but they weren't called 'Sendung mit der Maus' then. "

Phenomenal long-term success

The phenomenal long-term success of the mouse - it was recently even a topic at the federal press conference when government spokesman Steffen Seibert announced that there would be a 20 euro commemorative coin for its 50th birthday - has a lot to do with Armin Maiwald's journalistic ethos: he works carefully, with boundless curiosity and an undisguised view of things that only children really have.

In the explanatory films, the themes of which are mostly based on children's wishes, he explores everyday questions with his sonorous, unexcited voice: “What is snow?” Or: “How is it possible that a search engine just a few moments after you have entered a question , provides suitable answers? "

display

As a child watching, you probably unconsciously wish that every teacher had a voice like Armin Maiwald: friendly, affectionate and incredibly easy to understand.

The most extensive research

I asked him about his most extensive research.

He: “A child asked us what vitamin C does in our body.

The research took three and a half years.

Shooting time: two days! ”Impromptu he gave me a short lecture about complicated body processes, about white blood cells and macrophages;

this is what one calls certain "phagocytes".

In fact, he said, he remembers almost all of the films he made for the mouse.

In all these years there was only one topic that he was unable to process in such a way that it could have been realized: “How does the war come into the world?” He wrote eight scripts for it.

But none came through.

“In principle, the question is easy to answer: Imagine two children arguing over a mold in a sandpit and replace molds with petroleum.

Or power. ”But it doesn't matter.

Enough is enough.

"As long as no one explicitly asks me to tackle the topic again, I'll keep my hands off it," said Maiwald with a laugh.

display

In the TV cosmos, the mouse, which was given a blue elephant in 1975 and a yellow duck as a playmate in 1987, is something like the last fixed star.

The 50 years passed her by almost without a trace, apart from the fact that it used to be drawn by hand and is now created on the computer (which makes it look perfect, but also a little less lively).

“Why is the mouse actually a mouse?” I asked Maiwald.

"It could have been a hippopotamus," he replied.

The decision goes back to two stories by the author Ursula Wölfel, one about a mouse and one about a hippopotamus.

“The editorial team chose the mouse, possibly because of the cheerful orange color.

The hippopotamus would have been gray. "

Average age of the audience: over 40 years

The average age of the Maus audience is now a little over 40 years.

Was he still referring to the show as a children's program?

Maiwald, downright indignant: “Of course!

Our approach is cross-generational. "

We came to talk about the house where he lives and has his office.

Is he hoarding mouse devotional objects there?

He: “Not at all.” In his office there is only a shelf full of films and his desk.

That is the oldest table in the house - it comes from 1971. Me: "Then it will also be 50. The fourth anniversary!" Maiwald laughed.

Whereupon he told me one last anecdote.

“Yesterday I took a plush mouse with me for the first time from filming.

I thought: everyone has one.

Just not me.

I gave it straight to my wife. ”I:“ Was she happy? ”He:“ She was surprised. ”Jürgen von der Lippe once gave her the blue elephant.

"Well," said Maiwald and summed up: "Now all that's missing is the duck."

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.

We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.

Source: Welt am Sonntag