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»Mouse« co-inventor Armin Maiwald, presenter Siham El-Maimouni: »Show children the world in which they live«
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A. FOOT ANGLE
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Maiwald, the "Sendung mit der Maus" is 50 years old.
You started out as the first mouse reporter in 1971.
What was the goal of the show back then?
Maiwald:
Good question.
Back then, the "mouse" was still called "Laughing and factual stories for TV beginners".
Television was still a relatively young medium; you had the time and the opportunity to try things out.
We were on the air earlier than Sesame Street, so we had no role models and had to experiment.
SPIEGEL
: What have you tried new?
Maiwald:
We wanted to leave the studio and show children the world they live in.
Not the aunt who reads something, as was common with children's television at the time, and also not the uncle who tinkered with something.
At the same time, however, we also wanted to create a connection between reality and fantasy, and there were various attempts to achieve this.
Not only in the “Sendung mit der Maus”: Our “Sparrow from Wallrafplatz” was a puppet that experienced everyday adventures, or the rag doll of the cheeky Caesar rabbit with lively people in a recording studio.
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