This is how Gustl Bayrhammer became Meister Eder: Ulrich König, director of the “Pumuckl” series, remembers
Created: 02/16/2022, 18:39
By: Cornelia Schramm
There was a lot of improvisation in "Meister Eder and his Pumuckl": In truth, Gustl Bayrhammer (left) aka Master Eder was not talking to the cheeky goblin at all - but to director Ulrich König (right).
© private
The old Munich and a portion of Bavarian joie de vivre – both children and adults stick to that to this day like Pumuckl to a pot of glue.
Ulrich König, the director of the cult series, still knows how Gustl Bayrhammer became Meister Eder.
Holzkirchen – When he tilted his head back and laughed out loud, the neighbors knew who Ulrich König was visiting in his garden in Holzkirchen (Miesbach district): Gustl Bayrhammer.
"That was unmistakable," remembers König's wife Margarete.
Bayrhammer, who would have turned 100 on February 12, 2022, was a family friend and a welcome guest since Ulrich König had worked with him: as the director of "Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl".
On the occasion of Bayrhammer's milestone birthday, we followed in the footsteps of this versatile actor with Ulrich König.
König has already spread out umpteen photographs on the table in his conservatory.
However, Pumuckl cannot be seen in any of the pictures that were taken during the shooting of the series.
“One shouldn't forget,” explains the director, “that Bayrhammer almost always played by himself.
The cartoon character was added afterwards.” That's why he himself imitated Pumuckl's voice on the set.
The production of the series started in the early 1980s, and it quickly became a cult, and it still is to this day.
Ulrich König remembers it exactly: "On the first day of shooting, 'Tatort' inspector Melchior Veigl stood in front of me," he says.
Bayrhammer, the first in Munich, played the investigator from 1972 to 1981.
"He had pulled his hair back and was wearing a black leather jacket." So the opposite of the easygoing craftsman, where Pumuckl appears one day and stays forever because he sticks to the glue pot and is suddenly no longer invisible.
Stop goblin law.
Pumuckl was always only added as a cartoon character after the shooting - until then director Ulrich König imitated his voice on the set.
© Thomas Plettenberg
Pumuckl series: Gustl Bayrhammer was the ideal cast for Meister Eder
"You know who the ideal cast for Meister Eder would be?" König asked the established folk actor, who was also known throughout Germany for the "Tatort" series: "Doctor Albert Schweitzer." Bayrhammer's eyes widened: " But I'm not," he said.
Of course, replied King.
"That's why we cast you."
Sensitive and loving – this is how the master carpenter should deal with the goblin.
Not least because it was a children's series.
For Bayrhammer, it was all about the make-up: a simple shirt, work overalls and a flat cap – just like Meister Eder is known to everyone today.
The beard and sideburns were colored with zinc white.
"For the second season five years later, we no longer needed the white color," jokes Ulrich König.
"The original was already graying by then."
The Bayrhammer family estate is archived
With the Bayrhammer family archive, the Bavarian Main State Archive is taking over the estates of Gustl Bayrhammer (1922-1993) and his father Max (1867-1942).
That was announced on Friday.
This includes documents such as a role book by Gustl, awards (Bambi and Bavarian Film Prize) and family memorabilia from 1870.
The aim is to secure these testimonies for the future and to make them accessible for research, it said.
"In order to supplement the official tradition, the Bavarian Main State Archive secures the estates of politically and socially important personalities," the institution explains.
The Bayrhammer family archive was taken over on the basis of a donation contract due to public interest and the national importance of the surviving persons.
(thy)
How did director König, now 72, come up with the series?
"I didn't know Pumuckl, but my wife showed me a record and said it had to be filmed," remembers König, who was so enthusiastic that he suggested the idea to Bavarian Radio.
It wasn't just that the leprechaun had to be on TV that became clear – it was also clear who was going to play the main role: Gustl Bayrhammer.
First Alfred Pongratz Eder had lent his voice in the radio play series.
After his death, Bayrhammer took over the speaking role in 1977, after which he was committed to the TV series.
Not only did the voice fit, but also his appearance.
"Meister Eder and his Pumuckl" quickly became a cult series.
© dpa/BR/Infafilm GmbH/Original design "Pumuckl" by Barbara von Johnson/picture alliance
Ulrich König, who directed the music show “szene” from 1976 to 1978, then tackled the series with the goblin.
Have there ever been conflicts between him, the young man in his mid-20s, and the old hand Bayrhammer?
"Not at all," says König, but he is well aware of the reputation that preceded the actor.
“He could get angry when people just wanted to make a name for themselves with projects.
Luckily, he noticed right away that I was always concerned with the matter at hand.”
Ulrich König: "Gustl Bayrhammer was a person of respect by nature"
Bayrhammer was also grumpy when it came to simple-minded roles: such as that of the Bavarian house idiot with a Seppl image, as he once explained himself when he increasingly turned down roles because he found the scripts too shallow.
He probably never found the role of Eder simple-minded, but he and König broke up after 52 episodes anyway.
"After the second season, the story was finished for me," says König.
They continued to work together on "Franz Xaver Brunnmayr" and "White-Blue Stories".
"As an actor he was precise and a respectable person by nature - a professional."
There is no question for Ulrich König who played the most practical jokes on the set alongside Pumuckl: cameraman Horst Schier and he himself. If you asked Bayrhammer, their slapstick hit the episode “Pumuckl macht Ferien” at its peak.
König wanted to add the melody from “Play me the song of death” to the images of the deserted train station in the Oberland.
A film quote as a trick – Bayrhammer found that borderline.
"If we spun too wildly, he would either go for a walk or to his area above the workshop." And then?
"Well, in the end he was happy to take part!"
A piece of memory of the "Pumuckl" time should not be missing in the house: Director Ulrich König with Puwackl, an original prop from the series.
© Thomas Plettenberg
But the crew spent most of their time in Meister Eder's workshop, a rear building on Widenmayerstraße in Munich's Lehel.
"I often let the actors continue playing when things went wrong, which created funny situations," says König.
"Gustl could fool around like a world champion, but when the wooden slats fall over for the fourth time or he only carries a tool from one corner to the other, it wasn't always planned that way." Then the breakdown turned into precision.
"It's characters like Bayrhammer who have brought a lot of prestige to Bavaria, even though they didn't present themselves as lederhosen jerks," says König.
Gustl Bayrhammer, the old Munich, stories that go to the heart, and a portion of Bavarian joie de vivre - children and adults alike stick with them to this day.
goblin law.
(sco)