prolog
Tuesday, March 30, 2021, 10:57 a.m.
An email with the subject “TKKG turns 40, deadline Wednesday”.
A colleague asks if anyone is planning something about this.
Such emails go to the department heads almost every day, I usually take a quick look and just keep working.
Not this time.
The colleague triggered me.
1:36 p.m., the history department waves it away.
The colleague writes that he was actually certain “that we have treated TKKG more than once”, but found that the archive only contained articles on the “Three ???”, “of which there is more to tell «.
1:38 p.m., the colleague thanks and apologizes for having "confused it in ignorance".
1:43 p.m., the cultural department also waves it away.
A year and a half ago you would have done something about TKKG, with rather poor public interest.
“› The three ??? ‹are doing better and better, I think (rightly).
Best regards!"
Now it is enough.
I start an answer and notice my fists clench as I type - but I want to stay professional and let my emotions out of the game.
My mail at 1:46 p.m .:
Enlarge image
Now already 40: The logo of the TKKG radio play series
Photo: EUROPA / dpa
“I'm going to be 40 too, grew up listening to radio plays and actually applied for the first movie adaptation.
If desired (and if I find the time and leisure over a glass of wine tonight), I could dig deep into my memory and write a story under the working title 'Why I wanted to be dumplings'. "
Well, now I have the salad - and unfortunately I have a bad memory.
But the wine helps.
The case
It may sound strange, but until the first e-mail with the four capital letters in the subject line, I wasn't aware of how closely my biography is connected to the youth series "A case for TKKG".
The first series of radio plays appeared on March 31, 1981 exactly two weeks before I was born.
I had completely repressed our relationship, and suddenly everything came back: the many hours we spent together.
The book covers with the distinctive pencil drawings.
The radio play cassettes that I so often rewound when the old square recorder had caused a mess of tapes.
The ZDF series from the eighties: These four badly coiffed figures in their colorful letter sweaters reminded me of the Ottifanten sweaters that my siblings and I had to wear.
The name Fabian Harloff.
I also remembered that I had actually signed up for a casting.
But why, and how did I find out about it in the first place?
The very first Google hit reveals: In December 1990, the »Bravo« published an article »Who wants to see a film?
Four detectives are wanted for TKKG-Drachenauge «.
When I was nine at the time, I wasn't a regular "Bravo" reader and must have got hold of the issue through my older siblings.
"Who wants to go to the film?" Simple question, simple answer: me.
It is obvious.
So I applied.
I knew the series very well: TKKG, that's a young team of hobby investigators with excellent connections to the police, who have so far convicted every gangster and crook.
In retrospect, I can see that the idea for the series was not very original and was more a combination of well-known, successful youth formats.
Enid Blyton had already produced "The Five Friends" in the 1950s, which had been successfully filmed.
The "Drei ???" from the USA conquered the German radio play audience from 1979 onwards.
Against their great adventures in Rocky Beach, California, the TKKG stories looked like a provincial imitation.
But it was my copy.
Enlarge image
Malte Müller-Michaelis as a child: TKKG was part of his life
Photo: private
And the characters became part of my life: The sporty high-flyer and undisputed leader Tarzan (who was later renamed Tim for trademark reasons, but remains Tarzan for me);
the lightning-smart nerd Karl;
the chubby sidekick dumpling;
and quota girl Gabi ("the paw") as a woman at Tarzan's side.
I don't remember much about the nine year old that I was.
But it was immediately clear to me which of the four roles I wanted to play: only dumplings came into question.
The riddle
But why of all dumplings?
Isn't the protagonist Tarzan the more natural role desire for a child who had recently dreamed of a career as an HSV professional?
Manou Lubowski, who has been speaking dumplings in 217 radio play episodes for 40 years, told the dpa in the anniversary interview that even he actually wanted to be Tarzan.
Why did I feel differently?
Today I know the answer:
Tarzan
plays too much in the center.
He is too perfect, too smooth, knows everything, can and does everything.
Higher, faster, further, better.
No corners, only edges on the hands - to incapacitate even the strongest criminal with Asian martial arts.
In the character description on a fan page it says: "Because he prefers to be outside in the fresh air, he is almost always tanned, which goes well with his brown locks." Disgusting, never-ending perfection.
No thanks.
Fabian Harloff also played him in the ZDF series from the eighties.
And who wants to be like Fabian Harloff?
Karl, "the computer"
, wasn't an option for me either.
He is characterized by sympathetic inadequacies such as his "greyhound face", but overall he is too cerebral.
A cool numbers person, honest and boring, spoiled by the professor's father for all time.
What he says is mostly correct, but rarely creative or funny.
And his interest in information technology, which is visionary from today's point of view, simply didn't open up to me at the time.
Maybe he was way ahead of his time.
It was not me.
Gabi
was out of the question in 1990 for obvious reasons.
Today it might look different, then it was simply too early to break out of the gender corset for a youth film.
And even if I had been a girl, I would hardly have applied for the Gabi role.
I never understood why Gabi was always about her dog Oscar and her policeman father.
So
dumplings, the likeable fat guy
who is responsible for the stupid sayings, stands by his mistakes and contributes en passant to the solution of the most difficult cases.
At first he often doesn't even notice it, but at the end he emphasizes it again and thus provides the classic laughs that round off every episode.
Right at the beginning of the first case ("The Hunt for Thieves of Millions") he refuses to abseil with Tarzan from the boarding school in order to sneak to the rifle festival.
Why?
Because Klößchen knows that he cannot climb back up.
You have to have so much chutzpah and foresight first to recognize this problem and at the same time resist the temptation to keep up with your cooler friend.
He nonchalantly ignores the constant bullying of the other three that he is too fat and needs to eat less and still opens a new bar of chocolate at every opportunity.
It's hard not to like dumplings.
Certainly, with my critical view of capitalism today, the question arises whether he should not have to look for an even greater distance from his father, as a chocolate millionaire a potential exploiter.
On the other hand, Klößchen only lives in a boarding school with Tarzan because he deliberately broke out of the golden cage at home.
Another plus point for the well-rounded figure.
Was I aware of all of this back then?
I can't say for sure.
But there are clues as to why I applied for the role.
The treasure
Enlarge image
Malte MM, the diary - it remained a fragment
Photo: private
While looking for clues, I came across a diary: In 1990 my godmother gave me a heavy A4 hardcover volume with "Malte MM" stamped on the blue cover and a "1".
She thought (or hoped) that I would fill up many of these books.
In fact, there is only one and it is only half full.
The last handwritten entry is from April 1996.
Because I rarely wrote a diary, there is no direct reference to my application, not even directly to the TKKG.
But at least hints of the dumpling in me.
Already in the first entry of March 25, 1990, I introduced myself to the diary in a friendly manner: "I'm a bit rounded."
In May 1990, at my friend Stefan W's birthday party, I write: “We were allowed to serve hamburgers and hot dogs ourselves for dinner.
That was a particular pleasure for me. ”Dumpling couldn't have put it better.
Even if the diary cannot adequately answer my questions, I am very happy that I have found it again after decades.
The lid has unmistakable traces of mold, it also smells musty because it has been stored in a damp cellar for years.
But I love it and am proud that it has survived so many years and moves.
The entry, which should be closest in time to my application for the casting, begins with the words: "A day that will go down not only in my diary, but also in history" - it was October 3rd, 1990.
epilogue
TKKG.
Four letters, part of my life.
I thank the four for bringing me back to my childhood.
To long forgotten moments.
I will read a lot in the next few days.
And eat chocolate at the same time.
Enlarge image
Malte as a boy: Nothing came of the casting for the dumpling role
Photo: private
And what happened to the application?
I can not say it exactly.
I wasn't invited to the casting because I would remember that after all.
At nine I was just too young.
Steffen Raddatz got the role, at the age of twelve already the youngest in the team.
He is said to have fed himself six kilograms in order to be able to play dumplings credibly, only made this one film and has not appeared since then.
I briefly considered trying to contact him for this article.
But he must have made the decision to withdraw from the public consciously.
Besides, I don't even know what to say or ask him.
It was dumplings.
Not me.
