"Querkopfes & Klappmaulhelden": This is Puchheim's favorite puppeteer

Created: 01/11/2023 08:08

By: Ulrike Osman

Joe Heinrich had made the mini-Söder especially for the BR program "Quer".

© Dieter Schnöpf

When Joe Heinrich unpacks his Bavarian politician dolls, the Berliners and Hamburgers laugh too.

However, the puppeteer has particularly loyal fans in his former place of residence Puchheim.

Puchheim - There will soon be "queer heads & Klappmaulhelden" to be seen in the cultural center - an exhibition of the dolls, including their history of origin.

"Puppet acting is a great intellectual niche," says 46-year-old Joe Heinrich.

A niche in which he feels comfortable, even if it is only appreciated by a small group of interested people in the overabundant range of entertainment.

This group includes the long-standing former PUC boss Michael Kaller, who met Joe Heinrich at a joint performance with Couplet AG and was enthusiastic about his form of puppet theater.

The Puchheimer Brettl-Nacht developed from the first meeting.

In the fictitious pop-up tavern "Zum Puchheimer", Heinrich received cabaret artists once a year as host and presenter and of course also had puppets with him - Markus Söder, for example, or Hubert "Hubsi" Aiwanger.

Doll making is very complex

He had made the mini Söder and an Ilse Aigner doll especially for the BR show "quer".

He worked there regularly for four years.

Doll making is a complex matter.

In addition to artistic and manual skills, an understanding of ergonomics and precision mechanics is also part of it.

You even have to master sewing tricks to get facial expressions and mouth movements right.

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Here Heinrich can count on the support of his wife.

In addition to more than 50 dolls, the exhibition in the Puchheim cultural center PUC provides insights into the manufacturing process from the design drawing to the prototype.

Unsuccessful specimens will also be on display, as well as short videos, photos and objects as well as presentations of various puppet techniques.

Making the same doll twice with the same facial expression is very difficult, says Heinrich.

He was only able to make a Söder copy for the House of Bavarian History because it had a rigid face – “like a sculpted work that is covered with fabric,” the artist describes.

Pretty prompt farewell to "Quer"

Heinrich regards the fact that the Söder and Aigner dolls have been on display in the museum in Regensburg since 2019 as “high appreciation”.

He was all the happier because shortly before he had been dismissed from the program "Quer" by Bayerischer Rundfunk, as he says.

"One day they said I didn't have to come back the following week.

It was like in a bad movie.” The former comic author and artist was already traveling all over Germany with his dolls – until the cultural scene collapsed due to Corona.

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Occasionally he makes puppets for commissions, for example for ventriloquists.

In Puchheim, Heinrich is always welcome outside of the Brettl night.

Mayor Norbert Seidl has often invited him to events to incorporate short puppet scenes.

The exhibition “Querkopfes & Klappmaulhelden – Joe Heinrich's Dolls” starts on Sunday, January 22 at 7 p.m. with the vernissage.

The artist will be present and has a surprise planned for visitors.

The exhibition

at the PUC cultural center runs until February 26.

Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., also Tuesday, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.