My name is Cox

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Allow me, my name is Cox is a series of novels by the writer couple Rolf and Alexandra Becker , which resulted in numerous radio play adaptations, a few television adaptations and a movie.

Beckers initially published the novel under the pseudonym "Malcolm F. Browne" (that was the name of Rolf Becker's uncle) in order to prevent prejudice against German crime writers. The radio plays were, like the series to Dickie Dick Dickens to street sweepers . The "Ur-Cox" was produced by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) Hamburg in two seasons, 1952 and 1954 with Carl-Heinz Schroth . The third season was now produced by the station called NDR with Erwin Linder in the title role.

The radio plays

The first season

Allow me, my name is Cox was first produced as a radio play in 1952 by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, based on a novel by Rolf Becker.

Paul Cox is a gambler and a cheerful person without a permanent job who makes his way through life. One day he suddenly comes across a corpse with a knife in its back - his! Since he knows exactly that he is not to blame for the murder, from now on he has to make every effort to convince the police and to find the real perpetrator. In the end, he gets together with Helena Bernhardt, who was then his former girlfriend in the third part, Death / Murder on luggage ticket 3311 . In this radio play, Cox is spoken by Carl-Heinz Schroth ("Permit - sniff - my name is Cox!"), Who was able to celebrate one of his greatest successes on the radio. Other speakers included Heinz Klingenberg , Karin Jacobsen , Manfred Steffen , Wolfgang Wahl , Gustl Busch , Wolfgang Borchert , Richard Münch and Hanne Wieder . The role of Mr. Peacock (main perpetrator) was spoken by two people, in the first part it was Helmuth Gmelin and in the remaining episodes it was Hans Zesch-Ballot . Directed by Hans Gertberg , the music was by Siegfried Franz .

The second season

In 1954 the NWDR Hamburg produced the second season, which consisted of 7 parts. The 1st part was first broadcast on March 22, 1954. Under the direction of Hans Gertberg , Carl-Heinz Schroth played the title role again. The other leading roles spoke: Fritz Tillmann (Richardson), Curt Goetz-Pflug (Inspector Carter), Walter Bluhm (Sergeant Collins), Tilly Lauenstein (Anette Dumont), Ilse Steppat (Vera Kraczyk), Alfred Schieske (Flip Mc Youth), Stanislav Ledinek (Anton Kraczyk) and Günter Pfitzmann (Henry Mills). According to the radio play archive in Frankfurt am Main, the sound carrier is unfortunately no longer available.

The third season

In 1959 the third radio play, produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), was released, Gestatten, my name is Cox: Murder on luggage ticket 3311 based on the book of the same name, this time written by Rolf Becker together with his wife Alexandra.

In this story, Cox has to take care of his missing friend, in whose apartment someone was shot with her pistol. Paul Cox was spoken this time by Erwin Linder . Other roles included a. Manfred Steffen, Georg Eilert , Rolf Nagel , Verena Wiet , Franz Schafheitlin , Herbert AE Böhme and Joseph Offenbach can be heard. This time it was directed by SO Wagner . As in the first radio play, the music came from Siegfried Franz.

More productions

The Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) also released a version of the radio play in the same year. The subtitle was changed slightly, instead of murder on luggage ticket 3311 it said death on luggage ticket 3311. Here again Carl-Heinz Schroth spoke the title role. Furthermore, Carter Siegfried Lowitz acted as inspector and Karin Jacobsen, who was involved in the first production, played the role of Helena Bernhardt this time.

In 1963, Bayerischer Rundfunk produced another multi-part series with the subtitle The Little Witch . Here, during an involuntary stay in Illingham, Cox meets a mysterious young lady who constantly changes her name. When he goes to a casino with her, he meets the alleged police officer Goodman, who has an assignment for him. With this, Cox gets into a new exciting adventure. Paul Cox is spoken here by Arno Assmann , Thomas Richardson by Peter Pasetti and Inspector Carter by Alfred Balthoff . Other roles include: a. Hans Cossy , Elisabeth Linhardt , Ulrich Bernsdorff , Konrad Georg , Fritz Benscher , Adolf Ziegler and Werner Lieven can be heard. Walter Netzsch directed the film . The music was written by Walter Kabel . With a total of 343 minutes running, it was the longest radio play in this series.

Two years later, the BR published the next radio play with the title Drumming is part of the craft . Here again Carl-Heinz Schroth was in the title role and this time Jürgen Goslar could be heard in the role of Thomas Richardson . Further spoke u. a. Horst Tappert and again Ulrich Bernsdorff, who spoke the role of Sergeant Collins for the third time. He had already played the same role in the other productions of Bayerischer Rundfunk. However, the 230-minute radio play is not an isolated case; instead, Cox and Richardson investigate six different crimes in which it sometimes happens without a corpse .

In 1969 the BR again produced another multi-part series entitled Permit, my name is Cox - hot thanks for the cold buffet . Konrad Elfers composed the music . Under the direction of Heinz-Günter Stamm , Günther Ungeheuer played Paul Cox, Peter Pasetti played Thomas Richardson, Paul Dahlke inspector Carter and Reinhard Glemnitz his assistant Collins. Other roles included Paul Verhoeven , Diana Körner , Herbert Fleischmann and Gerd Baltus . In this story, a number of people are killed while Cox happens to be present. However, all victims appear to have died of natural causes. Only in the later course of the investigation can the true cause of death be identified, and this also enables the perpetrator to be arrested.

In 1977 the BR published another radio play with the title Murder is punishable . The story describes the first case (the first season) of Paul Cox, in which he is suspected of the murder of attorney Wallings. This time the role of Paul Cox was spoken by Reiner Schöne . Other speakers were Heidelinde Weis (Margit Simmons) and Harald Leipnitz (Inspector Carter). The music was written by Frank Duval , the direction was taken over by Peter M. Preissler .

A year later, Reiner Schöne took on the role of Paul Cox for the second time in the radio play Even the corpse was still there (1978). Also in this case (the second season) Paul Cox is suspected of a murder he did not commit. Michael Degen (Thomas Richardson) and Harald Leipnitz (detective-inspector Carter) also speak . The direction was directed by Peter M. Preissler , the music was written by Frank Duval . In Eben the corpse was still there (which ties in with the first adventure), Cox is lured to a place where a man is shot. When the police appear, however, the body disappears without a trace. Cox is once again suspected of having committed murder. The old game between Inspector Carter and Cox / Richardson takes its varied course.

In Austria, ORF's Upper Austria studio took over the production of its own radio versions of the series. Under the direction of Ferry Bauer , from 1957 to 1968 the adventurous odyssey of a pocket knife (1957), The Corpse Was Still There (1957), Murder on Baggage Ticket 3311 (1959), The Little Witch (1963), Drumming is part of the trade (1965) and One Dead Rarely Comes Alone (1968), each produced in up to 10 episodes. Paul Cox was spoken by Robert Lindner, who (compared to the German versions) gives the figure a slightly harder look. Lindner also took on the leading speaking roles in some of Lester Powell's "Lady" adventures for ORF .

Feature film and television series

In 1955, Georg Jacoby filmed the second series of radio plays under the title “ Permit, my name is Cox ”. The main role was played by Johannes Heesters (without any vocals) and he was supported by Wolfgang Wahl as a private detective Richardson, who had already spoken this role in the first radio play (where Richardson was still a taxi driver). Now Cox is a successful antiques dealer who is on the trail of dark machinations for missing stocks, falls in love with the owner of these stocks and can of course embrace her at the end of the film after the case has been successfully resolved. The music for the film was written by Hans-Martin Majewski (known among other things from the films in the “ Immenhof cinema series ”).

In 1961, directed by John Olden, a television series with Günter Pfitzmann as Paul Cox was created, which told the story of the second book in 13 episodes of 20 minutes each and, due to the great success in 1965, was continued with new stories that no longer built on each other. The music for the series was written by Heinz Funk , who then also wrote exciting background music for “ The Gentlemen Ask For Cash ” and for Edgar Wallace films .

The first series continued the cliffhanger scenario of radio plays, was also a street sweeper and paved the way for Pfitzmann for further successes in television and cinema. The main female role was played by Ellen Schwiers . One of the villains was Lukas Ammann , who later became a detective himself as " Graf Yoster " in a series on which Rolf and Alexandra Becker co-wrote. Thomas Richardson was played in the first season by cabaret artist Wolfgang Neuss , and in the second season Paul-Edwin Roth played Mr. Patterson, the new "assistant" Cox '. Other well-known actors were Herbert Tiede , Gerda-Maria Jürgens , Manfred Steffen , Christa Siems , Carl Voscherau , Wolf Ackva , Andrea Grosske , Hela Gruel , Otto Lüthje , Rolf Schimpf , Friedrich Schütter , Karl-Heinz Kreienbaum , Franz Schafheitlin , Liane Hielscher , Annelies Schmiedel and Fritz Hollenbeck .

media

literature

  • Rolf A. Becker: COX I: Allow me, my name is Cox - a joker in the fight with the underworld. Sigbert Mohn, Gütersloh 1961. (New edition: Bastei-Verlag Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1979, ISBN 3-404-00788-3 .)
  • Rolf A. Becker: COX II: Murder on luggage ticket 3311. Sigbert Mohn, Gütersloh 1962. (New edition: Signum).
  • Rolf A. Becker: COX III: Freight for Hell. Sigbert Mohn / Signum, Gütersloh 1968. (New edition: Bastei-Verlag Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1978, ISBN 3-404-01057-4 .)
  • Rolf A. Becker: COX IV: Allow me, my name is Cox: The Five O'clock Murder.
  • Rolf A. Becker: Allow me, my name is Cox: the body was just there after all. Gryphon Verlag, Munich / London / New York 2000, ISBN 3-935192-41-X .

DVD

  • My name is Cox. Euro Video, on 4 DVDs (TV series with Günter Pfitzmann)
  • My name is Cox. DVD, Universum 82876553639 (movie with Johannes Heesters)

Radio plays on CD

Austrian radio plays by ORF on CD via:

Web links