Millowitsch Theater

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Millowitsch Theater
(Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz)
Millowitsch Theater
location
Address: Aachener Strasse 5
City: Cologne
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '11 "  N , 6 ° 56' 13"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '11 "  N , 6 ° 56' 13"  E
Architecture and history
Opened: October 16, 1936
Spectator: 402 places
Internet presence:
Website: Millowitsch Theater

Volksbühne on Rudolfplatz

Newspaper advertisement from 1892

The Millowitsch Theater was a private theater in Cologne that became known nationwide through the popular actor Willy Millowitsch . Until 2014, the venue at Aachener Straße 5, one of the largest privately run Cologne theaters, was called the Millowitsch Theater. Since 2015 it has been officially called “Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz” and Peter Millowitsch and his ensemble only played for one half of the year . Millowitsch closed the theater after seven generations on March 25, 2018 for economic and age reasons.

history

In 1792 the name Millowitsch was first mentioned in Cologne with the wage cake dealer and puppeteer Michael Millowitsch. In 1793 the son Franz Andreas was born († 1875), who took over the stick puppet theater from his father. After the Deutz ship bridge was completed in Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine in November 1822 , he used a mobile theater to entertain the passers-by who were waiting for the bridge to open when a ship passed.

In 1830 their son Josef Caspar was born, who moved into a permanent venue in Cologne; stick puppets were still being played with. On August 16, 1843, Franz Andreas Millowitsch applied for the license for this; on November 27, 1845 the license for a traveling stage was requested. But the district government rejected the applications because of the existing Hänneschen theater . In November 1847 he played with a trade license in Deutz , opened a small theater in Weyerstraße in 1849 and handed it over to his son Josef Caspar Millowitsch in 1865. He died in 1867, and it was not until the next generation, Wilhelm Josef Millowitsch, who was born in 1854, that the theater switched to real actors. The family first appeared on May 1, 1895 as the “Cologne Low German Volksbühne” on Neumarkt .

Wilhelm Josef Millowitsch still played the traditional puppet theater pieces with characters such as Hänneschen or Tünnes und Schäl , but gradually the focus shifted to revue pieces such as the journey around the world in 80 days . He died in 1909 and his wife Emma took over the management of the theater until 1920. Then the son Peter Wilhelm Millowitsch, born in 1880, took over the stage. Due to the economic crisis, the theater was forced to play in constantly changing locations until Peter Millowitsch settled in its current location near Rudolfplatz in Cologne in 1936. On October 16, 1936, the play Mädchen für alles premiered in the new house. Until then, the building at Aachener Strasse 5 housed the Colonia Halls, in which dance events, but also military prototypes during the First World War , were held.

In 1940 Peter's son Willy took over the management of the house. The bombing of the Second World War did little damage to the theater, and at the request of Konrad Adenauer , Cologne's mayor at the time, the theater could be resumed on October 19, 1945 with the three-act play Das Glücksmädel . In the same year Willy's father Peter Wilhelm Millowitsch died. After the war, Willy Millowitsch ran the theater together with his sister Lucy Millowitsch , with whom he enjoyed great success on stage until 1969.

On October 27, 1953, the play Der Etappenhase by the Low German poet Karl Bunje was broadcast by the NWDR, the first live broadcast of a play on television. The stage play, intended as a replacement for an unusual sports broadcast, made the Millowitsch Theater famous throughout Germany. From then on, it mainly specialized in the coarse-comical Schwank as a form of theater. More than 100 other pieces followed in this genre, many of which became street sweepers like Schneider Wibbel , Aunt Jutta from Calcutta with an audience rate of 88% or Et fussig Julche , where daughter Mariele Millowitsch had one of her first appearances.

Other audience favorites for many years were the Cologne folk actress Elsa Scholten , who played at the Millowitsch Theater since 1920, as well as Franz Schneider (from around 1946), Lotti Krekel (from 1958), Frank Barufski (from 1959), Walter Hoor and Barbie Steinhaus ( from around 1971). The participants who were not tied to the theater included Bubi Scholz and Günter Lamprecht ( The Master Boxer ), Peter René Körner ( Aunt Jutta from Calcutta ) and Eddi Arent ( The tired Theodor ). Trude Herr took on small roles at the Millowitsch Theater from 1948.

In 1998 the theater was taken over by Willy's son Peter Millowitsch ; Willy Millowitsch died in 1999. Schwänke continued to be played, mostly written by Peter Millowitsch. In addition, dialect groups such as the Bläck Fööss , the Paveier or De Räuber as well as other Cologne ensembles such as the Wise Guys or Basta performed in the Millowitsch Theater.

The Millowitsch Theater ensemble at Käsch in de Täsch , 2015: Leo Mader, Samy Orfgen, Peter Millowitsch, Ariana Weil, Dmitri Alexandrov , Robert Sertic

Since the beginning of 2015, combined with an extensive renovation of the theater, the venue has been operating under the name Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz. Supported by the Freie Volksbühne Köln association , the hall has 402 seats, 356 of which are in the stalls and 46 on the balcony . The theater was used for half a year by Peter Millowitsch with the Millowitsch Theater. In the other half of the year, events of the theater, concert and guest performance management Otto Hofner GmbH followed. The Volksbühne on Rudolfplatz used the venue itself for the remaining five months, relying on comedy , cabaret and music performances.

The theater was still the seat of the Millowitsch Theater GmbH. On March 25, 2018, the last performance of the play Who knows what for et jot es took place.

Plays (selection of great successes; premiere date)

  • This is how we live every day (October 11, 1933)
  • Girls for Everything (October 16, 1936)
  • The Lucky Girl (October 19, 1945)
  • The stage hare (October 27, 1953)
  • Three Cologne Boys (January 17, 1954, 1965 and 1980)
  • The Lucky Girl (May 15, 1954)
  • The Spanish Fly (August 16, 1958)
  • The Chaste Bon vivant (May 3, 1959)
  • Schneider Wibbel (June 13, 1959)
  • The master boxer (February 20, 1960 and 1968)
  • The blue Heinrich (July 9, 1960 and 1983)
  • In the night jacket district (March 11, 1961 and 1975)
  • Aunt Jutta from Calcutta (March 24, 1962)
  • The Three Hypocrites (September 4, 1964)
  • Paris is worth a trip (October 20, 1966)
  • The Unbelieving Thomas (May 3, 1967)
  • Paradise of Brisk sinners (April 19, 1968)
  • Et fussig Julche (1978)
  • The Tired Theodor (May 19, 1979)
  • The Ban on Love (September 22, 1984)
  • Nobility Committed to Nothing (1985)
  • The Princess of the Nile (1987)
  • The real Jacob (1988)
  • With Us in the Quarter (1989)
  • The Rape of the Sabine Women (1991)
  • The Chaste Bon vivant (1992)
  • Where are they running? (1996)
  • With love from Nippes (1997)
  • The King of Friesenplatz (1998)
  • Participate, Cash Laughs (1999)
  • Ufos üvverm Aldermaat (2000)
  • Klüngel bei Klettenbergs (2001)
  • Et kütt like et kütt (2002)
  • Saionara Aunt Klara (2003)
  • Taxi to Ehrenfeld (2004)
  • Einmol Prinz zo sin (2005)
  • D'r Pope kütt (2006)
  • Real Eau de Cologne (2007)
  • We know each other, we help each other (2008)
  • When the light goes out in the puff (2009)
  • Farmer Needs Pig (2010)
  • For a handful of Flönz (2011)
  • Tanzmariechen XXL (2012)
  • Dat is called camping (2013)
  • Annemie I Can't Mih (2014)
  • Käsch in de Täsch (2015)

Web links

Commons : Willy Millowitsch  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henriette Westphal: "Can't do it alone anymore". The Millowitsch Theater ends in March. In: Kölnische Rundschau . January 22, 2018, accessed August 21, 2019 .
  2. ^ Peter Fuchs: Chronicle of the history of the city of Cologne. Volume 2, 1991, p. 131.
  3. ^ Peter Fuchs: Chronicle of the history of the city of Cologne. Volume 2, 1991, p. 161.
  4. ↑ See the call for samples from May 5, 1917 in the Colonia rooms : Landsturm Musterung Köln 1917.gif
  5. ↑ Monika Estermann, Edgar Lersch (ed.): Book, book trade and radio 1945–1949 (=  media historical publications . Volume 1 ). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-447-03875-6 , ISSN  1431-9705 , p. 27 ( books.google.de ).
  6. ↑ Willy Millowitsch , Prisma Starguide
  7. ↑ Horst O. Hermanni: From Jean Gabin to Walter Huston. The ABC of films. 2009, p. 387 ( books.google.de ).
  8. ↑ Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz - rental. In: volksbuehne-rudolfplatz.de. Retrieved October 15, 2015 .
  9. ^ Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz: New program in the Millowitsch Theater. In: rundschau-online.de. Retrieved October 15, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Imprint. In: www.millowitsch.de. Retrieved October 15, 2015 .
  11. ^ Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz: The lights in the Millowitsch Theater go out at the end of March. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . January 22, 2018, accessed August 21, 2019 .