Piet Pelle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Book cover of 't Avontuur van Piet Pelle op zyn Gazelle from 1912
Monument to Piet Pelle in Dieren , the headquarters of Gazelle

Piet Pelle is the main character in the commercial 't Avontuur van Piet Pelle op zyn Gazelle . This was first published in 1912 by the bicycle manufacturer Gazelle for advertising purposes. It is considered the oldest comic strip in the Netherlands .

history

The first edition

In 1912 the owners of the Gazelle company , Willem Kölling and Rudolf Arentsen, commissioned the Haarlem artist Ko Doncker to design an advertising figure for their brand. In the same year a book with the character Piet Pelle came out.

The book is subtitled “an artistic picture book for children from 8 to 80”. The story consists of 40 pictures that tell of the adventures of the little boy Piet Pelle with his Gazelle bike , which his father gave him after passing an exam. Despite some exciting experiences, both Piet and his gazelle finally return home safe. The book was printed by Binger in Amsterdam , had a hard cover and was almost square, 8.5 by 7.7 centimeters. The images were printed in three colors, black, green, and red. The text was in rhyme form. The first edition comprised 20,000 copies, the second 5,000. The little books were available free of charge from Gazelle dealers, or they could be requested from Kölling and Arentsen.

Piet Pelle was enthusiastically received by the association magazine des Algemene Nederlandse Wielrijdersbond and in the student magazine Propria Curus , and the story was also a great success with customers. In 1913, Gazelle therefore decided to print posters with a Piet Pelle motif, which the traders could hang up in their shops. The third edition came out in 1924 with 175,000 copies and was printed by Friedrich Robert Emanuel Baensch in Magdeburg , artist André Vlaanderen was responsible until 1953 ; Doncker died in 1917. Vlaanderen delivered the books in 1924 for 32.50 guilders per 1000 copies, at the same time 250,000 new posters were printed. From 1923 until the Second World War , a new edition of Piet Pelle was published every year.

Two cartoons with Piet Pelle were also produced between 1928 and 1930 , which were shown by the dealers in their shop windows and attracted numerous passers-by. At times the crowds outside the shops were so great that the demonstrations were limited: So it was a Gazelle dealers in Groningen until the 1950s prohibited the films during the rush hour to show up.

A modern Piet

In 1960 Piet was "modernized": his father got a new coat, the steam engine was replaced by an electric locomotive and the old wall phone was replaced by a modern device. The language has also been adapted to new customs. In addition, the booklet was printed in a different, more common format for cost reasons. In 1963, 51 years after 't Avontuur van Piet Pelle op zyn Gazelle , a new story was published: Piet Pelle's ruimtereis (Piet Pelle's journey through space ) . Guus Boissevain was responsible for the illustrations and Kees Stip for the text, and the following year another adventure, Piet Pelle, de schildpad en de haas (Piet Pelle, the tortoise and the hare) , came out. However, these new comics never reached the popularity of the original story with Ko Doncker's drawings. Until 1998 Piet Pelle was the official “mascot” of Gazelle with the advertising slogan: “Doe as Piet Pelle - pebble 'n Gazelle” (“Do as Piet Pelle - choose a Gazelle”). Piet Pelle has been the advertising character for Het nieuwe fietsplan , a Gazelle campaign for electric bicycles, since 2015 .

reception

Piet Pelle enjoys cult status in the Netherlands : There are numerous products, from mugs and ties to T-shirts with the Piet Pelle motif. Fans collect items, especially original Gazelle promotional items .

In his book Pijn is genot from 1992, the writer Jan Siebelink describes how, at the age of nine, he went to a bike shop early in the morning to get a Piet Pelle book. He was the first to be followed by a long line.

Anecdotes

In 1924 the advertising department of Gazelle received a letter from an angry father: Similar to Piet Pelle in the book, his son had ridden his new bike against a wall - albeit on purpose - and the bike was destroyed. “Of course” the company gave the child a new Gazelle bike as a gift.

In August 1963, the company ran a promotion with an airplane along the Dutch coast. Apparently a man fell into the water from a great height and the coast guard was alerted. It turned out that the "man" was a large figure of Piet Pelle made of nylon.

  • PP 1912 1.jpg
  • PP 1912 2.jpg

literature

Web links

Commons : Piet Pelle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Moed: Piet Pelle op zijn Gazelle , p. 151.
  2. ↑ a b c Moed: Piet Pelle op zijn Gazelle , p. 152.
  3. ↑ a b c Moed: Piet Pelle op zijn Gazelle , p. 153.
  4. ↑ a b c Moed: Piet Pelle op zijn Gazelle , p. 154.
  5. ^ Moed: Piet Pelle op zijn Gazelle , p. 153 f.
  6. ↑ Het Nieuwe Fietsplan. In: hetnieuwefietsplan.nl. Retrieved June 7, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Jan Siebelink: Pijn is genot. Bezige Bij bv, Uitgeverij De, 2011, ISBN 978-9-400-40084-9 ( limited preview in Google book search).