Professor Tribini

Professor Tribini (bust of Troels Lybecker, outside Bakken, where Tribini used to have his vaudeville tent; Copenhagen, 2008)

Christian Jørgen "Tribini" Nielsen (born August 25, 1915 in Copenhagen - Vesterbro , † November 13, 1973 in Copenhagen) was a Danish entertainer and magician . Nielsen performed 36 years as a showman in the amusement park Dyrehavsbakken (short: Bakken) on the outskirts of Copenhagen. For almost 30 years he used the stage name "Professor Tribini" and from 1948 to 1971 he directed his own tented vaudeville ; he also worked as an actor in several Danish films.

Through his talents as a showman, his eloquence and his ability to use the media for advertising purposes, professor Tribini was in the 1950s and 1960s formative for Bakken and a celebrity in Denmark, earning him the nickname "gøglernes konge" (dt. King the juggler ) brought in.

Youth and early experiences

Christian Jørgen Nielsen was born in Vesterbro, the son of the freight forwarder Orla Nielsen and his wife Petra Jørgensine (née Pedersen). At the age of ten he lost his parents and was taken in by two aunts. As a 14-year-old autodidact , he began a career as a juggler and entertainer in 1929 by moving across the country as a magician and street singer and performing at markets together with Arne Berdino Olsen .

Career in Bakken (1935–1971)

Beginnings

After Nielsen had pursued various occupations - among other things, he briefly had an apprenticeship as a shipbuilder and worked as a chauffeur for Thorvald Stauning - he worked from 1935 in the Bakken amusement park in Copenhagen as a crier and advertiser, performed as the "magical clown Frisco " in the Alhambra and in the Varieté Scala variety of Brothers Stefansen and was one season as a speech equerry in Circus Klampenborg busy. During the 1940 season, Nielsen had a brief stint as a clown and magician at Circus Royal , but returned to Bakken in 1941.

In 1935 Nielsen met Sofie Gudrun Jensen, four years older than him, who worked as Smørrebrødsjomfru in a restaurant in Bakken. The couple married on February 8, 1936 in Copenhagen and had two children, Jørgen (1943–1998) and Aase (* 1946), who both performed in their father's vaudeville theater when they were children.

"Professor Tribini"

Nielsen got the idea for the stage name "Tribini" from an aunt's maiden name "Tribin", to which he added an "i" because of the sound. After the Nielsen couple had performed as the "2 Tribini's" since 1936 and were successful, Nielsen became the manager and leading actor in the Alhambra Varieté in 1943 , where he was responsible for a larger group of artists. In the same year, Niels Christian Frode-Jensen (1887–1957), the then owner of the Alhambra and chairman of the Bakkens Teltholderforening , declared Nielsen the official successor of the Danish fairground gauer Professor Labri (1863–1935). Professor Tribini occasionally gave his stage name with “Professor phil. Tribini ”, whereby he phil. wanted to be understood as an abbreviation for the Danish philur (dt. jester ).

From 1948 Professor Tribini received a license for his own showman tent in Bakken, where he directed his New Scala Varieté ; the name later changed to Professor Tribini's Show . Outside the Bakken season, Professor Tribini toured all of Denmark and performed at city festivals, markets and other events as a humorist with magic and puppet shows . During the Christmas season he organized - mostly on behalf of Danish trade unions - entire Christmas parties with an appearance as Santa Claus and an entertainment show after the presents were given.

At the end of the 1950s, when Professor Tribini was also known nationwide for his film appearances, he received an official letter prohibiting him from using the name "Tribini" in an official manner. Since there was no official way out of this situation, Professor Tribini turned to King Frederik IX with a written request . , who granted this request in a letter dated March 23, 1959 and lifted the official ban, so that Nielsen could officially use the name Tribini from that date .

While there were seven other variety shows in Bakken in addition to the Professor Tribinis Show in the mid-1950s, interest in this type of entertainment decreased more and more towards the end of the 1960s. In 1971, the income just outweighed the show's expenses and it became Professor Tribini's final season. With the end of his show, the era of the tented variety shows in Bakken came to an end, and arcades and rides took their place .

Personal appearance and entertainment style

Professor Tribini was a very impressive figure with a mustache and a strong chin. During his performances he always wore cylinder and a tailcoat , the fantasy with medals was decorated, as well as ties with colored motifs and a large-membered watch chain or Münzkette of silver dollars . To do this, he used the ornate stick that he had received as a sign of Professor Labri's successor on stage.

In addition to his skills as an illusionist - one of his specialties were the "magic rings" - he was particularly known for his fast and never-ending way of speaking and his playful eloquence ("word acrobatics"), which he used as a crier before his time as a showman in a strong voice, to arouse the audience's curiosity during the so-called “parade”: During the parade, Professor Tribini presented all the actors in his show individually on stage and praised their sensational and superhuman abilities. He underlined his statements with lively facial expressions , great gestures and a lot of humor, which ranged from harmless silliness to untranslatable puns that can only be understood in Danish , to the absurd and surreal.

The whole family and the family's dogs were involved in Professor Tribinis Varieté. His daughter Aase appeared at the age of three and a half as “Denmark's youngest contortionist ”, from the age of 12 she had her own appearance as a sorceress, and her premiere as a sawed-up virgin took place at the age of 13 as Professor Tribini's assistant due to illness suddenly failed; in addition, she was a puppeteer and acrobat. As a 6-year-old, Jørgen was already performing magic tricks on stage. Because of the Danish child labor requirements , Professor Tribini needed special permission from the Ministry of Justice to allow his children to appear on stage; this had to be done under the strict supervision of the parents and only a certain number of hours per day.

In addition to Danish artists - the clown Erico Lund, a long-time friend, had engagements in Tribinis Varieté for eight years; The white clown Søren Arli (1935–2011), who later founded the family business Circus Arli , which is still in existence today, also performed there for several seasons - Professor Tribini also employed international showmen on a seasonal basis, whom he selected while traveling with his family. At the beginning of 1952 Tribini traveled with his family to the still bombed Hamburg to meet the German sword swallower Tabu and his wife. During the 1952 Bakken season, Tabu & Tamara were a major attraction on Tribini's show and their appearances attracted particular attention in the local newspapers because of Tribini's idea of ​​taking an X-ray of Tabu with a sword swallowed as proof of authenticity in the St. Joseph Hospital in Copenhagen allow; During the parade, Professor Tribini demonstrated this recording to the amazed audience.

Holiday festivals

From 1962 onwards, Professor Tribini organized activities every Wednesday during the summer holidays - the Bakkens feriefester - in the Bakken open-air stage. Each of these events had a different main theme and he invited Danish actors, politicians and other well-known personalities as thematically appropriate guest stars. The Bakken holiday festivities were such a success that the rival Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen moved its own holiday festivities forward from Wednesday to Tuesday.

Santa Clauses Congress

Professor Tribini at one of the first Julemændenes Verdenskongres

In 1957, Professor Tribini organized the world's first Santa Claus Congress ( Julemændenes verdenskongres ; later Professor Tribinis Juleshow ) - in the summer. To this end, he invited Santa Claus actors with showmanship skills across the country. Although his wife Gudrun was concerned about this idea, the congress, at which the participants appeared in red and white costumes - which also happened to be the colors of the Danish flag - was a great success and met with a worldwide media response.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the introduction of this annually repeated “Congress”, this event was honored in Bakken from July 22nd - 24th, 2007 with a special and international event, at which historical recordings of the first congress were shown.

Sponsorship

An early routine of Professor Tribini was that when he performed, he first addressed the audience with an electric razor in hand, then paused in surprise and said, "Oh no, that's my Philishave ! Here I need my microphone!" , picked up the microphone . This was noticed by an employee of the Philips factory in Copenhagen and at the celebration of his 40th birthday in 1955 a Philips delegation surprised him with a large television set .
The participation of the public was also desired at the summer holidays organized in Bakken from 1962 onwards. In recognition of this, participants received small gifts that Professor Tribini received from larger companies in the Copenhagen area that were aware of the advertising effect at these large events with several thousand spectators.

Performances outside of Bakken

Charity events

During the polio epidemic in Denmark (officially from July 1952 to April 1953), which affected around 7,000 people, mostly children, Professor Tribini and his daughter wandered through the hospitals in Copenhagen over the Christmas days to see those receiving treatment there to chat.

Together with Prince Knut and his sons Ingolf and Christian , Professor Tribini appeared at several charity events in the late 1950s .

Acting

From 1946 to 1971, Professor Tribini appeared in eleven Danish films - mostly comedies and family films - in which he portrayed himself, jugglers or people from the fairground trade. During these productions he worked with Danish actors well known at the time, such as Buster Larsen (1920–1993), Dirch Passer (1926–1980) and Ove Sprogøe (1919–2004), who later became the gang leader Egon Olsen in the Olsenbande films embodied.

year	Original title	German title	Director
1946	Certification from afdøde	morphine	Johan Jacobsen
1951	Bag de red porte	Did not show up	Asbjørn Andersen and Jens Henriksen
1956	The store gavtyv	Did not show up	Johan Jacobsen
1957	Tag til marked i Fjordby	Did not show up	Poul Bang
1958	Krudt and Klunker	Did not show up	Annelise Hovmand
1961	Gøngehøvdingen	Did not show up	Annelise Hovmand
1963	Dronningens vagtmester	Did not show up	Johan Jacobsen
1964	Majoren's oppasser	Did not show up	Sven Methling
1964	Paradis retur	Did not show up	Gabriel Axel
1968	I the green skov	Did not show up	Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt
1971	Med kærlig help	Did not show up	Gabriel Axel

He also worked in the 4th episode ( Afsløringen ; dt. The Revelation ) of the television series Hemmelig sommer in 1968 .

Career after Bakken

Gravesite of Christian and Gudrun Tribini

After giving up his tent in Bakken, Professor Tribini continued to make appearances nationwide as an entertainer at events and with his july show.

Professor Tribini was a diabetic and his wife provided him with drinks and small snacks during his performances, which often lasted hours. In 1973 he died of a heart attack shortly after leaving his house on the way to a job on the island of Bornholm . Together with his wife Gudrun (* December 21, 1910, † December 28, 1988) he rests in the cemetery Vor Frelsers Kirkegaard, the church of the same name on the island of Amager , Copenhagen. The inscription on the tombstone reads: Tak for alle de gode aar og de gode lyse minder du har givet os. (Eng. Thank you for all the good years and the bright memories that you gave us. )

Memberships in organizations and clubs

For many years, Professor Tribini was in charge of both the Bakkens Teltholderforening ( showmen association of tent owners in Bakken ), founded in 1885, and the association of Danmarks Teltholderforening ( Denmark's tent owners ).

In addition to his professional obligations, he was a member of The Adventurers' Club of Denmark ( Eventyrernes Klub ), an association that only accepts men.

Honors

Badge of the Professor Tribini bust

In the summer of 1965, Professor Tribini's 50th birthday was celebrated across Bakken. The painter Ib Eisner and his sons Morton and Jeppe painted three paintings at the same time, which Professor Tribini showed on the stage in front of his tent during the “parade”.

In 1970, Professor Tribini was accepted as an honorary member of the Magisk Cirkel Danmark ( Magic Circle in Denmark ).

Collection of Tribini utensils by the Danish National Museum

Professor Tribini was the last showman in Bakken to run his variety show in a tent. This tent, the showman's caravan and his magic utensils are now in the warehouse of the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.

Tribini Bust and Tribini Prize

On April 29, 2008, a metal bust designed by the painter and sculptor Troels Lybecker was placed by Professor Tribini in the outdoor area of ​​the Dyrehavsbakken amusement park and unveiled by his daughter Aase Tribini Clausen.

In the same year the Tribini Prize was created, which is awarded annually by the administration of Dyrehavsbakken to Danish artists who are in the tradition of the showman. " Prerequisites for the prize: The Tribini Prize is awarded to a person who spreads a good mood, who has original creativity in their work, who has an eye for the silly and can have an oblique view of things, and who contributes to that the tradition of jugglers / showmen lives on in today's form. "The previous winners are:

• 2008 Rune Klan - stand-up comedian and magician
• 2009 Anders "Anden" Matthesen - stand-up comedian, actor, singer / rapper , screenwriter and director
• 2010 Daniel Jacob Haugaard - comedian , musician, singer, actor and former politician
• 2011 Søren Østergaard - actor, comedian, director, ringmaster and juggler
• 2012 Andreas Bo Pedersen - self-taught actor and comedian
• 2013 Morten Eisner - actor

Quotes

“Hvis De får en god oplevelse, så fortæl det til others. Hvis de får en dårlig oplevelse, så fortæl det til mig. Jeg løber ikke med sladder. Fuld tilfredshed, eller pengene he spildt! "

“ If you find it, tell the others. If you don't like it, tell me. I'm not going to carry the gossip on. Complete satisfaction or no money back! "

- Common greeting formula

“The oversavede dame optræder ikke i aften. Hun er lige blevet skilt. Dene halvdel bor i Roskilde og den Anden i Ringsted. "

“ The sawed-up lady does not appear this evening. She is now in divorce; half in Roskilde , the other half in Ringsted . "

- Transfer during the performance

literature

• Otto Ludwig, Professor Tribini - gøglernes konge , Askholm Verlag (2000), ISBN 978-87-90721-31-2 .
• Aase Tribini Clausen: Erindringer fra with gøglerliv , in Lyngby-Bogen 2012 , pp. 3–32, Historisk-topografisk Selskab for Lyngby-Taarbæk Kommune, edited by Dr. Jeppe Tønsberg, A. Rasmussens Bogtrykkeri, Ringkøbing, ISBN 978-87-87298-45-2 .

Web links

• Dansk Film Database → Søg → Skuespiller → Tribini
• Tag til marked i Fjordby (1957) on YouTube
• www.gravsted.dk: Gravesite of Christian Jørgen Nielsen / Tribini and his wife Gudrun

Individual evidence and explanations

1. ↑ Among other things, he taught himself to play the accordion during this time .
2. ↑ “Speaking stable master” is a term taken from German into Danish for a circus employee who is responsible for calling up and announcing the individual circus numbers with commentary for the audience; Occasionally he also takes part in clown acts as the authoritarian and sensible counterpart to the chaotic, anarchist clowns.
3. ↑ A “Smørrebrødsjomfru”, literally “sandwich maid”, prepares the appetizingly decorated smørrebrøds that are typical of Denmark .
4. ↑ Frode-Jensen was a very influential person in Bakken at that time, which earned him the nickname The King of Bakken .
5. ↑ Also Professor Labri was known that he was a gifted speaker - therefore "Professor" - and a sign of title acquisition was Professor Tribini ornate walking stick, the professor Labris had always used in his performances.
6. ↑ The tent was at Bakken Stand No. 27; At this point there is now the Tribini bust and an information board that provides information on stations in his life.
7. ↑ Christian Jørgen Nielsen had among other things baptized his two children under the name Tribini Nielsen .
8. ↑ It was written that Professor Tribini was able to "break down the Danish language into atoms". When asked about how he had acquired this ability, his answer was always "that he was vaccinated as a child with a gramophone needle".
9. ↑ His greetings were variations of “ Højtærede herskaber, grevskaber, klædeskaber, videnskaber, ægteskaber og djævleskaber - alle er velkomne! Tykke og tynde, brede og flade - rullemænd, tullemænd og julemænd, sprællemænd og skraldemænd, landmænd og vandmænd ..! “The Danish pun, which begins with a classic greeting“ Honored gentlemen ... ”drifts into increasingly absurd terms that are funny because of the rhyme and / or their contradictions and whose effect in German cannot be translated.
10. ↑ "Trylle Pigen Aase", German "Aase, the magical girl"
11. ↑ Aase also appeared on her father's show until 1967 after their marriage. From 1973, the year her father died, she trained as a dental assistant . Later she worked under the name Aase Tribini Clausen mainly in the dental care of school children.
12. ↑ Outside the Bakken season, the family traveled by car and caravan; while his wife Gudrun and the children were on vacation - where they also taught the children - Professor Tribini visited variety shows and circuses at the resort and looked for new attractions.
13. ↑ Summer Santa Clauses in Denmark ( Memento of the original dated December 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ Slide show of the Julemændenes Congress 2007
15. ↑ Gifts were again made possible through gifts from sponsors.
16. ↑ At that time it was common in Denmark for trade unions to organize large Christmas parties with programs and gifts for the children of their members.
17. ^ Website of The Adventurers' Club of Denmark ( Eventyrernes Klub )
18. ↑ Professor Tribini
    tent owner (showman) in Dyrehavsbakken 1948–1971
    "With the gift of imagination
    he made fantastic things happen.
    You could hardly believe
    it, you had never seen anything like this before."
    (Excerpt from a poem by Kjeld Jørgensen)
    Bust created by Troels Lybecker
19. ↑ The Latin saying Mundus vult desipi, ergo desipiatur, was found in the patterns and representations of this tent . (Correct: Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur , dt. The world wants to be cheated, so be it cheated or freer. The world loves to be deceived ). It was through this saying that Professor Tribini made the acquaintance of a German university professor from Hamburg who was married to a Dane. From this a long-term friendship developed with regular visits from the Hamburg couple, who then always got seats in the "kongelogen" (German royal box ) during the Professor Tribini Show .
20. ↑ During the Bakken season, the family lived behind the variety tent in this showman's caravan, and Professor Tribini attached great importance to its exterior decoration and the interior of this family home.
21. ↑ Circus News 2008; Aase Tribini next to the Tribini bust  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Danish)  
22. ↑ In the Danish original Prisfundatsen: Tribiniprisen tildeles en humørspreder, which udviser original creativity i sit virke med et godt øje for de skære and skæve vinkler and som bidrager til, at gøglertradionen videre i en nutidig form.
23. ↑ Bakken press release on the Tribini Prize 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Danish)  
24. ↑ Køge Medie Center (Lørdags-Avisen), April 21, 2012: Andreas Bo fik Bakkens Tribini-pris 2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Danish)  
25. ↑ Mikael Østergaard Morten Eisner fik Tribini-prisen , Villabyerne, Gentofte, 24 June 2013