What a puppet show, this birthday!
The most famous street in the children’s world turns 50 this Sunday. On January 8, 1973, ARD showed the first “Sesame Street” in German. Congratulations, dear Ernie, Bert, Grobi, Ton-Oscar, Bibo, dear Cookie Monster and dear Count Zahl.
In BILD am SONNTAG, actor Horst Janson (87) remembers the golden days of “Sesame Street”. He played between the puppets from 1980 to 1984 and became a star with younger fans.
1980: Horst Janson (right, then 44) in “Sesame Street”. Uwe Friedrichsen († 81, left), Schnecke Finchen, Tiffy, Ilse Biberti (front left), Lilo Pulver (93) and Bär Samson (from left) are beaming with him here
He was 44 at the time and reveals amazing things: “We have Sesame Street to thank for our wonderful daughters.” How so? Janson: “At the time, I really had nothing in my head for children and could not imagine life as a father at all.” That changed when he was constantly surrounded by children while filming.
“I was used to being the German actor with no last name. Everyone just called me ‘der Bastian’.” In 1973 Janson played the title role in the successful ZDF series “Der Bastian” with 15 million viewers per episode. But that did not interest the little doll fans. Janson: “A group of children came up to me and naturally and enthusiastically called: ‘Hello, Horst!'”
Horst Janson at the summer party of the 66th Bad Hersfeld Festival in July 2016
It clicked in Janson’s head. A year later he and his wife Hella (now 74) had their first child, Sarah-Jane (39). Hella: “We still have to be grateful to Samson and Tiffy today!” In 1986, the couple had daughter number two, Laura Marie (37).
And the family keeps growing. Janson: “Our two grandchildren are now three years and ten months old. There is no family pension here.”
From 1978 to 1985, Lilo Pulver (now 93, with Oskar aus der Tonne and Samson) was seen on Sesame Street
But not only “Sesame Street” has fascinated TV viewers for decades. A short BILD am SONNTAG walk through the most famous streets in TV history.
“The Streets of San Francisco”
Fast-paced chases through downtown San Francisco, starring Michael Douglas (now 78, as Inspector Steve Heller) and Karl Malden († 97, as Mike Stone).
The series (ran from 1972 to 1977, with the legendary theme song by composer Patrick Williams, † 79) made the 28-year-old Douglas famous. When he quits after four seasons, the odds tip – then came the end after season five.
“Lindenstrasse”
35 years of German cultural assets! The 1758 episodes (1985 to 2020) by inventor and producer (initially also director) Hans W. Geißendörfer (81) are entwined with the everyday life of various families in the street of the same name.
A scene from the TV series “Lindenstrasse” from 1986
It was in Munich in the series, was filmed in Cologne, and the model is in Neustadt an der Aich, where Geißendörfer spent his childhood. Incidentally, Til Schweiger (59) had his first TV role in “Lindenstraße” from 1990 to 1992 in 145 episodes.
This article comes from BILD am SONNTAG. The ePaper of the entire issue is available here.
“21 Jump Street – Crime Scene Classroom”
The cult series (1987 to 1991) about a group of young police officers was the breakthrough for Hollywood star Johnny Depp (then 24).
Johnny Depp (left, today 59) with Peter Deluise (56)
For 81 episodes he played detective Tom Hanson – head of a group of fresh police school graduates who, because of their youthful appearance, were smuggled into schools as undercover cops to solve drug and violent crimes.
77 Sunset Strips
206 episodes (1958 to 1964) about a detective agency – consisting of two ex-secret agents and a parking lot attendant – in Los Angeles.
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played Stu Bailey
As Stu Bailey, Efrem Zimbalist jr. († 95) a career as a star in US series such as “FBI” or “Remington Steele”. In the cinema he was seen with Audrey Hepburn († 63) in “Wait Until Dark” (1967).
“Ku’damm 56-59-63”
Moving story in nine episodes so far (since 2016) about the single mother Caterina Schöllack (played by Claudia Michelsen, 53), director of a dance school on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, and her three daughters.
The series takes place in Berlin in the 1960s (here Sonja Gerhardt, 33, Maria Ehrich, 29, and Emilia Schüle, 30, from left)
Schöllack would like to marry her off as quickly and naturally as wealthy as possible – but one of them steps out of line with her conservative mother’s plan, the second ends up with a covertly homosexual man, and the third wants to get a divorce again.
coronation street
British cult series since December 1960, with 10,800 episodes to date and regularly more than ten million viewers – according to the Guinness Book of Records, the world’s longest-running television series.
Was the direct model for the “Lindenstrasse” that started in 1985. Most prominent fan: Queen Elizabeth II († 96), who was a guest several times during filming and talked to the actors (last in July 2021).
Royal series fan: The Queen and Prince Philip († 99) on the set of “Coronation Street”
