"Karl May... so I now..." – On the death of
Jochen Bludau
Karl May & Co.
By Michael Kunz
March 12, 2023
That was such a thing with Jochen Bludau and Karl May.
The long-standing managing director of the Elspe Festival has hinted several
times that he did not really appreciate him as an author. But of course he has
earned a lot of money with the name and the figures of the Mayster and last but
not least reputation. This is becoming abundantly clear these days; in these
days, which follow the news that the Sauerlander died on 9 March at the age of
82.
In fact, he already had a very special relationship with
Karl May, despite occasional considerations of opening "his" stage to
other topics. Thousands of viewers saw him, especially in the 80s and 90s, how
he came to them, raving about the sun regardless of the weather, which was
"popping from the sky" in Arizona and began to transform. "My
name is Jochen Bludau, and I'm here to play the role of Karl May," he
greeted the audience, telling how he, "Karl May, so me now," had
invented this very special universe and the hero Winnetou, "all in my
imagination. I've never been there!" Well, that was a certain freedom, but
he knew the books of the Saxon like no other in the scene.
Already in 1958 as Winnetou on stage
In 1958 he had already appeared alternately with a
colleague as Winnetou. His mother Maria was one of the founding members of the
Elsper Theaterverein. Jochen Bludau, born in 1941, later joined the Federal
Border Guard and trained as a social pedagogue and primary school teacher. At
the same time, he played Old Shatterhand and Kara Ben Nemsi in the late 60s, and
a little later began to write the lyrics. Until then, books from Bad Segeberg
had been played predominantly. The North Germans took over his "Unter
Geiern" in 1973.
Stuntman training and partnership with Pierre Brice
From the mid-1970s, the number of spectators increased
every year, Jochen Bludau and some companions relied on stuntman training and
speech lessons. His plays were and are a mixture of elements of the Karl May
films, with borrowings from John Wayne Westerns and not least the humor of Spencer
and Hill. The last missing element came in 1976 with Pierre Brice. The
"Film-Winnetou" was engaged for one summer and remained the same
until 1980. After a break, he was back in Elspe from 1982 to 1986. Until the
"doer" Bludau decided to put the business on his own two feet without
being dependent on Brice. He made Brice an offer that he could only refuse. The
Frenchman should once again be on stage in a kind of "Best Of" from
all plays, then take off the costume and become a kind of marketing representative
for Elspe.
Bludau knew that Brice felt too agile for such a step.
According to his own statement, he then spread the rumor that Pierre Brice
wanted to establish a new Winnetou show in a North German amusement park and
thus opened the way to Bad Segeberg for him. That's how he told it, but there
are other versions as well.
Behind the scenes after 1993
He himself had no problems with the stage farewell. After
Brice's departure, the pure May stage became a show park, with stunt and animal
performances, country music and circus. Private customers and companies were
able to book the site. The festival went on, but Jochen Bludau had not been
there as an actor since 1993. Only occasionally he was drawn back to the
natural stage. In 1997 he played the aging Karl May. In 2011, he stepped in as
Lord Castlepool in the premiere of "Half-Blood" when the actual actor
suffered a collapse shortly before the break. In 2012, he almost epically
passed on the Henrystutzen to his son Oliver, who had also taken over the management
at that time. A serious illness forced the young man to leave the stage, and
father Jochen returned to the office for several years.
No friend of big performances
Despite his enormous success as Old Shatterhand – Pierre
Brice later described him as credible in the role – the Sauerlander apparently
found greater satisfaction behind the scenes. When Brice died, he did not
accept the invitation to the funeral and later wanted to visit his grave in
peace. At the premiere in the Corona year 2021, the CDU deputy Jochen Ritter
wanted to call him on stage, because the season opener fell exactly on Bludau's
80th birthday. He did not come. He was only present at the annual press
conferences for a long time, but finally left them to his successor in the management,
Philipp Aßhoff.
Earned a lot of respect
Jochen Bludau last appeared on the big stage in 2013,
when he sent his long-time companion Meinolf Pape into retirement at the end of
the last performance and expressed respect for a "unique character
actor". Anyone who reads the condolences and respects that have been
pouring in on all possible channels since Friday morning will be reminded that
Jochen Bludau was also a unique character. Benny Armbruster, who rode for many
years as Winnetou at his side, called him only the " boss ".
The current Winnetou, Jean-Marc Birkholz, has often told
the story of how at his last performance in Rathen, Saxony, in 2006, the whole
Bludau family sat in the front row. Bludau had asked him a few weeks earlier if
he could imagine playing the Apache on another stage. Birkholz has been
involved in Elspe since 2008. A few comrades-in-arms stayed only briefly. But
many others kept coming back when Bludau called.
He had perhaps his most memorable appearance in 2013 at
the Karl May Festival by Michael Petzel, during which he received the
"Scharlih" of the Karl May Archive in Göttingen. When asked why there
has only been a manageable series of unchanged pieces in Elspe for years,
Jochen Bludau leaned back calmly: "Andrew Lloyd Webber has it written into
his contracts that his pieces may never be changed. And I'm supposed to do it
differently??" There was silence in the room. Self-confident and a pinch
of humor. A true Sauerlander.
Critically up to date
By the way, Jochen Bludau was on the net like no other,
perceiving all discussions and debates very closely. Anyone who had a question
for him received an answer by e-mail within minutes. And even the current
dispute over the "Indian question" had moved him 50 years ago. While
Pierre Brice tried to bring his interpretation of Winnetou ever closer to
reality, Bludau was the first to write a Winnetou trilogy for the stage, in
which he dealt very clearly with the themes of land grabbing and annihilation
of the indigenous world. His "Winnetou I" was preceded by a prologue
in which he confronts his imagination with the sober reality, with drunken
Indians from the reservation, with the cavalry blowing up a tipi with a
peaceful family. Should he throw all his books in the trash, or should he
continue to take people for two hours into a world of decency and justice, he
asked as Karl May on stage. This was not completely surprising in the wake of
films like "Little Big Man" or "Soldier Blue", but
ultimately for a family show after Karl May. He stayed with the more or less
perfect world, but it was not quite so intact. In the first adventure comes the
railway and with it the greedy and murderous gold prospectors. In
"Winnetou II" oil is drilled, a white man is made chief. And in the third
piece, the Indians move across the stage with sack and pack, are more and more
displaced and even for a Winnetou there is only room as a legend.
Jochen Bludau has created something big and lasting in
the Sauerland. He was not without controversy due to his simplification of
May's basic ideas and the adherence to a few pieces. But with him goes a
nevertheless very important and influential personality. Without
"his" Elspe" there would not have been many other stages.
In the summer of 2013, Jochen Bludau was presented with
the aforementioned "Scharlih", the honorary award of the Karl May
Archive, which until then had mainly only been awarded to participants in the
Karl May films. This showed the special status that the festival maker from the
Sauerland enjoyed in the scene and will probably always enjoy.
He will be missed.
Michael Kunz
BLUDAU, Jochen
Born: 7/2/1941, Krefeld-Hüls, North
Rhine-Westfalen Germany
Died: 3/9/2023, Elspe, Sauerland, Germany
Jochen Bludau’s westerns – producer, director,
playwright, writer, actor:
Winnetou – 1958 [Elspe stage play Winnetou]
Elspe stage play -1966-1993 (Old Shatterhand)
In the Valley of Death – 1970 [playwright]
The Oil Prince – 1971 [playwright]
Among Vultures – 1972 [playwright]
Unter Geiern - Der Geist des Llano Estacado – 1973
[writer]
Half-breed – 1974 [playwright]
Treasure of Silver Lake – 1977 [playwright]
Winnetou 1 – 1978 [playwright]
Winnetou II – 1979 [playwright]
Winnetou 3 - 1980 [Elspe stage play Shatterhand]
Elspe – Germany’s Wild West – 1981 [writer]
Texas - Doc Snyder hält die Welt in Atem - 1993 [producer]
Elspe stage play – 2011 (Lord Castlepool)
Elspe stage play - 2012 (Benjamin Armbruste)
Elspe stage play Winnetou 1 – 2017 (Karl May)
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