II. Anmerkungen zum Buchtext, Teil II - Einsnull

ATOLL K was followed by another elaborate dub version. SWISS MISS became «Dick und Doof als Salontiroler»
(Dick und Doof as Parlour Tyroleans), an utterly nonsensical title as anyone with geographic knowledge
of the alps noticed. Composer Conny Schumann jumped at the opportunity of providing the new musical
setting, and its quality was noticed by the reviewers and by anyone who bought it in the form of sheet music.
An elaborate marketing campaign with Laurel and Hardy imitators in Swiss trousers, along with mousetraps,
ponies and all, accompanied the premiere. Dick und Doof had another late hit, and further shorts
and features followed without much delay (among them THE CHIMP, merged with PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES,
minus some war scenes of course, as in the German pre-war version).
Soon, a rather colourful figure entered the distribution market: Erich A. Pietrek («Mr Dick und Doof», as
the German Sons of the Desert called him when making him an honorary member of the Two Tars Tent),
head of the distribution chain Viktoria. With some quickly organized releases, such as new versions of WAY
OUT WEST and DIRTY WORK, Pietrek, who had been in the movie business since the early 30s, managed even
to precede M-G-M’s planned release of NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.
In 1953, distributor Gloria – who had previously released THE IGHTING KENTUCKIAN in Germany and generally
focused on Republic westerns, serials and the like – joined in the fun and released sixmore Laurel
and Hardy shorts with their features. So did Pietrek, following Gloria’s pattern of coupling western excitement
with comedy fun – until his first bankruptcy, that is. Yet another distributor, Atlantic, provided another
deplorable first by cutting down the feature THE LYING DEUCES into a short of nearly split reel size.
Laurel and Hardy were probably unaware of their German renaissance in the fifties. They enjoyed their
fame on stage, touring the United Kingdom. When the sad news of Oliver Hardy’s passing in 1957 seemed
to spell the end of Laurel and Hardy, this wasn’t really true for the Germans. After the first wave, more was
to follow. In Germany, Laurel and Hardy were to enter critical respectability – and kiddie matinees.
Part III
In 1956, Mr. Pietrek re-emerged with his new distribution chain NWD after the bankruptcy of Viktoria and
the short-lived follow-up Neue Viktoria (‹New Victoria›). The strategy: re-distribute as much Laurel and
Hardy as possible as «youth programmes», lowering the classification fees. Pietrek was not a Laurel and
Hardy expert. While still in his previous company, he even submitted the elusive 1937 dub of WAY OUT WEST
for passing, and it was the classification board who had to remind him that he had himself just freshly dubbed
and submitted the film! Pietrek also turned cowboy sidekick Al «uzzy» St. John into a main comedian
with his own film series, and it was not long before he coupled these uzzy features with Dick und Doof
shorts. Meanwhile, Centfox provided GREAT GUNS in a German dub version that problematically tried to add
dialogue jokes, but was at least well-cast. Pietrek’s versions, though, were certainly not determined by any
artistic decisions (for better or for worse), but more from his eagerness to save money, often at the expense
of the final product. Thus, THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, combined with THEIR IRST MISTAKE, pretending the feature
film’s story was just a dream within a dream, eventually found its way to Germany after the 1936 Nazi
ban. However, it was not Pietrek who was to blame for arguably the worst dubbed Dick und Doof film ever.
That was the compilation 3 X DICK UND DOO, distributed by yet another fresh competitor. At least, M-G-M
made up for it with a careful, exemplary German adaptation of RA DIAVOLO in 1957, again with Bluhm and
Paulsen as Laurel and Hardy’s voices.
Centfox, M-G-M and Pietrek continued, and soon Pietrek’s one-sheets displayed for the first time what
were soon to become the familiar, albeit bizarre Laurel and Hardy caricatures with their reddish, exaggeratedly
sized heads.
Still another distributor, Donau (called after the famous river Danube), launched a shorts compilation,
oddly casting Horst Gentzen, known as the dubbing voice of Jerry Lewis and Kermit the rog, as Stan.
But as far as compilation films are concerned, another event in Laurel and Hardy screen history had its
own impact on the German market when Robert Youngson entered the scene. The German version of
Youngson’s compilation THE GOLDEN AGE O COMEDY generally was faithful to Youngson’s original commentary,
but did add narrators (six in total), and, sadly, some entirely unnecessary jokes.