Clous van Mechelen (born Jacob Philip (Jack) van Mechelen; 12 March 1941 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch musician, arranger, and actor. Van Mechelen scored a minor hit in 1969 with his band The Butlers, and became widely known through the radio and television shows written and directed by Wim T. Schippers (he is referred to as his "house composer" [1] ), in which he played the character Jan Vos and wrote songs for the various characters (including Barend Servet and Sjef van Oekel). [2]
Van Mechelen has been playing jazz [3] since the 1950s; Hans Dulfer played in his band. [4] He collaborated with a number of writers and artists associated with the Amsterdam daily newspaper Het Parool in the cabaret show De Inktvis, including Annie M. G. Schmidt. [5] He had considerable success writing music for commercials, notably for the Grolsch Brewery [6] (the "baroque music" for the "Vakmanschap is Meesterschap" commercials [7] ), for Nationale Nederlanden, [8] and for chicken. [9]
He wrote for film (with Theo van Gogh), and recorded with Tol Hansse, for whom he wrote the music for his greatest hit, "Big City" [6] (earlier, Hansse and van Mechelen were members of a rock band, The Sharks [10] ). With his band, Het Nieuwe Trio, he plays 1950s/1960s style music. [11]
With Schippers (Ernie) and Paul Haenen (Bert) he recorded music for a number of Bert and Ernie albums, and for Haenen's character Margreet Dolman. [12] In Opzoek naar Yolanda (1984) he is the musician and producer for the (fictional) hit song "Smoke, Gammon and Spinach", [13] and "Ik ben Jan Vos" ("I am Jan Vos") is song penned by (fictional) Jacques Plafond-penned in his honor. [14]
Van Mechelen's first on-screen performance in a Schippers show was in Barend is weer bezig , in the 1974 Christmas special Waar heb dat nou weer voor nodig. He also appeared in De lachende scheerkwast (1981–1982), Opzoek naar Yolanda (1984), Plafond over de vloer (1986), and We zijn weer thuis (1989–1994), shows for which he also was the composer and musical director. [15] He appeared on stage in 1992 in a musical comedy, Tataboulou/In volle vaart, with Neel van der Elst, who played Etna Vesuvia in the Schippers radio show Ronflonflon , [16] and in 1995 in Alleen (met z'n vieren). [17]
Het Parool is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means The Password or The Motto.
Zilveren Nipkowschijf is a Dutch television and media award that has been given out since 1961 by a selection of Dutch media journalists and critics to the best show of the year.
Willem Theodoor "Wim T." Schippers is a Dutch artist, comedian, television director, and voice actor. During the 1960s, he worked mostly as a visual artist, associated with the international Fluxus-movement. As a television writer, director, and actor he is responsible for some of the most notable and controversial shows on Dutch televisions from the 1960s to the 1990s, creating a number of lasting characters and enriching the language with terms and expressions first coined in his shows. In addition, he voiced the characters of Ernie and Kermit the Frog on Sesamstraat, the Dutch version of Sesame Street. For his shows, he has written over three hundred songs, and his reputation has changed from being Dutch television's "enfant terrible" to an acknowledged master in a variety of genres.
Jeugdjournaal is a Dutch television news programme produced by the Dutch public service broadcaster NOS for children. The programme has been on air since 1981.
Belinda Meuldijk is a Dutch actress, writer, and activist. She has performed in Dutch television shows and movies, and is also a songwriter. She first performed at age six in the Pipo de Clown television show, conceived by her father, Wim Meuldijk; later, she provided the impetus for the 2003 movie Pipo en de p-p-Parelridder and produced and wrote the songs for the 2009 musical Pipo en de Gestolen Stem.
Opzoek naar Yolanda was a Dutch dramady television show by Wim T. Schippers, consisting of six episodes aired by the VPRO from October to December 1984. The show was a continuation of sorts of Schippers' De lachende scheerkwast (1981-1982) and featured some of the same characters. In turn, it was a kind of prequel to We zijn weer thuis, which ran from 1989 to 1994.
De lachende scheerkwast is a Dutch television show written and directed by Wim T. Schippers, who also plays one of the lead characters, Jacques Plafond. It ran on VPRO television for six episodes in 1981 before being canceled, and then returned for another six episodes.
Ronflonflon, or Ronflonflon avec Jacques Plafond, was a radio show on the Dutch broadcaster VPRO. It was produced and directed by Wim T. Schippers who also played the principal character and radio host, Jacques Plafond. Between 10 October 1984 and 30 January 1991, 328 episodes were produced, and it became the VPRO's best-listened radio program.
Dolf Brouwers was a Dutch comedian, singer, and television actor who rose to fame late in life playing the character Sjef van Oekel in the 1970s satirical television shows aired on VPRO, written and directed by Wim T. Schippers, Ruud van Hemert, Gied Jaspars, and Wim van der Linden.
Sjef van Oekel was a TV comedy character created by Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers and played by Dutch comedian, singer and actor Dolf Brouwers (1912–1997). Van Oekel started as a side character in De Fred Hachéshow in 1972 but became such a cult figure that he gained his own television show, Van Oekel's Discohoek, songs and even a comic strip, all written by Schippers.
Ellen Jens was a Dutch television director and producer, best known for her collaboration with Wim T. Schippers on VPRO television. She produced and directed a large number of other television shows, especially on literature and art, and was referred to as a "television legend".
Gied Jaspars was a Dutch television maker who gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s making progressive and controversial TV shows for the VPRO; he is well known for his collaboration with writer and director Wim T. Schippers. After he left the television and film industry he started a career as a business man; throughout his career he had a great interest in nature, expressed in narrative, meditative reflections in television and radio series which were later bundled as a single collection.
Barend is weer bezig was a Dutch television show written and directed by Wim T. Schippers with Wim van der Linden, Gied Jaspars, and Ruud van Hemert and broadcast by the VPRO in 1972-1973. The show was produced by Ellen Jens. Four regular episodes and a Christmas special were made. The series caused considerable controversy, particularly because of a scene in which the then-reigning Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was mocked.
Wim van der Linden was a Dutch photographer and film and television director. As a photographer he documented slums and subcultures in Amsterdam in the 1960s. His "Tulips", one of four experimental and satirical Sad Movies (1966-1967), is praised as one of the dramatic high points of Dutch film history, and with Wim T. Schippers and others he made groundbreaking and controversial television shows for the VPRO in the 1960s to the 1970s.
Maria Christina "Mimi" Kok was a Dutch film and television actress.
Reguliersgracht is a canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1658, it is located in the Grachtengordel, in the Centrum borough. During World War II the "nerve center" of the illegal paper Het Parool was housed there, in a house occupied by Simon Carmiggelt, Max Nord, Wim van Norden and their families.
Jacob Julius Max Nord was a Dutch journalist, writer, and translator. He was one of the main editors of Het Parool, an illegal Dutch newspaper founded during World War II.
Bernardus Stefanus Henricus (Ben) Zegers is a Dutch visual artist, active as a sculptor and installation artist, and teacher and coordinator at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.
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