Ronflonflon

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Ronflonflon, or Ronflonflon avec Jacques Plafond ("Ronflonflon with 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. [1] Between 10 October 1984 and 30 January 1991, 328 episodes were produced, and it became the VPRO's best-listened radio program. [2]

Contents

The show was characterized by chaos. Plafond frequently interrupted his guests and the obligatory news readers, and cut off records if he didn't like them. The regular cast included characters such as Jan Vos (Clous van Mechelen) and Wilhelmina Kuttje Jr. (Janine van Elzakker). It was notable also for the plethora of jingles; [3] some a minute long, some jingles for jingles, [2] and some self-referential, such as the well-known "Oh what a nice jingle this is". [4] There were more than 100 jingles written by Schippers and van Mechelen, all archived by Nienke Feis. [5] The show was notable also for its many puns and linguistic jokes, some of which have crept into the Dutch language. For example, Plafond invented and consistently used his own second person singular pronoun "joe", an in-between version of the two possible pronouns in Dutch, "je" (informal) and "u" (formal). [6] [7]

Memorable moments from the show include an aborted interview with Gerard Reve on 14 December 1988 (Reve's birthday). For an entire day jingles had been hyping up the big Plafond - Reve conversation; promising sharp questions and discussions on the meaning of life; in the end, Plafond's first question was whether Reve really believed in God, to which Reve responded by saying that he didn't wish to answer a question posed that way, and hung up. [8]

A selection from Ronflonflon and other radio shows done by Schippers was released on CD in 2009, De radiopraktijken van Wim T. Schippers. [3]

Jacques Plafond

Jacques Plafond, besides being the show's host, was featured in many of Schippers' television shows and other productions, such as Opzoek naar Yolanda (1984, scheduled to run concurrently with Ronflonflon) and Plafond over de vloer (1986, a television show based on the radio show).

As a singer, a notable performance by Plafond was opening the Holland Festival in 1980, [9] in the Schippers production De dans der vierkanten waarin opgenomen Elly, of het beroemde stuk (released on DVD by the VPRO). [10]

With his band "Jacques Plafond & his Plafonnières" he released an album in 1980, Hark!, which was remade in 2008 by the experimental arts organisation Worm [11] [12] as an homage to Schippers. [13] The original has been described as "an almost successful pop record, with Zappa-esque excurses and a fair bit of doowop-like insanity." [14] Compilation albums with songs from the Ronflonflon shows include Geen Touw (1990) [15] and Schippers in Plafondvaart (1992). [16]

Related Research Articles

VPRO Dutch public broadcaster

The VPRO is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more social liberal than Protestant in the 1950s and 1960s, and the original meaning of the acronym was eventually dropped.

Wim T. Schippers

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 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.

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.

<i>De lachende scheerkwast</i>

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.

Clous van Mechelen Dutch musician, arranger, and actor

Clous van Mechelen 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, in which he played the character Jan Vos and wrote songs for the various characters.

<i>Het is weer zo laat!</i>

Het is weer zo laat!, also known as Waldolala, is a Dutch television show from 1978, written and directed by Wim T. Schippers and co-produced by Schippers, Gied Jaspars, Wim van der Linden en Ellen Jens. It was the last TV show written for Dolf Brouwers, who had played the character Sjef van Oekel in previous shows.

Dolf Brouwers

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

Sjef van Oekel was a popular 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 Dutch television director and producer

Ellen Jens is a Dutch television director and producer, best known for her collaboration with Wim T. Schippers on VPRO television. She has produced and directed a large number of other television shows, especially on literature and art, and is referred to as a "television legend".

Gied Jaspars

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.

Peanut-Butter Platform is an artwork by Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers. It consists of a floor covered with peanut butter and nothing else. That means the art is literally just a floor partially covered with peanut butter.

<i>Barend is weer bezig</i>

Barend is weer bezig(Barend Does it Again) 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 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was mocked.

IJf Blokker

IJf Blokker is a Dutch musician and television actor and presenter. After a professional career as a drummer, he became a well-known television actor in the 1970s playing the character Barend Servet in the Wim T. Schippers-directed shows on VPRO television.

<i>Hoepla</i> Dutch television series

Hoepla ("Whoops") was a Dutch experimental cultural television show broadcast in 1967. It aimed at a young teenage audience and was notable for being unpredictable and risky in its subject matter, featuring reports, performances, declarations, and interviews that tied in with the subversive atmosphere of the Provo movement. Three episodes were made for the VPRO, and the show caused national controversy when a naked woman, Phil Bloom, appeared on the show, being the first time this happened on Dutch television. A fourth episode was taped but did not air until 2008. The show was written and produced by the team of Wim T. Schippers, Wim van der Linden, Willem de Ridder, and Hans Verhagen.

<i>De Fred Haché Show</i>

De Fred Haché Show is a 1971 Dutch television show written and directed for the VPRO by Wim T. Schippers, Ruud van Hemert, Wim van der Linden, and Gied Jaspars. The show marked the return to television for Schippers, van der Linden, and Jaspars, who had been on the team that was responsible for the controversial 1967 show Hoepla, canceled after three episodes. Like its "sister show" Barend is weer bezig (1972-1973) and Van Oekel's Discohoek, it was an absurdist show with much nudity, linguistic humor, satirical skits, and illogical plot lines.

Wim van der Linden

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.

Plafond over de vloer is a Dutch television show in nine episodes, aired in 1986 by the VPRO and written and directed by Wim T. Schippers. It derives from the radio show Ronflonflon, and its main character is that show's host, Jacques Plafond.

We zijn weer thuis is a Dutch dramady-series broadcast by VPRO from 1989 to 1994. It was written by Wim T. Schippers and co-directed with Ellen Jens as his swansong-series for VPRO. The series was released on dvd in October 2007; nostalgia-channel Best 24 first started reruns in 2010.

Mimi Kok Dutch actress

Maria Christina "Mimi" Kok was a Dutch film and television actress.

Hendrik Gerardus Maria Spaan is a Dutch sports journalist, television presentor, author, and columnist. Spaan is best known for a series of Dutch-language TV programs he developed in collaboration with Harry Vermeegen between 1982 and 1996 including Pisa, Verona, Die 2 and Die 2: Nieuwe Koeien.

References

  1. ↑ Stroop, Jan (2003). Waar gaat het Nederlands naartoe?: Panorama van een taal. Amsterdam: Bert Bakker. p. 278. ISBN   9789035125711.
  2. 1 2 Feis, Nienke (14 June 2012). "De Ronflonflon jingles: Jingle verzamelband" (in Dutch). VPRO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 "De radiopraktijken van Wim T. Schippers op cd" (in Dutch). Radiovisie. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Geluidsfragmenten Wim T. Schippers". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 6 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Feis, Nienke. "De Ronflonflon-jingles" (in Dutch). VPRO . Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  6. ↑ "Alle uitzendingen van Ronflonflon online". Het Parool (in Dutch). 23 November 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  7. ↑ "Webteksten afstemmen op de doelgroep: jij of u?" (in Dutch). Staaltaal. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "Best of Brands: Jacques Plafond interviewt Gerard Reve" (in Dutch). Radio 1 . Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "Wim T. Schippers". Dutch Art + Architecture Today. 23: 1977–83. 1988.
  10. ↑ "Single Plays & Vroeg Werk" (in Dutch). VPRO . Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Worm lanceert remake van lp 'Hark!' van Wim T. Schippers" (in Dutch). MusicfromNL. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Rijlaarsdam, Eric (2 February 2009). "Diverse Artiesten - 'Worm T. Presents: Hark Too!'" (in Dutch). MusicfromNL. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "De beste cd's van 2008". Het Parool (in Dutch). 17 December 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  14. ↑ Meuris, Sid (20 March 2009). "Hark Too! | Various Artists" (in Dutch). KindaMuzik. Retrieved 23 August 2013. Maar mensen die het kunnen weten, beschrijven Hark! als een bijna geslaagde popplaat, met Zappa-esque invallen en nogal wat doowop-achtige gekte.
  15. ↑ Heytze, Ingmar; Tuinman, Vrouwkje (2000). Verdomd Interessant, Maar Gaat U Verder: De Taal van Wim T. Schippers (in Dutch). The Hague: Sdu. p. 15. ISBN   9057970775.
  16. ↑ "Schippers, Schippers in Plafondvaart". Discogs . Retrieved 23 August 2013.
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