Name: De Stichting Durmazon presenteerd: Dur mag zoveel niet.
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1974-10-26
Rating: 5.6
Cast: Adèle Bloemendaal, Ko van Dijk, Leen Jongewaard

Moving up in the world = down in the ratings

There is conflicting information abound concerning this third series from the pen of Eli Asser and starring Adèle Bloemendaal & Leen Jongewaard. Even he most comprehensive and usually accurate website dedicated to the preservation of Dutch TV and radio, Beeld & Geluid seems to be unsure about this one: they claim that Durmazon was actually part of "Citroentje met Suiker". That might explain why some websites list "Citroentje" as having 24 episodes while others state 16. Other sites claim that "Durmazon" on it's own only reached up to six episodes. The series was indeed a straight sequel to "Citroentje Met Suiker", which was itself an unofficial sequel to 't Schaep Met De 5 Pooten. There were only three returning characters, though and each one looked and acted quite a bit different from their last appearance. And then there is the question of when this program actually aired. Every year between 1972 and 1975 seems to get mentioned. One thing's for sure, the crew-members were almost completely carried over from the previous series, from writer Eli Asser down to animator Rob van den Berg, who provided the silly and rather unappealing drawings that accompany (and get in the way of) the end credits. Composer Joop Stokkermans was replaced by Ruud Bos this time around, which means that all three of the great Dutch Television composers of the era worked on each subsequent series.

Where the previous series was set in Amsterdam and featured two couples, during the intermission both pairings have split up. Sjenie (Elsje de Wijn) left Mani (Leen Jongewaard) to go back to her mother, while Mees (Piet Römer) went out for a pack of cigarettes and never returned to his wife Toos (Adèle Bloemendaal). Mani and Toos end up with their father, Aki (Lex Goudsmit) who just so happens to have inherited a mansion in 't Gooy (near the Dutch television center of Hilversum) from dear old Tante Trees (a former madam). Having stepped up a notch in wealth and standing, Mani now calls himself Manuel and poses as a butler in the mansion, while Toos likes to be called Tosca and goes around hosting parties for the rich and (almost) famous. Akki also goes into business with a posh but unsavory character called affectionately called 'Sikkel' (Ko van Dijk) and together they start the Stichting Durmazon, short for Dur Mag Zoveel. This of course pertains to Sikkels' tendency to set up deals that aren't strictly allowed by law. Viewers expecting more high-jinx from down to earth Amsterdammers were sorely disappointed by Durmazon. In fact, when viewing an episode of Citroentje Met Suiker back to back with Durmazon, the two seem to have nothing in common, despite the fact that Goudsmit was once again playing Adèle and Leen's dad. It wasn't until the final episode that the characters started reminiscing about their lost loves again. And just in time for a happy ending, Sjenie showed up on the Durmazon doorstep, and Mees send a postcard from Santa Eulalia, Ibiza's third, inviting everyone to come stay at his newly build house and bakery/shop. So even cynical old Eli Asser couldn't resist sending his characters off on a positive note.

Around 2001, Adéle Bloemendaal went on record in the Avro program 'De Koffer Van' stating that of the three series she did for Eli Asser, Durmazon was actually her favorite, despite it being the least successful of the three. It's not hard to see why, what actress would not prefer the glitz and glamor of Dutch Hollywood over a brown café in Amsterdam? Amazingly enough, some episodes have survived on video tape and are now being preserved in the previously mentioned museum of Beeld & Geluid. In January of 2009, two of them got to see the light of day for the first time since the seventies as part of digital channel Hilversumbest's month long look at the career of Adèle Bloemendaal. A disclaimer apologizing for the distinct lack of quality in the material transferred from ancient video-recordings was run almost continuously during these shows. According to the B & G website, the other surviving episodes are in ever worse condition, so they'll probably never show those.

7 out of 10

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De Stichting Durmazon presenteerd: Dur mag zoveel niet.

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De Stichting Durmazon presenteerd: Dur mag zoveel niet.

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