Wim Sonneveld

Biography

Willem "Wim" Sonneveld (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌʋɪləm ʋɪm ˈsɔnəvɛlt]; 28 June 1917 – 8 March 1974) was a Dutch cabaret artist and singer. Together with Toon Hermans and Wim Kan, he is considered to be one of the "Great Three" of Dutch cabaret. Sonneveld is generally viewed as a Dutch cultural icon for his work and legacy in theatre, musicals and music.

Biography

Wim Sonneveld was born on 28 June 1917 in Utrecht, Netherlands, to Gerrit Sonneveld and Geertruida van den Berg. In 1922, at a very young age, he lost his mother. After his time at school, where he was the class clown, he had a few unsuccessful jobs.
In 1932, he started singing in an amateur choir, the Keep Smiling Singers, after which he teamed up with Fons Goossens in 1934 to form a duo and perform at anniversaries of associations and institutions. Later that year, he met reviewer Huub Janssen and after a journey through France in 1936 they started living together in Amsterdam, at first on the Westermarkt, later on the Prinsengracht. In that same year, he worked for Louis Davids. During the day he worked as an administrator and in evening he played small roles and sang chansons. In that same period, he performed with his partner Huub in his own club, De Rarekiek. In 1937, he sang in "cabarets" (floor shows in nightclubs) with Suzy Solidor and Agnes Capri in France.
After the declaration of war of 1940, Sonneveld returned to the Netherlands, where he acted in plays and in the revue of Loekie Bouwmeester. In 1940, he performed in the Theater der Prominenten and at Abraham van der Vies' De Sprookjesspelers. Here he met Conny Stuart. In 1943, he formed his own association, consisting among others of Conny Stuart, Lia Dorana, Albert Mol, Joop Doderer, Hetty Blok and Emmy Arbous.
Sonneveld was gay, though not openly, as it would have been unacceptable during that era.

Death

On 20 February 1974, Sonneveld suffered a heart attack while driving on the highway from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. He had just picked up two hitchhikers and asked one of them to take the wheel. The hitchhiker did so, and drove at full speed back to the VU Hospital in Amsterdam.
Initially, Sonneveld began to recover, but on Friday 8 March, a second heart attack proved fatal.
He was buried on Monday 11 March at the Roman Catholic Cemetery Buitenveldert.

Rim Ram

Between 1943 and 1959, he staged with his own cabaret association Rim Ram a great number of shows:

1943: Alleen voor dames (text by Hella Haasse)
1944: Sprookjes
1944: Opus drie
1945: De bloemetjes buiten
1945: Tingeltangel
1946: Verre reizen
1946: Tutti frutti
1946: Leidscheplein
1947: Vanavond om acht uur
1947: 't Is maar comedie
1948: 't Is historisch
1949: We spelen pantomime
1949: Iene-miene-mutten
1950: 't Is mij een raadsel
1951: Herhalingsoefeningen
1951: Artiestenpension
1952: Boekenfeest
1952: Gastenboek
1952: Het meisje met de grote voeten
1953: Bloemlezing (compilation show)
1953: In de winckel van Sinckel
1954: Waar de blanke top der duinen
1955: Huis tuin en keuken
1957: À la carte
1959: Rim Ram

Willem Parel

A famous creation of Wim Sonneveld was Willem Parel, son and grandson of a Dutch street organ grinder as well as chairman of the En-pé-gé, the Dutch Pearl Association (Nederlands ParelGenootschap). This brought him great success on the VARA-radio in the early 1950s. Parel would expose movingly about "organ grinding in general and the psychology of the penny cup in particular". Over time Wim Sonneveld came to hate his creation, but he knew that Willem Parel drew a large audience and he couldn't live from just singing chansons. In 1955, a movie was shot called The Wondrous life of Willem Parel.

Film, musical, solo

Wim Sonneveld has played in some movies: the aforementioned The Wondrous life of Willem Parel as well as the Hollywood thriller The Pink Hippopotamus (1956) and a later the films Silk stockings (1957) and Wasp End (1957).
After 702 performances of the musical My Fair Lady, since 1960, after his own club went bankrupt in 1959, with which he "wore out" three Eliza Doolittles (Margriet de Groot, Dorien Mijksenaar and Jasperina de Jong) in his role as dr. Higgins, he went solo with television shows such as Doe es wat, meneer Sonneveld (1962) and Blijf in Holland (1963). In 1964, he again took the stage with Een avond met Wim Sonneveld.
Remarkable was his threefold guest role in episode 16 of the television series Ja zuster, nee zuster by Annie M.G. Schmidt and Harry Bannink in 1967, as himself, Arie Pruijselaar junior and Arie Pruijselaar senior. In 1967 he performed alongside Ina van Faassen in a theater show and in 1971 with Willem Nijholt and Corrie van Gorp. His last film was Op de Hollandse toer (1973).
He would have liked to end his career singing French chansons, because his heart lay in France, where he had a house in Roquefort-les-Pins.
On 8 March 1974, Wim Sonneveld died at the age of 56 in the VU hospital in Amsterdam from his second heart attack.
Even though Wim Sonneveld never publicly stated that he was homosexual, he shared his life only with men, first with Hubert Janssen, later with prop designer, text writer and painter Friso Wiegersma (1925–2006) whom he met in 1947 and who created the character Nikkelen Nelis (Nickle Nelis) for him, a character, made from the well-known street singer from Rotterdam, named Koperen Ko (Copper Ko).

Famous characters

Willem Parel
Nikkelen Nelis the street singer
Friar Venantius
The Stable Master

Famous conferences

Artificial insemination
Hello, man behind the counter
Croquettes
Grandfather
The Boys (about the father-problems with the love-life of his just-married 'daughter')

Famous songs

"Aan de Amsterdamse grachten2
"Het dorp×Het dorp1998 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Het dorp3:162Kobie2:503Catootje6:204Zo heerlijk rustig2:455Poen2:266Marjolijne3:037Daar is de orgelman (Het lied van Willem Parel)3:318Margootje4:509Aan de Amsterdamse grachten2:3810Gerrit3:0011Verliefd op juffrouw Van Dam3:2512Een zwoele nacht in Krimpen aan de IJssel2:1913Loflied op Dora3:1414Had je niet die mooie blauwe ogen4:1315Liedje met bloemen3:5616Josefien3:33" (La montagne)
"Katootje"
"Margootje"
"Tearoom Tango"
"Zo heerlijk rustig×Zo heerlijk rustigEPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracksA1Een zwoele nacht in Krimpen aan den IJsselA2LuchtkastelenB1Zo heerlijk rustigB2Huis- tuin- en keukenliedje"
"Daar is de orgelman"
"In een rijtuigie"
"Doe het doek maar dicht"

Wim Sonneveld Award

Every year since 1988, the Wim Sonneveld Award has been awarded to the most talented performer in cabaret and related arts on the Amsterdams kleinkunstfestival.