Butler Parker
Encyclopedia
Butler
Parker is a fictitious English character who was in spite of his ostentatious Britishness
created by a German pulp fiction
author and became eventually the protagonist of a German
TV series .
and his umbrella
could be used to shoot arrows. Moreover he drove a classic London taxi
which was equipped with a variety of stunning gadget
s.
Joshua Parker had an obviously English name and drove an English car. (Although Parker had a tradional London taxi, jam-packed with amazing gadgets instead of a Jaguar E-Type
) Both heros had their first appearances in publications of the publishing house Bastei
. But eventually Günter Dönges changed the publisher and took "Butler Parker" with him. Between 1953 and 1992 more than 600 novels were released by Bastei, Pabel and later on by Zauberkreis. In the beginning Butler Parker was in the service of an old lady but later on he had an American boss called Mike Rander. The TV shows him working for Mike Rander (Eckart Dux).
) had already been adapted for the TV screen with huge success, the idea of a TV series about Butler Parker seemed to suggest itself. But it lasted only for 26 shows. Still the short life of his TV presence didn't diminish the ongoing success of the novels.
s.
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
Parker is a fictitious English character who was in spite of his ostentatious Britishness
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
created by a German pulp fiction
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
author and became eventually the protagonist of a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
TV series .
Author
Butler Parker was the brainchild of the very successful and productive author Günther Dönges (* 1923; † August 2001) who often used Anglo-saxon aliases due to the in Germany widespread opinion that only Anglo-saxons could write entertaining good crime stories.The Protagonist
Butler Joshua Parker worked for different employers who would leave him a lot of freedom. However, Butler Parker would always be the main character who cracked the cases and sometimes protected or even rescued his employers. He had a steel-strengthened bowler hatBowler hat
The bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby , billycock or bombin, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the English soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester...
and his umbrella
Umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a canopy designed to protect against rain or sunlight. The term parasol usually refers to an item designed to protect from the sun; umbrella refers to a device more suited to protect from rain...
could be used to shoot arrows. Moreover he drove a classic London taxi
Austin FX4
The FX4 is the classic Black Cab. While the majority are black, there is in fact no requirement for them, or indeed any other make of London taxi to be black. Over the years, the FX4 has been sold under a number of different makers' names.-Design and launch:...
which was equipped with a variety of stunning gadget
Gadget
A gadget is a small technological object that has a particular function, but is often thought of as a novelty. Gadgets are invariably considered to be more unusually or cleverly designed than normal technological objects at the time of their invention...
s.
Novels
Like Jerry CottonJerry Cotton
Jerry Cotton is the fictional character in a series of crime novels by many different writers in German-speaking countries and in Finland.- Overview :...
Joshua Parker had an obviously English name and drove an English car. (Although Parker had a tradional London taxi, jam-packed with amazing gadgets instead of a Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
) Both heros had their first appearances in publications of the publishing house Bastei
Bastei
The Bastei is a spectacular rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany. Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago...
. But eventually Günter Dönges changed the publisher and took "Butler Parker" with him. Between 1953 and 1992 more than 600 novels were released by Bastei, Pabel and later on by Zauberkreis. In the beginning Butler Parker was in the service of an old lady but later on he had an American boss called Mike Rander. The TV shows him working for Mike Rander (Eckart Dux).
TV show
Since the novels about Butler Parker were very successful and another fictitious British pulp fiction hero (Percy StuartPercy Stuart
- Synopsis :Percy Stuart tried to fulfil his father's last wish by becoming a member of his father's English club and in order to get accepted he has to prove that he is worthy. Since some of the members do not like the idea he is confronted by a number of actually impossible missions. Whenever he...
) had already been adapted for the TV screen with huge success, the idea of a TV series about Butler Parker seemed to suggest itself. But it lasted only for 26 shows. Still the short life of his TV presence didn't diminish the ongoing success of the novels.
| № | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Hallo Taxi" (Taxi Taxi Taxi and similar words may refer to:* Taxicab, for transportation* Taxiing, moving an aircraft on the ground under its own power- Similar words :* Taxis:... !) |
July 4, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Arthur Brauss, Klaus Abramowsky | ||
| 2 | "Besuch in Schottland" (Visiting Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... ) |
July 11, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Frederick Jäger, Gerhard Hinze, Klaus Dahlen | ||
| 3 | "Geschäft mit der Angst" (Fear is their business) | July 18, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Victor Beaumont Victor Beaumont Victor Beaumont , was an German born film and television actor.As Peter Wolff he appeared in a number of German films and at least one play... , Benno Hoffmann |
||
| 4 | "Zwischenfall in Brighton" (Incident in Brighton Brighton Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain... ) |
July 25, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Til Erwig, Josef Fröhlich | ||
| 5 | "Der Kredithai" (The loan shark) | August 1, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Hans Schellbach, Hubert Mittendorf | ||
| 6 | "Patientin gesucht" (Wanted: Patient, female) | August 8, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Verena Buss, Else Brückner | ||
| 7 | "Besuch im Starclub" (Visiting the Starclub Starclub For the club in Hamburg, see Star-Club.Starclub was an early 1990s rock band from England.-The band:*Owen Vyse - Vocals, guitar, Hammond organ, keyboards*Steve French - Guitar, backing vocals*Julian Taylor - Bass, backing vocals*Alan White - Drums... ) |
August 15, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Betty Dorsey, Rainer Basedow | ||
| 8 | "Die Überfahrt" (The voyage]] | August 22, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Monica Peitsch, Inge Schmidt | ||
| 9 | "Ein klarer Fall" (An easy case) | September 12, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Hans-Werner Bussinger, Michael Gempart Michael Gempart -External links:... |
||
| 10 | "Katz und Maus" (Cat and mouse) | September 19, 1972 |
| Guest star: Robert Nägele | ||
| 11 | "Galgenfrist" (Last respite) | September 26, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Hans-Michael Rehberg, Heinz-Leo Fischer | ||
| 12 | "Madonnen lassen bitten" (Madonnas ask you in) | October 3, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Klaus Eberth, Valentin Jäger | ||
| 13 | "Made in Italy" | October 10, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Karl Walter Diess, Ingrid Resch | ||
| 14 | "Der Doppelgänger" (The look-alike) | October 17, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Peter Fricke Peter Fricke Peter Fricke is a German television actor.-Selected filmography:* Derrick - Season 5, Episode 6: "Klavierkonzert" * Derrick - Season 6, Episode 11: "Die Versuchung"... , Horst Naumann Horst Naumann Horst Naumann is a German actor.-Selected filmography:* Das geheimnisvolle Wrack * Carola Lamberti - Eine vom Zirkus * Alter Kahn und junge Liebe * Court Martial... |
||
| 15 | "Treffpunkt Via Mala" (Meetining place Via Mala) | October 24, 1972 |
| Guest star: Rotraud Rieger | ||
| 16 | "Diamantenraub" (Diamonds are robbed) | October 31, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Gundy Grand, Kurt Klopsch | ||
| 17 | "Blondinen für Rio" (Blondes for Rio) | November 7, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Lia Pahl, Horst Sommer | ||
| 18 | "Achtung Kurve" (Beware of the bend) | November 14, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Horst-Werner Loos, Peter Herzog, Werner Zerlett | ||
| 19 | "Der Spezialist" | November 21, 1972 |
| Guest star: Alexander Allerson | ||
| 20 | "Das Partygirl" | November 28, 1972 |
| Guest star: Barbara Valentin Barbara Valentin Barbara Valentin was an Austrian actress. She worked in film, often with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.-Biography:... |
||
| 21 | "Die Kidnapper" | December 5, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Otto Bolesch, Ulrike Blome | ||
| 22 | "Container gesucht" (Wanted: A container) | December 12, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Ilse Neubauer, Johannes Grossmann, Traugott Buhre Traugott Buhre Traugott Buhre was a German actor.Buhre was born at Insterburg, East Prussia, Germany the son of a Lutheran Pastor. His parents divorced in his childhood and after World War II he started his actor's education at the stage school of Hanover.Buhre appeared at the Frankonian Theater of Wetzhausen... |
||
| 23 | "Der Heckenschütze" (The sniper) | December 19, 1972 |
| Guest stars: Harry Kalenberg, Nora Minor, Michael Hinz | ||
| 23 | "Das Sanatorium" (The hospital) | January 2, 1973 |
| Guest stars: Margot Trooger Margot Trooger Margot Trooger was a German film actress. She appeared in 50 films between 1952 and 1976.She was born in Rositz, Germany and died in Mörlenbach, Germany.-Selected filmography:* The Confession of Ina Kahr... , Harald Dietl |
||
| 23 | "Schottischer Whisky" (Scotch Scotch Scotch is an adjective meaning "of Scotland". The modern usage in Scotland is Scottish or Scots, where the word "Scotch" is only applied to specific products, usually food or drink, such as Scotch whisky, Scotch pie, Scotch broth or Scotch eggs, and "Scotch" if applied to people is widely... ) |
January 9, 1973 |
| Guest stars: Dieter Kirchlechner, Richard Bohne | ||
| 23 | "Die Hellseherin" (The clairvoyant) | January 16, 1973 |
| Guest star: Hilde Ziegler Hilde Ziegler -Selected filmography:* Assassination in Davos * The Swissmakers * Kassettenliebe * L'amour des femmes * Constable Zumbühl * Beresina, or the Last Days of Switzerland... |
||
Revival
After the TV series had finally been digitally re-mastered and released on DVD in 2010, some of Butler Parker's adventures have been released as audio bookAudio book
An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...
s.
Weblinks
- Website dedicated to Butler Parker (German only)
- Website on audio books featuring Butler Parker (German only)