Chris Howland (1928-2013)

In the night of 30 November, British entertainer Chris Howland (1928-2013) died. He played the comic sidekick in Winnetou I, and other Karl May films. After the war, Howland became Germany’s first deejay, but he was also a popular Schlager singer, TV host, and actor in some 30 films. Howland was 85.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 516. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Electrola / A. Grimm / Zeyss / Union.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 134. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Allianz Film.


German promotion card by Columbia / Electrola, no. DrW 3281 a. Photo: Neumann, Mannheim.

Novelties and Trends

John Christopher Howland was born in London in 1928, and he grew up in Southern England. He was trained to work as a beekeeper.

His father was an editor at the BBC. After WW II Chris worked for the radio station of the BFN (British Forces Network, now BFBS). In this function he went to Hamburg in 1946, and became the main presenter and head of the music department of the BFN.

In 1952 he started as a diskjockey for the German radio station NWDR, where he presented the show Rhythmus der Welt, about novelties and trends in the international music scene. With his British accent and his creaky voice he soon became a darling of the radio audiences. He gave himself the nickname Mr. Heinrich Pumpernickel.

Meanwhile he also had a successful recording career. His first hit single was Japanisches Abschiedslied (1953), the German version of Japanese Farewell by Kay Cee Jones. His biggest hits would be Fraulein/Miss (1958), Das hab ich in Paris gelernt/That’s What I Learned in Paris (1959), and Hämmerchen-Polka/Little Hammer Polka (1961), which stayed for 24 weeks in the German Top 5.

Howland also appeared in entertainment films like Ball der Nationen/Ball of the Nations (Karl Ritter, 1954) starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Der Major und die Stiere/The Major and the Bulls (Eduard von Borsody, 1955), the Heimatfilm Verlobung am Wolfgangsee/Engagement at Wolfgangsee (Helmut Weiss, 1956) with Ingrid Andree, Witwer mit fünf Töchtern/Widower with 5 Daughters (Erich Engels, 1957), and Tausend Sterne leuchten/A Thousand Stars Aglitter (Harald Philipp, 1959) with ski champion Toni Sailer.

In 1959 he returned to Great Britain to present the talkshow People and Places. In 1961 he went again to Germany, where he became the host of the enormously successful TV shows Musik aus Studio B and Vorsicht Kamera, a Candid Camera show.

His films in the early 1960s included the Edgar Wallace Krimi Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Koffer/The Secret of the Black Suitcase (Werner Klingler, 1962) with Senta Berger, Der schwarze Panther von Ratana/The Black Panther of Ratana (Jürgen Roland, 1963) with Marianne Koch, Die weiße Spinne/The White Spider (Harald Reinl, 1963) with Joachim Fuchsberger, and another Edgar Wallace adaptation, Der Henker von London/The Mad Executioners (Edwin Zbonek, 1963) with Hansjörg Felmy.


Vintage postcard. Photo: Electrola.


German postcard, no. E 21. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I (Harald Reinl, 1963) with Chris Howland. Translation caption: "What do you do as a reporter, when you get no Indian in front of your camera? You put on some make up and make a self portrait, here, unfortunately, it failed."


German postcard by Heinerle Karl-May-Postkarten, no. 43. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Publicity still for Der Schut/The Shoot (Robert Siodmak, 1964). Caption: "'Well, Archibald, was nun?' fragt Sir Lindsay seinen Butler, als sie der Schut unversehends in einer Felsenhöhle, die sich unter seinem Palast befindet, gefangensetzt." ('Archibald now what?', Sir Lindsay (Dieter Borsche) asks his butler (Chris Howland), when The Shoot enexpectedly captures them in a cave, which is located beneath his palace."

Lord Tuff-Tuff

Another hightlight in the career of Chris Howland was his appearance in five film adaptations of the Karl May novels. His part as Lord Tuff-Tuff in Winnetou I/Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963) was just a comic intermezzo, but for his performance as the butler Archie in his second Karl May film, Der Schut/The Shoot (Robert Siodmak, 1964), he received the second highest salary (after Lex Barker) of the cast.

He played this role again in Durchs wilde Kurdistan/Wild Kurdistan (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965) and in the sequel Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen/Attack of the Kurds (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965). That same year he appeared for a last time in a Karl May film, Das Vermächtnis des Inka/Legacy of the Incas (Georg Marischka, 1965), as the Indian Don Parmesan.

In 1970 Howard left Germany again, now to run his hotel Villa Columbus on Mallorca, where he also helped to found the first German language radio station.

In 1975 he returned again to Germany to present radio and TV shows. His autobiography Happy Days? was released in 1997.

In 2002 Chris Howland was awarded the Scharlih, the oldest Karl May prize, to honour his appearances in the Winnetou films. He married four times and has three children.

The last years, he lived with his wife Monica Howland-Vervloet in Rösrath near Köln (Cologne) and appeared incidentally on TV to be a guest in talk shows or to perform one of his evergreens.

Twice a month he presented his radio show Spielereien mit Schallplatten (Dalliances With Records) on WDR 4.

In 2007 Chris Howland returned for a last time on the screen in the Edgar Wallace parody Neues vom Wixxer/News from the Wixxer (Cyrill Boss, Philipp Stennert, 2007). Typically he played the butler.


German promotion card by Ingrid Orgel, Frankfurt/M.


German postcard by Westdeutschen Rundfunk (WDR), Köln. Photo: Harald Kratzer / WDR.

Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line.de)(German), t-online.de (German), Wikipedia (German), Chris Howland.de, and IMDb.

Winnetou – 1. Teil (1963)

Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (1962, Harald Reinl) was the most successful German film of the 1962/1963 season. Director Harald Reinl and producer Horst Wendlandt then created a series of Euro-westerns, all based on the novels by Karl May. Their next film, Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) was in fact a prequel to Der Schatz im Silbersee which introduced Apache chief Winnetou and told how he met Old Shatterhand.


German postcard, E 9. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (1963) with Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand. Caption: "Old Shatterhand puts a rat in the ammunition and saves himself with a bold leap onto the horse. The remaining car, surrounded by Kiowas, explodes."


German postcard, no. E 14. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Pierre Brice as Winnetou and Hrvoje Svob as Klekih-Petra. Caption: "Winnetou, outraged about all the atrocities of the invaders, rides with his white teacher Klekih-Petra to the final negotiations in the camp of the railway workers."


German postcard, no. E 23. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Lex Barker. Caption: "Old Shatterhand has also been sentenced to die at the stake. He regrets emphatically, that he rescued Winnetou from the Kiowas. An ordeal by battle will decide."

Pierre Brice
The stars of Winnetou – 1. Teil were again Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. They both came up with a fine performance and Brice became so popular that he would stay Winnetou throughout his whole life. First he played the native American chief in several film sequels during the 1960's. After the period of the Karl May films was over, Brice continued to perform the role on several stages in Germany and also in TV series. The cast of Winnetou – 1. Teil also included French actress Marie Versini as Winnetou’s sister Nscho-tschi, Mario Adorf as Frederick Santer - the bad guy who shoots Ntscho-tschi, Chris Howland as the comic Lord Tuff-Tuff, Ralf Wolter as Sam Hawkens, Mavid Popovic as Intschu-tschuna - Winnetou's father, and Dunja Rajter as Belle. Christian Wolff was the German voice of Winnetou. Principal shooting took place in national park Paklenica karst river canyon, Yugoslavia now Croatia.


German postcard, no. E 21. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Chris Howland. Caption: "What do you do as a reporter, when you get no Indian in front of your camera? You put on some make up and make a self portrait, here, unfortunately, it failed."


German postcard, no. E 22. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Ralf Wolter as Sam Hawkens. Caption: "The conquering Apaches decide in the powwow to kill the white prisoners. The cranky Sam Hawkens just can't understand, why this is the way he has to go to the happy hunting ground."

Karl May
The storyline of every Karl May film is basically the same. The two friends Winnetou and Old Shatterhand try to solve the problems between red and white people and in the end they succeed, of course. According to Karl May's story, first-person narrator Old Shatterhand encounters Winnetou and after initial dramatic events, a true friendship between Old Shatterhand and the Apache arises. On many occasions they give proof of great fighting skill but also of compassion for other human beings. It portrays a belief in an innate ‘goodness’ of mankind. Karl May was with about 200 million copies worldwide one of the best selling German writers of all time. In the books of Karl May Winnetou became the chief of the tribe of the Mescalero Apaches (and of the Apaches in general, with the Navaho included) after his father Intschu-tschuna and his sister Nscho-tschi were slain by the white bandit Santer. He rode a horse called Iltschi (Wind) and had a famous rifle called Silberbüchse (The Silver Gun, a double-barrel rifle whose stock and butt were decorated with silver studs). Old Shatterhand became the blood brother of Winnetou and rode the brother of Iltschi, called Hatatitla (Lightning). Karl May's Winnetou novels symbolize, to some extent, a romantic desire for a simpler life in close contact with nature. In fact, the popularity of the series is due in large part to the ability of the stories to tantalize fantasies many Europeans had and have for this more untamed environment.


German postcard, E 24. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (1963) with Lex Barker. Caption: "Haunted by the Apache boats Old Shatterhand must cross a raging river."


German postcard, no. E 25. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Lex Barker and Mavid Popovic. Caption: "In the water there is a bitter fight between Old Shatterhand and Winnetou's father, the chief of the Apaches."

Karl May and the English Speaking World
"A thief, an impostor, a sexual pervert, a grotesque prophet of a sham Messiah!"..."The Third Reich is Karl May's ultimate triumph!" wrote Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann in 1940. To which Albert Einstein replied: "...even today he has been dear to me in many a desperate hour." Herman Hesse called his books "indispensable and eternal" and the writer and director Carl Zuckmayer even christened his daughter Winnetou in honor of May's great Apache chief. Yet, the English-speaking world is almost totally ignorant of May and his heroes Winnetou, Old Shatterhand or Kara Ben Nemsi and his Arab friend Hadji Halef Omar who shared many an adventure in what is now called Kurdistan just over a hundred years ago. The reason is simple. Almost none of May's books have ever been translated into English.


German postcard, no. E 30. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Marie Versini. Caption: "Winnetou's sister Nscho-tschi also joins the bond of friendship".


German postcard, no. E 31. Photo: Constantin. Still from Winnetou I/Apache Gold (1963, Harald Reinl) with Mario Adorf as Santer. Caption: "Santer and his gang are still looking for the Apache gold. Unnoticed they follow the course of the Indians to the hiding place of the treasure."

Sources: Wikipedia, Julian Crandall Hollick (Karl May's Imaginary America), and IMDb.