The enormously successful first season of 't Schaep Met De 5 Pooten (1969-1970) should have been the start of a long running series, especially when viewers awarded it the golden Televizier ring after only half of the episodes had been screened. A year after the final episode was screened, the KRO broadcast a compilation of the popular songs ('t Schaep gave birth to four singles) with the express intention of lobbying for a second series. Unfortunately, human greed put a stop to it, as it so often does. Writer Eli Asser had been contracted by Joop van der Ende's Theaterprodukties NV, but up and coming Joop was unable to acquire the rights to 't Schaep from director Joes Odufré, who had produced the series with his own company. Joes wanted to keep 't Schaep for himself, but instead of having his way, the KRO commissioned Eli to write a new series starring most of the same cast but as different characters. They also went to the trouble of recording over the original 8 episodes of the original series, leaving only the aforementioned compilation of musical numbers for future generations.
The new series, "Citroentje met Suiker" again starred Piet Römer as the owner of a café in Amsterdam, only instead of being called Kootje de Beer, this time he was known as Mees Goedkoop and the café was christened "De Kip Met Gouden Eieren". As Manie Palfrenier, Leen Jongewaard did not share duties behind the bar like he did in the previous serial, but instead owned a Photo-shop (sic) and was engaged (also very unlikely) to Sjeenie (Elsje de Wijn). Mees was married to Toos (Adèle Bloemendaal) even though according to Beeld & Geluid, she did not show up until the tenth episode. You see, "Citroentje" has also been wiped almost completely from existence during the great tape-cleansing surge of the last century, so details about the show are sketchy at best.
For some undisclosed reason writer Eli Asser is credited at the start of the show as if he's part of the cast and even gets a couple of close-ups during the opening credits. Our research department has been unable to find any evidence of him actually playing a character however (perhaps he was a regular at the café?). In fact, actress Ronnie Bierman, another hold over from 't Schaep, is not credited up front, despite her having a substantial supporting part as waitress Tilly. Composer Harrie Bannink, who so successfully set Asser's lyrics to music for 't Schaep, was unavailable this time around (probably too busy working for Ome Willem and De Stratemakeropzee over at the VARA) and although Joop Stokkermans was a more than capable replacement, his arrangements failed to spawn any hits. Then again, it could have been the less than commercial subjects matters Eli Asser chose to write songs about this time around.
Despite of this, Citroentje did manage to run for 24 full episodes (according to the inter-web) and some of those from the 1973-1974 season managed to survive against all odds and have recently been unearthed on (rappidly deteriorating) video tape. In this second season, Mees & Toos are forced to move in with Manie (Toos's brother) & Sjeenie in his much to small flat. On top of that, they are joined by Manie & Toos' father Akkie (Lex Goudsmit). And so the stories were no longer centered in and around the café, but focused on the strained relationship of five relatives seeing to much of each other. Amongst the surviving material is another musical compilation. It was standard fare to screen this kind of show at the start of a season back then, but there used to be a lot more singing in sitcoms back then at any rate. From this show we gather that Johnny Kraaykamp made a memorable guest appearance during this series, and Piet Römer's son Han made his TV debut as Mees & Toos's son Klaas.
One notable musical number carried the refrain "Er Mag Zoveel Niet", which went on to inspire the title for the second sequel series "Durmazon" (short for Dur Mag Zoveel Niet). Only three characters from "Citroentje" carried over, and very little else. In fact, the two series are so dissimilar that first time viewers will be hard pressed to notice any connection between Citroentje and Durmazon at all. Unlike 't Schaep, Citroentje has not yet been updated for television, but in 2009 the old characters were dusted off for brand new adventures on radio instead. The café's name has been shortened to just 'De Kip', Mees now comes from Twente instead of Amsterdam and Manie is out of the closet. It's funny how people can't view any of Leen Jongewaard's characters as straight any longer even if he did play them that way.
7 out of 10 lemons with sugar
To be continued on the Durmazon page on the IMDb
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