'Wine cellar by the spider' or how it all started
The broadcasting programme 'Wine cellar by the spider' addressed the future
founders of the Jára Cimrman's theatre Šebánek, Svěrák, Smoljak and others
so much, that they decided to carry over the humor which they liked in the
'Wine cellar' to the stage.
For a start, each of the three authors (Svěrák, Smoljak, Šebánek) wrote a
stage play and by the winter of 1966 Dr. Hedvábný could announce that he
had discovered the life work of Jára Cimrman in his cottage.
On 4th October 1967 the new drama group brought out a work 'written by Jára
Cimrman" - an imaginary genius - Act.
Zdeněk Svěrák
Zdeněk Svěrák, film director, actor and scriptwriter graduated from a
college of education in Prague and the following three years he worked as
a teacher.
For a short time he worked for Czech broadcasting as an editor.
In 1967 he founded Jára Cimrman's theatre along with Ladislav Smoljak, Karel Velebný and Jan Šebánek.
Together with Ladislav Smoljak he worked on fictious plays written by the
multi talented Czech artist Jára Cimrman.
These plays had to been first written by him or by Ladislav Smoljak and then
presented as Cimrman's works.
During the normalization in the 70's and 80's were their stage plays
very successful thanks to the humor and the ironic and critical attitude.
From the beginning of the 70's Svěrák is also occupied with filming.
He wrote (mostly together with Smoljak) a lot of scenarios for today's cult
films like "Jáchyme, hoď ho do stroje" ("Jachym, throw him into the machine"),
" Na samotě u lesa" ("In a house by a forest") or "Marečku, podejte mi pero"
("Mark, give me a pen").
Some scenarios are written on the basis of Jára Cimrman's works (" Jára
Cimrman, ležící spící" = Jara Cimrman, lying, sleeping"; " Rozpuštěný,
vypuštěný" = Dissolved, launched; "Nejistá sezóna" = Uncertain season).
Svěrák acts in Jára Cimrman's theatre mostly as an exaggeratedly hard
working teacher.
He is popular for his mimicry and gestures he uses in his shows.
Svěrák works together with various Czech scriptwriters.
In 1996 together with his son he made a film called "Kolja" which was
awarded with an Oscar.
Svěrák's hobby is architecture and as he says, it calms him down.
Ladislav Smoljak
The lives of Ladislav Smoljak and Zdeněk Svěrák are connected as they have
worked together for a long time.
When Smoljak didn't pass the entrance exam to the theatrical university
called DAMU he graduated from the Teachers' College just like Svěrák.
First few years after finishing school, he was a teacher but he too
worked as an editor of some magazines.
Soon after the foundation of Jára Cimrman's theatre he wrote a play
called 'Vyšetřování ztráty třídní knihy' (An nnvestigation into the loss
of the class-register). It is still one of his most popular plays.
Short Summary of an interview with Zdeněk Svěrák
How Jára Cimrman came into being?
It all started with the 'Wine cellar by the spider' - a broadcasting
programme.
'Popular people' were invited as guest to the 'Wine cellar' and mostly
they played jazz music.
All of the programmes were made so that everybody could recognise that
it's only fictitious.
Then, Šebánek called a few people together and told them to work on the
character of Jára Cimrman.
Film plans for the future...
They have no plans.
Filming is for young people and you need a lot of money,
strength and organisation.
That's a deterrent.
Where does the inspiration come from?
For the Film 'Vrchní, prchni' ('Run away, waiter')
Zdeněk Svěrák got inspiration from an experience in a restaurant.
People in the restaurant had mistaken him for a waiter as he had a suit on.
Obecná škola (Elementary school)
is inspired by his childhood memories.
Generally:
"To have inspiration is not enough. You have to work on an idea for months
and develop the idea".
Svěrák says, that he first writes all he knows about the topic he wants
to write about and then he makes clear what the plot is going to be about.
Only by writing he gets to know the character he is writing about.
Is there anything new coming up with Ladislav Smoljak?
They don't have any ideas at the moment.
They are searching for topics for Jára Cimrman's theatre.
They always take a certain period in history and from the events
that happened in that period they make a theme for Jára Cimrman's plays.
Now is not a appropriate time.
There is nothing significant going on that they could use for
Jára Cimrman's theatre.
Did you know, that some of the passages from your plays could become catchphrases used by people for many years?
At this question Svěrák answered that he had no idea it would happen.
He only knew that people would remember and use the sentence:
'Cyrile, ty nejsi brífingový typ' from the play 'Africa'.
The authors had discovered that more and more people take their partners to Jára Cimrman's theatre to test how the person reacts and if the person has the right sense of humor.
Jára da Cimrman x Jára Cimrman:
Jára da Cimrman was the original name. The authors liked it because it
sounded like Lenardo da Vinci.
Later they didn't like it anymore so they "discovered" that it was
JARDA Cimrman not Jára da Cimrman (Jarda is the diminutive form of
the name Jára).
What Svěrák thinks about fame?
He believes that everyone longs for popularity at first and only later
they discover that it's a burden
He says, that he likes being fames.
He likes the way people smile at him as if he was an old friend.
Was it planed to make a series of Cimrman's plays?
No, it was actually fortunate that so many plays were created.
How did they decide upon to the name Jára Cimrman?
Jára was a popular artistic name in that time.
Cimrman was a person from the 'Wine cellar by the spider'.
