Camilio

BLOG 012

Lieve Wim

When the norm these days is 'The Next Big Thing', individualism, egoism, the opposite of being modest, nice and shy, last Monday, the 27th of March 2023, the Netherlands lost a great bright, smart and sweet sole, Wim de Bie.

Wim de Bie was 1 side of the duo 'van Kooten en de Bie' and where from 1983 till 1998 my heroes, Sunday evening, after the 8pm news, brought their 30 to 40 minutes reflection on the last week. They all did this with simple means and with a small team with small changes when needed. Van Kooten en de Bie, a cameraman, sound man, director and make up artist. The settings where in houses of those team, in streets where they lived, etc. Keep it close and simple, the acting and there types and roles where superbe.

Why I write about Wim de Bie and 'van Kooten' is because they shaped me, they learned me to be critical without shouting, stay true to yourself, use simple stuff around you to exress yourself, they gave me and my family (father, mother and brother) 30 minutes of joy every week, critical thinking, staying close to yourself and stay modest, while their use of language was brilliant (a word I hardly like to use, I am not a language purist) and the way they played / acted some stereo types. I also think Wim de Bie is a moralist like me, and could get really angry on TV, real anger, which was new at the time. Anger about injustice, real outed on TV. Still Wim was way more intelligent that me and brought it with reflection on himself and humour.

And again, I like to stress that they all did this with the simplest of means. Simple elements, no studio's, high expenses on renting actors, acting stages, etc. A second hand jacket, old trousers and another pare of glasses where enough, the acting did the rest. They stopped with being a duo in 1998, and that was a shock, but now, after all these years I understand it. Going on, after 38 years of being together on TV, it was enough and you don't know where the fame will bring you, into craziness or getting too arrogant, it will affect the quality. And from high quality it was of the highest level.

Thank you Wim, you will be missed.
Thanks for being a teacher, a leader, showing me a way...................