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Pertti Pasanen (1930-2001) |
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Film and television producer, director, comedian, scriptwriter, and inventor, whose Uuno Turhapuro (Numbskull Emptybrook) films were highly popular in Finland from the 1970s to the late 1990s. As a comedian Pertti (Spede) Pasanen had Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope as his models. Pasanen made nearly 40 movies, which generally were scorned by critics. The most successful was Uuno Turhapuro armeijan leivissä (1984), starring Vesa-Matti Loiri. "The Uuno Turhapuro figure, guzzling beer and lolling on his couch like an ape, developed into a sort of prototypical Finnish slob and icon of slothfulness who has come apart at the seams in pace of the blighting of the country." (Peter von Bagh, in Drifting Shadows: A Guide to Finnish Cinema, Otava, 2000, p. 87) Pertti Pasanen was born in Kuopio, the son of Kusti Pasanen, a
district superintendent at Ahlstöm Oy, and Helmi Pasanen, a typist. He did speak until after the age of two. At
the lycée of Kuopio Pasanen was one of the best athletes at his class.
In the late 1940s he played ice hockey with Kuopion Eräveikot. Later in
life he was ranked as eight best squash player in Finland. Pasanen also
wrote sketches for evening entertainment arranged by the students'
union. During summer vacations Pasanen worked as a summer reporter at the newspaper Savon Sanomat. The regular staff members included Simo Puupponen, known under his pseudonym Aapeli. Pasanen and Puupponen, who was a published writer, had a similar sense of humor – they loved wordplays and limping jokes. Pasanen own attemp to become writer failed. His collection of short stories, illustrated by Juha Järveläinen, came back from the publisher. However, Pasanen did not plan to become a journalist but make a career in movies. He spent much time in cinema theaters, learning his wisecrack style from Red Skelton, Danny Kaye, and Bob Hope – he even looked like Bob Hope with a beard, and they both shared a passion for golf. Accroding to some sources, Pasanen's famous nickname, "Spede", which he started to use already in Kuopio, was invented by his girlfriend. It is also possible that the name derived from his ice hockey career: he was called Speed and the name then changed into Spede. Pasanen graduated in 1952 from a secondary school in Iisalmi, where he moved due to constant conflicts with autocratic teachers. After serving in the army, Pasanen entered the University of Helsinki in 1953. Pasanen studied political science without much enthusiasm – other activities interested him more. For the student magazine Susj he created advertisements, which sometimes tested the sense of humor of the sponsors. In one cartoon, made for Amer-Tupakka Oy, a tobacco company, he drew a bad looking type, who was smoking some 20 cigarettes at the same time. Gradually the radio work started to take more and more his time. In 1951 Pasanen had won an award with his radio program in a cultural competition arranged by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). He worked occasionally for YLE as sound man, made some 30 programs, wrote a radio play Kanarialintu, and in 1956 he applied for a position at YLE's entertainment department, without success. "Annan aluksi pari varoitusta niille, jotka eivät ennestään tunne papukaija G. Pula-ahoa. Kädessänne on nyt eräs nykymaailman merkkiteos, joka kertoo ilmeisesti ainoasta linnusta maailmassa, joka on käynyt Pariisin Punaisen Myllyn baaripöydällä dokaamassa pari kaljaa. Eräänä Pula-ahon luonteenpiirteenä mainittakoon, että hän halveksii syväati puluja, joten älkää sanoko häntä vaningossakaan PULU-ahoksi, sillä se on loukkaus ja hän vetää Teidät heti syytteeseen eläinrääkkäyksestä, mikä onkin Pula-ahon parhaita bisneksiä. Ollessaan kylläkin joskus pikkurahan tarpeessa hän tempaisee pyrstöstään pari sulkaa ja myy ne jollekin ämmälle hattukoristeeksi." (from 'Hyvä eläimen ystävä,' in Papukaija G. Pula-ahon seikkailut by Spede Pasanen, kuvittanut Olli Tasanen, Kustannus Oy Lehmus, 1964) His film career Pasanen started in bit parts. Fennada-Filmi,
run by
Mikko Mäkelä, employded Spede from the mid-1950s. He also had small
roles in popular Pekka Puupää films, produced by Suomen
Filmiteollisuus. In Tyttö lähtee kasarmiin
(1956), a military comedy, Pasanen had his first voice role. From 1959
to 1964 Pasanen worked on radio as a successor of Niilo Tarvajärvi.
There he wrote sketches about a nihilistic parrot, G. Pula-aho, played
by Leo Jokela. Pula-Aho spoke the "Stadi" slang, the everyday language
Helsinki. "No ku mä en kato tienny kysyiks sä tota leikilläs vai ooks
sä nii vanhaa sukua et teillä vallittee vielä keskiaikainen pimeys. Sä
tuut kato kunti uteleen Pula-aholta ilmeesesti melkein selvin päin, et
pystyyks Pula-aho esiintyyn vilmissä. Jep. Skulatkaas kuntit yks
musiikkistyke tähän väliin et saa ihmiset hetken rauhassa nauraa sun
kysymykselles. Kato tommosia humoresteja ku sä oot ei kasva joka
oksalla. " (Papukaija G.
Pula-ahon seikkailut, p. 63) Pasanen's first own program was Aamutuimaan (In the
morning), full of
unconventional humor. Some of the radio listeners hated in, some loved.
He continued with Hupiklubi, Ruljanssiriihi, and other shows, and
surprised people with unexpected telephone calls. Spede's ideas caused
much worries to his superior, Antero Alpola, and the program director
Jussi Koskiluoma. Jukka Virtanen, a pioneer in the Finnish television
entertainment, has later told that in private Pasanen was very
decent. He drank his first bear at the age of 30 in Germany while on
tour, dancing in the role of Don Quixote at the Finnish National
Opera ballet. Alcohol was never a part of Pasanen's life, but he was a
chain-smoker. From the age of 50, he was constantly on a diet. For
a short time Pasanen dated with Arja Laine, who then
married the
actor Tommi Rinne. While performing in Turku in 1963, he met Pirjo
Vainimäki, a window dresser, and offered her a role in the film X-Paroni
(1964). They married in 1965. Although the couple later
separated Pirjo Pasanen recalled: "They were good years. There was a
lot of good in Pertti. He was interested in everything, He was also a
very good father and husband. In the evenings, he used to tell fairy
tales to our daughter Pirre." ('Arpakauppias vei sydämen' by Suvi Kerttula, in Ilta-Sanomat: Spede, 25.8.2011, p. 56) Pasanen's long-time companion was Riitta Väisänen, miss
Europe from 1976. Pasanen did everything in his power to hide their
relationship from the press. Väisänen was the speaker of the TV quiz
show Kymppitonni, which started to run in the mid-1980s. It was
produced by Pasanen's own company. The affair ended in 1993, but they
remained friends. Pasanen's later relationship with Maria Drockila, a
young beauty queen, led to some head lines, altough she had a boyfriend
closer to her own age. In 1997 she was barely
twenty when she became the managing director of Spede-Tuotanto Oy.
Vesa-Matti Loiri felt sorry for Pasanen, who obviously wanted more than
a mere friendship with her. (Loiri. by Jari Tervo, Otava, 2019, p. 320)
In the film Hopeaa rajan takaa (1963) Pasanen played a bohemian student, Toivo Paukku, who crosses with his two friends the border between Finland and Soviet Union to dig up family silvers from Karelia. The director Mikko Niskanen later praised Pasanen's scrupulous attitude towards acting. Niskanen wanted to make another movie with Pasanen, but Toivo Paukku remained Pasanen's last serious role. In the early 1970s Niskanen planned to produce with Filmituotanto Spede Pasanen Hautakivet huipulle, based on Ilmari Eskola's novel Tikapuut huipulle (1960). The film was never realized. Together with Risto Jarva and Jaakko Pakkasvirta and the Production Company Filminor, founded in 1962, Pasanen made one of his best films, X-Paroni, where he played a double role as Baron Wilhelm von Tandem, a heir to a large fortune, and his double Kalle, a country boy and inventor. X-Paroni did sound business – it was the No. 1 movie of that year. Pähkähullu Suomi (1967) was produced by his own company, Filmituotanto Spede Pasanen. For television he produced such comedy series as Spedevisio, Speden saluuna, 50 pientä minuuttia, Uuno Turhapuro and Speden spelit. In the 1980s Pasanen sold his films to MTV, not to YLE. Pasanen was a fan of western movies, he knew all the clinches of the genre, and made some western comedies himself. Speedy Gonzales – noin 7 veljeksen poika (1970) had such characters as Bat Masterson, Hoss, referring to to the TV series Bonanza, and Manolito, also referring a TV series, High Chaparal. Spede played a double role as Speedy Gonzales and Mooses Gonzales and sang with Four Cats one of the film's songs, "Haaskalinnut saalistaa", a parody of Enrico Morricone. In music sketches outside films Pasanen's work often showed the influence of Spike Jones. Hirttämättömät (1971), shot in a sand pit near Porvoo, continued the adventures of Speedy Gonzales. Simo Salminen was Tonto and Vesa-Matti Loiri played Lone Ranger. Markku Tuuli in the TV magazine Katso considered the film the last nail on the coffin in Spede's cinematic career. Despite lukewarm reviews, Hirttämättömät was the most popular movie of the year. Part of Pasanen's success was his team: Simo Salminen, usually the dull straight guy, Vesa-Matti Loiri, a versatile actor, composer Jaakko Salo, and the writer-directors Jukka Virtanen and Ere Kokkonen. In 1966 Pasanen and Salminen wrote the lyrics for Salminen most famous song, 'Protestilaulu,' which satirized leftist protest songs popular at the time. It was followed by 'Keltainen jäänsärkijä,' adapted from the Beatles hit 'Yellow Submarine.' In his producer's role Pasanen actively participated in creating ideas for films. The last film, in which Pasanen played the central role, the toy manufacturer Jim King, was Leikkikalugangsteri (1969). Pohjan tähteet, which premiered in the same year, was already created around Vesa-Matti Loiri. For a period in the 1960s, Loiri shared a bachelor's apartment with Kokkonen. Loiri and Pasanen first met at the restaurant Seurahuone in
1967. Pasanen had been turned down for his application for the Union of
Finnish Actors, which led them in discussion about their work.
"Spede was a very serious person, too," Loiri later
recalled said. "He had high pressures: he had to master comedy,
the Spede-image, make new shows and take care of a business handling a
large amount of money." (Saisko pluvan, Vesa-Matti
Loiri by Petri Nevalainen, Helsinki-kirjat, 2010, pp. 92-93) For
Pasanen's television shows Loiri created such characters as Nasse-setä,
a child-hating, more or less drunken children's program
host, and the big-nosed Jean-Pierre Kusela, parodying the chanson
singer Jean-Claude Pascal. Loiri and Pasanen never became close friends, but
they had a mutual respect for each other, and occasionally sat together
in restaurants, and ate and drank together. In the 1970 Pasanen had become one of the best-known film and television personalities in Finland, but at the same time he was relatively secretive about his personal life. Being a performer was what he wanted, but he abhorred the publicity that came with it. Pasanen did not answer inquiries sent by the editors of Who Is Who in Finland, and he avoided interviews. Nevertheless, he was not a recluse. He played golf, often in Spain, with a number of his friends, such as Matti Ahde, the director of Finland's national sports betting organization, and in the 1990s he was regularly seen on TV in his game program, Speden Spelit. In it he played games with beauty queens and celebrities, proving to be in excellent physical condition at the age of 70. He also developed his inventions in his own workshop, Speden paja – Pasanen had several patents. One of his most famous invenstions was "Spede linko," which gave a push for ski jumpers. Perhaps the most peculiar film he ever produced was about the Ice Age. It has never been broadcast on TV. Pasanen was convinced that the last Ice Age in Finland never existed and collected evidence to support his theory. Naisen logiikka (1999),
Pasanen's chauvinist last film dealing with differences between male
and female ways of thinking, was
a total failure. It ran in Helsinki for two weeks and had 232
spectators. Pasanen died of a heart attack on a golfcourse in Sarfvik,
Kirkkonummi, on September 7, 2001. Ten days before he had sold sold his
production company Spede-Tuotanto Oy to Pankkiiriliike Sofi Oyj. Lenita
Airisto (b. 1937), a celebrity, business woman, and writer, revealed
Pasanen's sexually predatory behaviour in her book Noitanaisen ilosanoma: puolustaudu,
taistele, voita
(2022). Airisto claimed that in 1991 he had tried to rape her, but she
managed to break free from his grip by kicking him in the groin. With Uuno Turhapuro movies Pasanen became the most successful independent producer in Finland. The relationship between him and the Finnish Film Foundation was strained especially in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Foundation repeatedly refused to give any financial support to his productions. As a protest Pasanen chopped in 1981 with an ax copies of his early films, rather than to give them to the Film Foundation's archives. Fourteen of the Uuno films were written on a Triumph Gabriele typewriter. The character Uuno Turhapuro appeared originally in television
sketches and was then adapted to screen. The first movie gained a huge
success and was followed by 18 other Uuno movies. Occasionally
Vesa-Matti Loiri wanted to leave the role and return to the stage in
serious plays, but was always persuaded by Pasanen to make one more
film. However, Loiri was not seen in Uuno Turhapuron veli (1994),
in which Esko Salminen played Uuno's brother. "Kun on kuusi tuntia
valveilla ja kahdeksantoista tuntia nukkuu, ei jää paljon vapaa aikaa." (When
one sleeps six hours and is awake eighteen hours, there is not much
left for free time, in Uuno Turhapuron huikeat poikamiesvuodet
maaseudulla, 1990) Kokkonen directed seven Turhapuro comedies, and
wrote the screenplay for seven films. Uuno
Turhapuro – This Is My Life (2004), written and directed by
Kokkonen, was produced after Pasanen's death. Uuno's tragedy is that he believes his own lies, the joke is that he is taken seriously. He is a shameless hedonist, scruffy, worm-like wriggling do-nothing, a Finnish Oblomov. Often by some coincidence and by his great self-confidence he manages to fulfill his primitive dreams. His refrigerator becomes full of food, he wins money, and is elected President. Uuno wife Elisabeth (Marjatta Raita) is an ordinary Finnish woman, who lives in everyday reality. As a husband Uuno is a fake, which is the source of his constant marital crisis. Pasanen's own character was Härski-Hartinainen, a cynical owner of a garage. Simo Salminen played Härski's friend, Sörsselssön. Cinematically the films looked poor, but it never bothered the audience. For further information: Spede, nimittäin by Tuomas Marjamäki (2017); Muisti palailee pätkittäin by Ere Kokkonen (2007); Spede: Pertti Pasasen elämä by Tommi Aitio (2002); 'Speden tarina siskon kertomana' by Kari Kyheröinen, in Seura, 19.10. 2001; Drifting Shadows: A Guide to Finnish Cinema by Peter von Bagh (2000); Suomen kansallisfilmografia 9: 1981-1985, edited by Sakari Toiviainen et al. (2000); Suomen kansallisfilmografia 8: 1971-1980, edited by Sakari Toiviainen et al. (1999); Suomen kansallisfilmografia 7: 1962-1970, edited by Kari Uusitalo et al. (1998); 'Viihteen yleismies Pertti Pasanen' by Kimmo Laine, in Kansallisgalleria: Suuret suomalaiset, edited by Allan Tiitta (1997); Yleisradion historia 2: 1926-1996: Aikansa oloinen by Raimo Salokangas (1996); Elon aika by Aarre Elo (1996); U.T. Tutkimusretkiä Uunolandiaan, edited by Jukka Sihvonen (1991); Viihdevuosien vilinässä by Antero Alpola (1988) Films and other works (as producer, writer, editor, actor, or director):
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