Władysław Dobrowolski was an infantry major in the Polish Army and a fencer, an Olympic bronze medalist, but despite his sincere intentions, his son Jerzy chose a different path – in 1954 he graduated from the PWST in Warsaw and began his acting career. Despite his admiration for the theater, Dobrowolski gave his heart to cabaret and satire, which drew him almost completely.
Horse to party, and game to Horse
In 1957, Jerzy Dobrowolski together with Wiesław Gołas, Zdzisław Leśniak, Mieczysław Czechowicz and Zbigniew Bogdański founded the Horse Cabaret, which from the very beginning caused a sensation. The sketches presented by the gentlemen struck the most sensitive points of the current government – this made cabaret interested in the censorship that was following the artists’ heels. With time, the Horse’s texts were more and more limited, and a joke told once had no right to exist and no longer be repeated due to the vetting. Roman Dziewoński, the author of the book “For me, a bomb by Jerzy Dobrowolski”, once mentioned on the air of the Trójka radio that the first horse program was staged at the National Theater thanks to its director at the time, Erwin Axer.
– Censorship slopped, slashed, crashed, there were only a few presentations. On the other hand, about a year later, we managed to present the Horse – “the theater”, as it was called then, on the smaller stage of the Dramatic Theater. It ended with the need to move the Horse to the big stage, because people roared so much on the little one with laughter that they drowned out what was happening on the big stage – said Dziewoński. As the journalist emphasized, the more popular the Horse was, the more censorship cut his shows – that is why this cabaret is considered “the beginning of a revolution” because “it seemed that it would be possible”.
The horse survived until 1959. Seven years later, Owca was another undertaking of Dobrowolski, for which he wrote texts, among others, Stanisław Tym. The gentlemen did not take prisoners when it comes to criticizing the rulers and their thoughtlessness. The halls during the performances were overcrowded. Only three years after the uprising of Owca, the authorities of the Polish People’s Republic officially prohibited its further operation. – It was like this: Jerzy Dobrowolski – destroy! Wherever he performed as anyone – said Dziewoński.
“Good morning, I’m from the cobra”
Jerzy Dobrowolski also made his skits on the radio. In the years 1970 – 1972, together with Wojciech Młynarski and Stanisław Tym, he co-created the “Decybel Radiocronome” in the Trójka. The comments about the government were razor-sharp and the accompanying humor was intelligent and original. Krzysztof Kowalewski, who works in Trójka, also mentioned his colleague in the book “Decybel”:
He was setting up this red brothel around the corner. Just how he did it! Plus, for me, it may sound strange, but it was a mental vacation. For a moment I was able to speak out loud something that I was thinking about. Even though it was disguised at times, you know what’s going on. And the listener knew, and we …
The figure of Dobrowolski was so well known to the authorities that the caesura was also watching him on the radio. In one of the broadcasts of the “People of Radio” series, Wojciech Młynarski said:
Together, we wrote two scenarios that were stopped by the censorship. One of them, “Wiesław Gołas show”, was stopped by censorship because then Gomułka was in power and he was called “Wiesław”. It was a real tragedy for us that some morons, for such reasons, keep the script for us.
Maria Czubaszek, in turn, was the author of, among others the radio play “On the Hula-Gula Islands”, where Dobrowolski played one of the main roles. In the book “Hello, I’m with a cobra, or how to lose friends in half a minute and other anti-advice”, it was Czubaszek who blamed Dobrowolski for forcing her to pick up a pen. Roman Dziewoński mentions the cabaret’s extraordinary talent for inventing slogans that easily entered everyday speech:
Jerzy Dobrowolski introduced many expressions and phrases into our language, which, I am sorry to admit, changed their authors after many years. (…) In the verbal confusion that arose during the expeditions “To the Hula-Gula Islands” and everything that Maria Czubaszek invented, (…) these “trips” and their private conversations resulted in, for example, “good morning, I’m made of a cobra, “a bomb for me.”
Unforgettable Dąbczak
Cabaret was Dobrowolski’s element, but throughout his career he played in serial or film productions. In “Rejs” or “Wanted, Wanted”, the actor had episodic roles, but in “No Rose Without Fire”, although he also did not play the main role, he managed to create a cult character.
The main characters are Janek (Jacek Fedorowicz) and Wanda (Halina Kowalska), a young couple who receive an seemingly attractive proposal to change their place. From a cramped room in an office villa, they have a chance to move to a two-room flat offered to them by Malinowski (Wiesław Gołas), the previous tenant of the aforementioned room. When Janek and Wanda decide to move, they have a rather unpleasant surprise – Jerzy (Dobrowolski), Wanda’s ex-husband, arrives soon and reserves the right to live in one of the rooms due to the absurd law.
Thus, the sequence of events and people that pass through the everyday life of the Filikiewiczs begins. In the hope that he will get rid of the intruder in this way, Janek brings Lusia (Stanisława Celińska), Jerzy’s fiancée, to his place. Behind her comes her admirer, Zenek (Stanisław Tym), and immediately after that the girl’s father brings the furniture. When there is a chance to improve the situation on the horizon, because Wanda and Janek suddenly take possession of the rooms left from the offices in the villa, Dąbczak does not give up.
Dąbczak’s sayings like “Yogibaboo!” Have gone down in history. or “poor bear”. The film was originally supposed to be titled “Avalanche”, in direct reference to the never-ending series of problems faced by the main characters. Bareja was also closely watched by censorship – forced to change the script, he changed the title of the film. In the original concept, Lusia’s father has problems with the tax office, and the word “surcharge”, which he used in one of the scenes, that is, a tax imposed on a discretionary basis by that institution, raised doubts among the censors. As a result of the forced changes, a scene was created in which a man sets fire to his rose plantation, thanks to which Lusia can apply for registration in the capital.
The beginning of the end of the great artist
The scuffles with the censors left their mark on Dobrowolski, stifling his creative enthusiasm. His recordings to date have been destroyed in the hope that it will force him to cease operations. Helplessness drove the actor into addiction, and alcohol led to depression. According to his colleagues, Jerzy Dobrowolski was always professional and never came to work under the influence. “The last period of Dobrowolski’s appearance on stage was … sad. None of his ideas for a cabaret was realized. He mentioned his age, health, fatigue,” wrote Roman Dziewoński.
The progressing disease had a destructive effect on his career, health and relations with his loved ones. Dobrowolski’s second wife, in a book about her husband’s life and work, mentions difficult moments when the actor disappeared for days, and sometimes his friends found him almost unconscious. Despite several attempts to quit and take up drug addiction, his body was devastated from alcohol and intense lifestyle.
On July 17, 1987, Dobrowolski died at the age of 57. His tombstone is located in Stare Powązki. In one of the interviews, Jolanta Zykun, the widow of the actor, recalled: “He had the funeral he wanted. He wanted it to be fun. I spent a fortune to put it in a coffin on the side. A pillow, jacket, cords, just as he liked. “
Source: Gazeta
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
