Pertti Olavi "Spede" Pasanen (10 April 1930 – 7 September 2001) was a Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor, who has been called an "all-around entertainer".Mäkinen, Anssi; Jaakola, Leena; Kallio, Veikko: Kansallisgalleria 5: Moderni Suomi. Weilin + Göös, 1997. . During his career he directed, wrote, produced or acted in about 50 movies and participated in numerous TV productions, including the comedy Spede Show and the game-show Speden Spelit. Much of his more commercial work was in collaboration with Vesa-Matti Loiri (whose most popular character created by Pasanen was Uuno Turhapuro; first in TV sketches and then in a long-lasting series of motion pictures) and Simo Salminen. Pasanen's films and TV shows, often made quickly and on a low budget, usually received little critical recognition but were popular among Finnish audiences from the 1960s onwards. He was the owner of his own film production company, Filmituotanto Spede Pasanen Ky. Pasanen was ranked 17th at the Suuret suomalaiset competition show broadcast by Yleisradio.
Childhood and youth Pertti Olavi Pasanen was born on 10 April 1930 in Kuopio, to Kusti and Helmi Pasanen (née Rantala).Pikku-uutisia. Pohjois-Savo 29 June 1929, issue #71, p. 8. Finnish National Library. Accessed on 29 February 2020. His father was a forestry technician and worked as the district chief of the paper company Ahlström. Other children in the family included Pertti's little sister Virpi and little brother Risto.Pouta, Hellevi: Tuntematon Spede, Virpi-sisko kertoo monilahjakkaasta viihdyttäjästä. Apu 19 October 2001, issue #42, pp. 32–39. Helsinki: A-Lehdet Oy. Pasanen's family lived in the Linnanpelto district.IS: Tältä näyttää Spede Pasasen lapsuudenkoti, joka on yhä täynnä vilskettä: "Talo oli Speden äidin suuri haave." Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). By Kuopio standards, the family was of upper middle class. The nickname "Spede" comes from an earlier nickname "Speedy" which he got from playing ice hockey, and was given to him at an early age.Toiviainen, Sakari: Spede Pasanen. Helsinki: National Audiovisual Archive. Accessed on 10 September 2012. The nickname "Speedy" came from the fictional mouse character Speedy Gonzales, the hero of Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.Mistä Pertti Pasanen sai Spede-nimensä? Jukka Virtanen vastaa. Ilta-Sanomat 24 June 2014. Helsinki: Sanoma Media Finland Oy. Accessed on 24 June 2014.
Pasanen's interests at school age included entertainment, sports, various games and inventions. He was the star of the Kuopio Lyceum's evening programs, played ice hockey with passion and performed chemical experiments in his home's basement. However, he did badly at school. In spring 1948 he got a report card with five 4 grades (a failing grade in the Finnish school system) and stayed behind in his class after spending most of the spring building a custom scooter from parts he had found in junk shops. After Pertti Pasanen had ended up in arguments with most of his teachers, his parents sent him to another school. In autumn 1950 Spede Pasanen moved to the Iisalmi lyceum, from where he matriculated in the Olympic spring of 1952. He spent the next year doing his military service and completed it with the rank of Sub-lieutenant in the anti-aircraft branch. In the military he also performed in the entertainment parade of the defence forces, which circulated between barracks entertaining soldiers.Aitio, Tommi: Spede: Pertti Pasasen elämä. Helsinki: Tammi 2002. .
In autumn 1953 Pasanen moved to Helsinki and started his studies at the Faculty of State Politics at the University of Helsinki. Instead of studying, he concentrated on social life at the Nation of Savonia, where he usually acted as host and master of ceremonies at parties. Pasanen's student indoctrinations and initiations of new students gained fame throughout the university. In the university he also met Jukka Virtanen and Matti Kuusla who became important partners for him. Kuusla, working at Fennada-Filmi as a studio assistant got him a background role in the 1954 film Laivan kannella. He appeared in the film as a man at a bar.
Career Radio career
During the late 1950s and early 1960s Spede was a noted presence as a radio comedian. He applied to work at Yleisradio twice in 1956 and again in 1959 as an entertainment provider (ajanvietetoimittaja). On the first try Aune Ala-Tuuhonen, a secretary of the entertainment board and an experienced entertainment scriptwriter, was hired instead of Pasanen. Pasanen applied again in 1959 when the popular Niilo Tarvajärvi moved over to television. Pasanen sent another application which was almost completely identical to his first one, and attached a note "my folder is already there". This time he was hired.
Pasanen brought into radio the screwball comedy style he had assumed in the conventions at the Iisalmi Lyceum and at student nation parties. He was inspired by American film comedians such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Danny Kaye and wanted to bring the swift and clever style of American comedy into Finnish radio. He felt right at home in front of a live audience and hosted live performances with ease, whereas many other entertainment providers feared them. Pasanen started his radio career by hosting Tarvajärvi's former program Aamutuimaan broadcast on Sunday mornings, and according to the chief of the entertainment division Antero Alpola the program soon became "Spede's personal crazy show produced almost entirely without helping staff".
The names of the programs varied, but the basic idea remained the same: craziness and tricks with words to amaze the listeners. Pasanen's most popular program was Ruljanssiriihi which combined sketch-comedy and musical performances. The program eventually developed into the program Hupiklubi. Pasanen's programs were one-hour-long entertainment shows broadcast on Saturday evenings, combining music, sketch comedy and individual jokes.
Pasanen and actor Leo Jokela also created the break-out character G. Pula-Aho (voiced by Jokela), a smart-talking, Helsinki slang speaking parrot who would insult Pasanen on Ruljanssiriihi. Pasanen invented Pula-aho's style of talking when he asked Jokela to imitate the quiz show host Tauno Rautiainen. In the sketches, Jokela played Pula-aho by speaking through gritted teeth, in a manner similar to Rautiainen. This made both Pasanen and Jokela more familiar with the audience. These sketches where the clever parrot unashamedly insulted the show's stupid host became favourites among the audience and tens of episodes were made from 1960 to 1964. Pasanen published a book called Papukaija G. Pula-ahon seikkailut about G. Pula-aho, containing sketches performed by the parrot.
Spede's other programs included Tervahöyry Hyrskynmyrskyn suvisilla laineilla, Hyvää iltaa – tulkaa mukaan and Kesäterässä.
Antero Alpola wrote in his memoirs that he was certain that when Spede Pasanen was hired to the radio, he had not even imagined he would stay there for the whole of his career, but instead it would just be one phase of his personal career: "He was such a personal program creator, that a 'normal' entertainment provider's job just isn't fit for him. He doesn't listen to ready-made tapes by others and make fixes to them, he doesn't create ideas for others, he doesn't sift through scripts. He doesn't contact people unless they are part of his own program. According to my understanding, he isn't even a group performer, even though he works with groups and needs them. The group just serves his purpose."Alpola, Antero: Viihdevuosien vilinässä: Radiokauteni ensimmäinen puoliaika 1945–1960, pp. 199–200. Hämeenlinna: Karisto, 1988.
The radio started becoming cramped for Pasanen in the middle 1960s. He was making more and more of his own entertainment gigs and got into a dispute about his salary with the management board of Yleisradio. This dispute was the main reason why Pasanen quit his job at the radio in 1964 and instead moved wholly to film and television production.
Film actor career In autumn 1953 Pasanen moved to Helsinki and started his studies at the Faculty of Government Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Instead of studying, he concentrated on student nation life at the Savonian Nation, where he acted as a general master of ceremonies and organiser of parties. Especially the initiation parties of new students organised by Pasanen gained fame throughout the university and other student nations. At the university he also met Jukka Virtanen and Matti Kuusla, both of which later became important business colleagues for him. In 1954 Kuusla, who had worked as a studio assistant at Fennada-Filmi, got Pasanen a role as a background extra in the film Laivan kannella, where he appeared as a member of a sailors' club.
Already at the Kuopio Lyceum Pasanen had assembled a band called Bluff Brothers, consisting of Pasanen himself as well as Pentti Nevaluoma and later also Matti Kuusla, who joined the band in Helsinki. In the band, Nevaluoma played the guitar, while Pasanen and Kuusla made various noises to mix in with the guitar playing. Bluff Brothers played in Pasanen's own shows and public events. The band split up in 1963 when Nevaluoma moved to Jyväskylä where he founded a restaurant.
In the 1950s, Pasanen got a steady job as an assistant at Fennada-Filmi. After working as a background extra, he got his first significant speaking role in the "Finland Western" film Villi Pohjola directed by Aarne Tarkas in 1955. At the same time, Pasanen was looking for a way to get roles at other film companies as well. During the 1950s he appeared in various background roles in comedies produced both by Fennada-Filmi and Suomen Filmiteollisuus, such as Tyttö lähtee kasarmiin (1956), Vääpelin kauhu (1957) and Asessorin naishuolet (1958). He also auditioned for the part of Antero Rokka in the 1955 film The Unknown Soldier, but the part went to Reino Tolvanen. Armand Lohikoski took Pasanen into minor roles in three Pekka ja Pätkä films: Pekka ja Pätkä ketjukolarissa (1957), Pekka ja Pätkä sammakkomiehinä (1957) and Pekka ja Pätkä Suezilla (1958).
In 1958 Pasanen got a unique role: he appeared in the main role at the Finnish National Ballet's version of the novel Don Quijote by Miguel de Cervantes. The National Ballet was not looking for a ballet dancer as such for the main role, but instead for an actor who was familiar with pantomime and physical comedy, and Pasanen had made an impression on the choreographer George Gé at the audition. The ballet Don Quijote became a great success for the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in 1958. The production also visited Germany during the same year, which also became Pasanen's first trip abroad in his life.
Mikko Niskanen's film Hopeaa rajan takaa (1963) was an important point in Pasanen's career: his first and only main role in a serious film, and his final role in a film produced by someone else. Despite the seriousness of the film, Pasanen played the part of Toivo Paukku, the most comical role in the film, always singing and longing after women. Since the late 1950s Pasanen started a career at the radio and television.
Film director career
Spede Pasanen and Jaakko Pakkasvirta met each other at the shooting of the film Hopeaa rajan takaa. Pakkasvirta and Risto Jarva, two young filmmakers, were part of the key personnel at the film production company Filminor owned by the student body of the Helsinki University of Technology. Their debut film Yö ja päivä (1962) had caused a great loss for the company. Jarva and Pakkasvirta made a contract with Pasanen about a new comedy film which could be a great success. According to the contract, Filminor would handle the technical aspects of the film, while Pasanen would get the financing, create the content and personally act in the main role. This resulted in the comedy X-Paroni (1964) which was the most successful film in Finland in the year of its debut.