ZILLCHE EN JEFAHR

The members of the "Cäcilia Wolkenburg" have gathered with their families to get in the mood for their 150th anniversary in a festive setting. The mood is heated, however, because a wave of topics is rolling towards "Et Zillche" in its anniversary year, and it is easy to lose track of them all, with glamour, glory and misery all mixed in as well. There is an invitation to the Steuben Parade in New York, a well-known Cologne actor has suggested to

Hollywood that a monumental film be made about the Romans in Cologne; he wants to engage the Wolkenburg singers to do it and at the same time pay a sum of millions for the rights to the name of the association. As if the slogan "Zillche goes Hollywood" was not enough, the Cologne-based German Aerospace Agency is going one better and launching a project entitled "Zillche goes Galaxis", in which a promotional video about "150 years of Zillche" is to be put into orbit around the Earth.

The lure of all this news is so great that some of the Cäcilians are ready to seize the opportunity and market "Et Zillche" worldwide. This would offer huge potential for the future, they say: performances all year round, reinforcement by professionals, use of playback music, less Kölsch, professional dancers. The Divertissementchen as a beacon for Cologne. Las Vegas on the Rhine. The "Zillche" must now be shown from its best side.

But this makes the Cäcilians, who have imbibed the "Cäcilia Wolkenburg" with their mother's milk and for whom the annual Zillche has grown into their DNA, feel somewhat uneasy. For them, it is unthinkable to sell the trademark rights. They believe that this would destroy the Divertissementchen and everything that makes up the Zillche would be thrown away, merely for filthy lucre. To make matters worse, a Cäcilian has reported from a supposedly reliable source that the city of Cologne is thinking of cancelling the lease of the clubhouse for the "Bühnen-Verein Wolkenburg" because it is not being used appropriately. At last, the alarm bells begin to ring. Now there is only one way: One has to learn from the history of the "Zillche" what its formative elements have been for 150 years in order to them take decisions for the future. A colourful journey through the history of the Cäcilia Wolkenburg begins.