---
title: "The real Curt Prank: Star of ‘Oktoberfest: Beer and Blood’ on Netflix"
description: "The Netflix series tells the story of Curt Prank, a young brewer facing a dark secret. But who was his real-life inspiration?"
url: https://www.thebeertimes.com/en/the-real-curt-prank-star-of-oktoberfest-beer-and-blood/
date: 2022-09-19
modified: 2026-07-19
author: "Carlos Uhart M."
image: https://www.thebeertimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Georg-Lang.jpg
categories: ["History"]
tags: ["História", "Múnich", "Netflix", "Oktoberfest", "Series de Televisión"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# The real Curt Prank: Star of ‘Oktoberfest: Beer and Blood’ on Netflix

The German series [Oktoberfest: Beer and Blood](https://beermagazine.net/llega-a-netflix-la-serie-oktoberfest-sangre-y-cerveza/), available on [Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/cl/title/81249469) since October 2020, tells the story of Curt Prank, an ambitious brewing entrepreneur who arrives in Munich from Berlin to set up a tent for 6,000 people and sell his products — a goal he will pursue by any means necessary.

![Georg Lang](https://www.thebeertimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Georg-Lang.jpg)*Georg Lang*

Although Prank is a fictional character, he has a very real inspiration: [Georg Lang](https://second.wiki/wiki/wiesnwirt), nicknamed “Crocodile Georg,” a businessman who arrived in Munich around 1900 from Nuremberg to carry out his project and permanently revolutionize the beer festival as it is known today.

His success grew so great that it spread to every corner of the world where he established a German colony — Córdoba in Argentina, Blumenau in Brazil, Malloco in Chile, and also Venezuela, Peru, El Salvador, and Mexico, among other countries.

## Who was the real Georg Lang?

By the late 1890s, Georg Lang had already gained recognition as a businessman in Nuremberg, his hometown.

But at the dawn of the new century, he set his sights on the [Munich Oktoberfest](https://www.thebeertimes.com/en/munich-oktoberfest-history-and-origins-of-the-worlds-largest-beer-festival/), a festival that had begun in 1810 to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

For a foreigner, gaining a place at the festival was practically impossible. At that time, the event consisted mostly of farmers displaying their animals, children playing in the fields, and a banquet with plenty of beer.

To acquire a license at the Theresienwiese (“Teresa’s Meadow”) grounds, one had to purchase a lot at an auction in Munich.

Those lots limited the size of the booths that owners could erect. But in 1895 things began to change when the crossbow shooters’ guild obtained permission to design a larger “beer castle.”

![Kurt Prank (Misel Maticevic) in the Netflix series](https://www.thebeertimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Oktoberfest-Sangre-y-Cerveza-300x158.jpg)*Kurt Prank (Misel Maticevic) in the Netflix series*

The new tents were larger and architecturally ambitious, but they were not integrated into the festival’s central ring, and the lots still restricted the size of the central pubs.

## Georg Lang arrives at Oktoberfest

Then Lang arrived with a large tent built by an acquaintance from Nuremberg. He paid five local innkeepers to act as “front men” who obtained the license on his behalf despite his foreign status, giving him the right to operate while the law recognized five Munich lot owners as the administrators.

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Quickly, Lang — with deep pockets and no qualms about offering bribes — won over Munich’s municipal authorities, who despite the obvious violations of existing regulations approved his license for the 1898 Oktoberfest. Only one magistrate voted against it.

In his first appearance at the festival, Lang erected a tent with a capacity of 6,000 people, 20 times larger than the typical beer stalls.

But it was not only the size that made Lang’s tent the festival’s main attraction — it also offered large, free concerts.

From 10 in the morning, Lang’s tent featured a 30-piece orchestra dressed in traditional Alpine costumes, and no one had to pay to enjoy the show. The public flocked to Lang’s venue en masse.

He also distributed songbooks with “the latest melodies,” free of charge as well, to attract visitors and encourage them to sing along.

Since the orchestras had no singers due to the lack of microphones — and in addition to drinking beer — Lang’s customers formed a choir that kept the crowd cheerful and entertained. A celebration that changed the rules of the game at Oktoberfest.

## From reality to televised fiction

“Oktoberfest: Beer and Blood” presents Curt Prank as the foreign entrepreneur who arrives in Munich to revolutionize the festival — and is prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.

The Finnish director of the series, Hannu Salonen, stated:

> The show is based on a guy from northern Germany called Curt Prank, who is based on a real person called Georg Lang, who comes south with the dream of building a huge tent for 6,000 people at Oktoberfest. It’s important to know that until he arrived, the whole festival consisted more or less of a bunch of wooden huts with some farmers and children having fun on a simple carousel. It was practically impossible for an outsider to operate as a businessperson at Oktoberfest, and beer brewed outside Munich was not allowed. But this real person, Georg Lang, managed to pull it off.

In the show, Georg Lang is Curt Prank, an outsider from Berlin, brothel owner and innkeeper. Until his arrival, Oktoberfest had more of a ceremonial feel than that of a real festival. Prank intends to change all of that, and his vision is truly eye-opening.

## Entertainer and master of the show

Salonen attributes to Prank qualities drawn from Lang. He describes him as an entertainer and master showman who established the concept of the “big band” and even invented the most famous drinking song at Oktoberfest today.

> In comparison, the small beer huts mainly had a lone musician playing on a small stage, in some cases alongside a drunken pianist, while people got drunk and engaged in open sexual activity. The poor waitresses were forced to sell themselves as prostitutes since their earnings consisted solely of the tips they received. It was certainly a harsh world, which we also portray in the show.

 

## We recommend

- [What are the bubbles in beer? Home experiments to explain how they form](https://www.thebeertimes.com/en/what-are-beer-bubbles-physics-home-experiments/)
- [The history of Chimay brewery and its profound influence on the brewing world](https://www.thebeertimes.com/la-historia-de-la-cerveceria-chimay-y-su-profunda-influencia-en-el-mundo-cervecero/)