"Illusionen" - Hildegard Knef (1952)

Hildegard Knef (vocal) with Orchestra, conducted by Friedrich Meyer. Recorded in Munich in 1952 and released that year in December.
The song was written by Friedrich Meyer (music) and Fritz Rotter with Hildegard Knef (lyrics) for the German film drama "Illusion In Moll" (1952), starring Hildegard Knef, Hardy Krüger, Sybille Schmitz, Nadja Tiller and Maurice Teynac.
This is one of the very first recordings made by Knef.
Hildegard Knef (1925 - 2002) was a famous German actress (billed in some English-language films as Hildegarde Neff), singer and writer. She started acting in Teenage years and appeared in a few German movies at the end of World War Two. With the 1946 film "Die Mörder Sind Unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us)" she became the first big German movie star after the war - a new fresh face that made hope for a better future. After a few more pictures David O Selznick invited her to Hollywood in 1948, but she had to wait long for her first US movies like " Decision Before Fawn" (1951) or "The Snows Of Kilimandscharo" (1952). A big success came in 1955 with the starring role in the Broadway musical "Silk Stockings" by Cole Porter. He had heard her singing in a film, was impressed and wanted her to play Ninotchka (based on the Greta Garbo movie from 1939) in his new musical - a great success. In the Sixties she started her second very successful career as a Chanson singer with her unique dark and dusty voice. The great Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald described her as "the best singer without voice".
This Polydor record is played on a Philips Radiogram from 1956!