Swing from Berlin (34) Willy Berking - Kauf Dir einen bunten Luftballon (1943)

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This is another fantastic recording by the Willy Berking orchestra. The song is "Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon" (lit. Buy yourself a colourful balloon) - composed by Anton Profes for the 1943 ice skating musical "Der weisse Traum"" (The White Dream). This musical about an ice skating champ, Liesl Strolz, who becomes the star of a ice skating revue starred Olly Holzmann and Wolf Albach-Retty. Olly Holzmann (1916-95) was a real life ice skating ace and handsome Wolf Albach-Retty was Romy Schneider's father. The musical was directed by Geza von Cziffra and the music was composed by Anton Profes - famous for composing "Am sonntag will mein süsser mit mir segeln gehen" in the 1920s as well as the music for the "Sissi" movies of the 1950s.

The song "Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon" became an instant hit and has become a classic . The movie and its music provided the sort of escapism which by the time of its premiere (5/10/43 in Vienna and 10/11/43 in Berlin) was much in demand... Olly Holzmann's singing voice was dubbed by the Italian opera singer Alda Noni - who performed at the Vienna State Opera from 1942 until 1946.

A lovely sung version by Herta Mayen can be found in the Dairyman716 channel :
   • Видео  

The movie which featured spectacular musical scenes did brisk business and became one of the most succesful movies of the wartime years (in only 17 months). After the war it was re-released both in Germany and abroad. Together with the Marika Rökk musical "Die Frau meiner Träume" (The girl of my dreams) it was one of the first German musicals to be shown in Stalinist Russia as part of the so called "Beute-Kunst" (lit. Looted Art)...

"Der weisse Traum" was remade by Geza von Cziffra as "Kauf Dir einen bunten Luftballon" in 1960. The new version however lacked all the charm of the original...
More information on the movie can be found here :
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_wei%...

The video features pictures of Olly Holzmann and Wolf-Albach Retty as well as some sequences from "Der weisse Traum".

About the record :

The title of this release has been changed to "Schenk mir einen kleinen Luftballon" (Buy me a little balloon). The reason for this is not clear as the song was known as "Kauf Dir einen bunten Luftballon" and recorded as such (a contemporary version by Kurt Widmann and Evi Marlen exists)

Imperial 17434/ mx. KC. 29782

Recorded september 1943.
Post-war pressing.

Record in good condition - transfer without denoising etc.

Sound equipment used :

GRADO 78c cartridge & stylus
Turntable : Stanton T.90
TerraTec Phono Pre-amp

HD video in 1280x720 format .