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

Please activate the HD function before watching the video or watch it with a larger type player to avoid sound distortion (as YT has reduced sound quality and does not activate HD playback automatically).

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 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsqtlQ19NeQ&feature=related

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%C3%9Fe_Traum

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 .

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kauf
• dir
• einen
• bunten
• Luftballon
• 78rpm
• Tanzorchester
• Willy
• Berking
• Foxtrott
• Der
• weisse
• Traum
• Eislaufrevue
• Imperial
• Schellackplatte
• Revuefilm
• Musical
• Berlin
• Wien
• 1943
• HD
• video
• Zweiter
• Weltkrieg
• Second
• World
• War
• Dance
• Orchestra
• Ice
• Skating

[HeadHunter131]

Berking - Klasse wie immer!

[Leotaurus1975]

Danke schön!

[veronica3755]

Un magnifique spectacle et merveilleuse musique ! Merci beaucoup !

[Leotaurus1975]

Merci beaucoup!

[dairyman716]

Wieder einmal eine wundervolle Berking-Platte mit einem wundervollen Video von Dir!

[Leotaurus1975]

Danke schön!

[Ordner491]

Den Film würde ich so gerne einmal sehen, aber leider ist er anscheinend noch nie auf DVD erschienen. Bleibt zu hoffen, dass er wieder im Fernsehen gezeigt wird. Außerdem ist die Aufnahme von Willy Berking wirklich genial. Danke für dein Video – toll gemacht!

[sashenka956]

I am Olly Holzmann's niece Alexandra. Olly was my Mum's sister, ice skating champion and dancer Illy Holzmann. I was born long after her movie career ended, and was close to her until her death in London. Fabulous to see this clip, I've never seen any of her movies right through though. I do have Der Weisse Traum and several other of her movies on video in German !

[MrAlGator]

Geza von Cziffra was great. If he would have gone Hollywood he would have become as famous as Billy Wilder

[mikemcgee]

i bet you this film doesn't have the stunts that Sonia Henny did in her films

[TheMoabiter]

Herrlich! Was populäre Musik betrifft fühle ich mich als zu spät Geborener (Jahrgang 1967). Was heute so läuft ist für mich nur sehr bedingt erträglich.

[refohtiew]

Willy Berking wäre heute 100 Jahre alt geworden! (22.06.10) - Gestern abend brachte der NDR eine Sendung über "Kuli", wo Berking oft als musikalischer Leiter fungierte.

[CampinCarl69]

This was my mothers favourite movie, i wish i could get it somewhere, been trying for 20 years.

[Memale2009]

Beides ist bezeubernd: die Musik und das Video! Danke!

[100lemon]

thankyou