Swing from Berlin (28) Adolf Steimel - Sag mir Du ! (1942)

The band of Adolf Steimel was another fine orchestra... The foxtrot "Sag mir du" was featured in the operetta "Millionenhochzeit". The singer is not credited on the record but it may be Dorit Talmadge - thank you user Snookerbee for supplying the information.

The video's theme is cinema during the occupation from 1940 to 1944. Cinema was tremendously popular in Belgium. There was a very large number of cinemas (in comparison to the number of inhabitants) and attendance continued to grow during the war. People were not only trying to forget their sorrows for a few hours but cinemas were also heated... A typical movie programme consisted of a newsreel, a first movie or performance by a band / stage act and then the main movie... Newsreels were not popular (the audience in general realised these were propaganda) however no one was allowed into the cinema after the newsreel had already started. Later on in the war the lights were kept on during the newsreel in order to avoid cattle calls and riots...

Movies shown were mainly German, French as well as Italian, Spanish and some Swedish movies... English movies were banned immediately and American movies from 1941 onwards. Some of Germany's main movie stars were already well known to Belgian audiences such as Zarah Leander, Marika Rökk, Jenny Jugo, Johannes Heesters, Heinz Rühmann, Heinrich George, Emil Jannings and Kristina Söderbaum...

For some time French movies shown in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium had to be dubbed in German - this was part of the so called "Flamenpolitik" which sought to reduce French influence on the Flemish speaking part of the population. Tensions between the Flemish and French speaking parts of Belgium were long running and had condsiderably increased after the First World War and in the 1930s. However this practice was soon abandoned because it was too expensive. In Brussels movies were generally dubbed in French (which incensed the Flemish movement).

In order to satisy the public's hunger for new movies many pictures from the 1930s (sometimes dating back as early as 1933) were re-released... Sometimes they featured stars no longer working in Germany - such as Marta Eggerth or Lilian Harvey - as can be seen in the newspaper programme featured in the video....

Popular genres were musicals, operettas and melodramas. Propaganda movies were shown as well - but their distribution was usually limited to big budget propaganda movies and pictures starring popular actors. Magazines featuring popular movie stars and sheet music featuring songs from the movies continued to be published... The Ufa and Tobis movie companies even published their own magazines in both Dutch and French.

With the liberation these movies dispappeared from cinemas...However from the early 1950s onwards a large number of these movies was re-released in Belgian cinemas. These were mainly movies that had been popular during the occupation and featured popular stars of the era : Marika Rökk, Zarah Leander, Heinz Rühmann...etc.

In this video you will see cinemas in
- Gent (Capitole) showing "Die Geierwally" with Heidemarie Hatheyer

- Antwerp (probably the flagship Rex Cinema which was hit by a V2 in 1944, killing nearly 600 people) showing "Die kleine & die grosse Liebe" with Jenny Jugo

- Brussels (Studio of the Palais des beaux arts/ Museum voor schone Kunsten - today location of the film museum) showing Veit Harlan's "Jugend" starring Kristina Söderbaum.

The pictures were published in a Tobis Magazine from 1940.

Newspaper programme of oktober 1940...

Original Movie posters from my personal collection.

About the record :

Odeon O-31 688a / mx.Be 13014

Recorded 1942.
Record in quite good condition (and a flea market find!).

Transferred without modification.

Sound equipment used :
Ortophon om78 Cartridge & Stylus
Turntable : Stanton T.90
TerraTec 78RPM Phono Pre-amp

After processing, this video will also be offered in HD.
However whether this function works will depend on your Internet connection and the abilities of your computer (your screen may freeze).

After uploading it will take some time for the image to be fully processed (and become sharp)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Swing
• from
• Berlin
• Adolf
• Steimel
• Tanzorchester
• Sag
• mir
• Du
• 1942
• Foxtrot
• Odeon
• Schellackplatte
• Zweiter
• Weltkrieg
• Second
• World
• War
• Tweede
• Wereldoorlog
• Kino
• cinema
• Zarah
• Leander
• Marika
• Rökk
• Dance
• Orchestra

[snookerbee]

Diese Musik mag ich sehr!

Hier die Angaben aus der mir vorliegenden Diskografie:

Dorit Talmadge (vcl)

Berlin, January 5, 1942

[Leotaurus1975]

Danke schön! An Dorit Talmadge habe ich gar nicht gedacht!

[ateleia]

Vielen Dank für das Video und diese großartige Aufnahme!

[seerider45]

extraordinaire & un grand bravo pour le montage vidéo !!

[Memale2009]

Atemberaubend! Ich kenne dieses Leben zwischen Existenzangst und Lebensfreude im Kino aus Erzählungen meiner Mutter. Diese Musik verleiht jener Zeit einen Rahmen, der für die zeitlosen Sehnsüchte und Hoffnungen des Menschen spricht. Danke für dieses tolle Video - und natürlich die Musik!

[camille885]

Très swing! Tes explications sont aussi intéressantes que la vidéo!

[HeadHunter131]

super!

[elettrofisa]

Wonderful*****