Johannes Heesters, 1903-

WHILE IT IS NOT exactly what the Germans call a “round birthday,” by the time you turn 106 every birthday is something to celebrate. This time it is the turn of the Dutch-Austrian singer and actor Johannes Heesters. He is not only the world’s oldest active stage performer, he is also one of Europe’s most controversial.

Heesters was born in Amersfoort, Netherlands on December 5, 1903. As a child he dreamed of becoming a priest. He later embarked on a banking apprencticeship before discovering his true vocation as a performer. At the age of sixteen he began to study music and acting, appearing on the stage for the first time in 1921. His film debut followed in 1924 as a supporting actor in the Dutch movie Cirque Hollandais. But silent movies could not satisfy the young tenor’s ambitions and Heesters continued to seek stage roles. In 1927 he auditioned for the German band leader Harry Frommermann, who would subsequently found the fabled “Comedian Harmonists,” but refused to sign a contract when Frommermann told him that he would not receive a wage for the first several months. Heesters landed his first major role on stage in 1930 and went on to become an accomplished operetta singer, debuting at the Vienna Volksoper in 1934…

Continued…

Celebrities live the life of glamor until the spark is gone, the knees get weak and they reach 100-years-old. But what kept them alive and well?

Frederica Sagor Maas 109 – Frederica is an American playwright, screenwriter, essayist and author that worked in the silent movie era with greats such as Greta Garbo and Barbara Kent. Frederica was the youngest daughter of Russian immigrants. The baby of the family was again, the last in line but first in line for that bowl of Wheaties.

Johannes Heesters 105 – Johannes is a Dutch-Austrian actor, singer and entertainer with an 87-year career. As of July 2009, aged 105, Heesters still holds the record of being the oldest performer worldwide who is still active, both on the stage and television. You go boy! Keep eating those Wheaties!

Edith Haldeman 104 – Edith was an American child actress of the early silent era. Someone ate their Wheaties.

Mona Ray 104 – Mona was an American stage and screen comedian and actress who appeared in the late 1927 silent film Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Little grits in her Wheaties.

Barbara Kent 102 (Actress) – Barbara is an actress who was popular in silent movies. She is among the last surviving players from the silent film period. Again, Wheaties!

Dorothy Young 102 (Performer) – Dorothy is an American entertainer who worked as a stage assistant to legendary magician Harry Houdini. She must have sprinkled magic powder in her Wheaties.

Dolores Hope 100 – Wife of Comedian-Actor Bob Hope and American singer. Her vocals would not have cracked as many laughs without her Wheaties.

Why Wheaties?

Wheaties was created in 1922, as a result of an accidental spill of a wheat bran mixture onto a hot stove by a clinician working for the Washburn Crosby Company. The company changed their name to General Mills later.

Many breakfasts existed in the twenties, however, when Wheaties were created it was fast growing as the breakfast of choice.  Whether it is know these famous faces actually consumed Wheaties during their careers, it is known that Wheaties became a favorite to many.

Question is, did you have your Wheaties today?

For the entire version of this article visit Celebrities Living to 100.

Source(s):

Wiki/Wheaties

http://article/2302023/celebrities_living_to_100_over.html?cat=2

The first instalment of German music and novelties was rather popular. So here’s another one, with a third instalment waiting.

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Marianne Rosenberg – Ich bin wie Du (1975).mp3
Much of Eurodisco was made in West Germany, with Giorgio Moroder producing Donna Summer in Munich, and acts like the Silver Convention strutting their shiny trousers there, too. It is fair to say, however, that the German Schlager scene was not a hotbed of disco (or, indeed, anything else but banality). The exception was Marianne Rosenberg, whose sensible secretary’s hairstyle complemented her girl-next-door image. She retained the coiffure and high collar dress during her foray into disco in 1975, the splendid Ich bin wie Du (“I am like you”). The fusion of straight-lacedness and disco queenhood established Marianne as an icon in Germany’s gay scene, a position she continues to occupy today.

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Marianne Rosenberg – Mr Paul McCartney (1970).mp3
Die Beat Oma – Ich Bin die Beat Oma (1965).mp3
Before she became a gay icon, a gawkier teenage Marianne Rosenberg appealed to Paul McCartney to reply to her fan letter, because no other girl likes him as much as she does. She resorts to emotional blackmail: John and Ringo and even the odd Rolling Stone would have sent her an autograph by now. But not Paul, oh no. So she has to resort to singing this song to attract his attention. There are, of course, other ways to get Paul’s attention (if not a thumbs up sign). Seven years later, in 1977, German newspapers were agog with the claims of a teenager that Mr Paul McCartney had fathered her during one of the Beatles’ stints in Hamburg. To the shock of nobody, the claims were found to be — gasp — untrue.

Five years before Marianne’s plea to Macca, there was Germany’s insane answer to the wonderful Mrs Miller. Beat Oma (The Beat Granny) based her autobiographical anthem on A Hard Day’s Night, very loosely so, intoning her credentials while aggressively hurtling across vocal keys, hitting none in the process. When she claims that she sings “everybody else against the wall”, the listener virtually feels blindfolded and condemned, hoping only that his superannuated executioner will experience a mishap of the kind depicted in Don Martin’s cartoons in Mad magazine. As the song closes, the drummer puts an end to Beat Oma’s atonal wailings with an assault on the drum kit, perhaps metaphorically beating some sense into the thoroughly charmless Oma (of course, Any Major Dude With Half A Heart disapproves of actual violence against grannies).

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Agnetha – Geh’ mit Gott (1972).mp3
Agnetha – Señor Gonzales (1968).mp3
Agnetha – Mein schönster Tag (1968)
Last time we encountered ABBA recording in German. Before she became one of the As in the groups’ acronymised name, Agnetha Fältskog tried to realise the ambition of many Scandinavian singers of the day with a dream of musical success: breaking into the German Schlager scene. Agnetha released a batch of German singles between 1968 and 1972, most of them quite awful even by the low standards of the genre, though a couple were actually quite good. In her endeavours, Agnetha — who already had a career in Sweden but put it on hold while going for stardom in West Germany — was produced by her boyfriend, Dieter Zimmermann. Once Dieter was history, her next boyfriend, Björn, worked out better on the way to stardom.

Geh’ mit Gott was released towards the end of her futile bid at Schlager stardom. It was the German version of Ennio Morricone’s song Here’s To You (sung by Joan Baez) for the 1971 film Sacco e Vanzetti (about two Italian immigrants executed in the US for a crime they possibly didn’t commit).

Four years earlier, Señor Gonzales was Agnetha’s second German single. I see no reason why it shouldn’t have been a Schlager hit. It has the necessary clichéd lyrics and banal melody; it even has the faux-Mexican sound the Schlager-buying public was so fond of (though here Agnetha might have been ahead of her time; the Mexican Schlager wave peaked in 1972 with Rex Gildo’s superb Fiesta Mexicana, which I shall feature soon). The b-side to Señor Gonzales is a rather better affair. Mein schönster Tag is a country ballad which our girl sings rather well; it is a cover version of a country song, but I can’t work out what the original is. Somebody will surely tell me.

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Johnny Cash – Wer Kennt den Weg (1966).mp3
In the 1960s it became common for English-speaking artists to make foreign-language recordings of their hit songs. Foremost among the European countries to offer a market for such things was West Germany. In 1966, Johnny Cash recorded I Walk The Line as Wer Kennt den Weg (alas not as Johannes Bargeld). In the early 1950s, Cash had been based as an US soldier in southern Germany. Clearly he did little in that time to benefit from the opportunity to learn German; his accent is quite appalling.

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Sandie Shaw – Einmal glücklich sein wie die Andern (1965).mp3
Like her compatriots Petula Clark and, to a lesser extent, Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw recorded a lot of her repertoire in German (and in French), including her epic version of Bacharach/David’s Always Something There To Remind Me. Here the title translates as “Just once to be happy like the others”. Recorded in 1965, Sandie sounds like she actually knows what she is singing. She clearly makes an effort (though towards the end the effort apparently becomes a bit too much for her), and her diction is charmingly foreign. That’s all the German public ever asked for; as noted previously, nothing could win the hearts of Germans as much as somebody butchering their languages gently.

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The Supremes – Where Did Our Love Go (German version) (1964).mp3
The Temptations – Mein Girl (1964).mp3
Berry Gordy could spot a marketing opportunity, and so he had the stars of his Motown roster record their big hits in various European languages, apparently singing from phonetic lyric sheets. Diana Ross makes a game attempt at it; one can understand her implorations not to be left by the addressee of the song. The Temptations take rather more relaxed view of linguistic doctrines, anticipating the German tendency to include English words as part of the conversational language. Germans are quite happy to use the word “girl” instead of Mädchen, or indeed “happy” instead of glücklich, as the Temptations do here (dear Diana is more purist about this: she actually uses the word glücklich, which must be a bit of a tongue breaker for non-German speakers).
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Millie – My Boy Lollipop (German) (1964).mp3
And another German version of an English-language hit. Millie (who sounds even more chipmunkish in German) doesn’t make an effort to translate the chief rhyme — sweet as candy/sugar dandy — into German. And how could she? “Du bist so süss wie Süssigkeiten / Du bist mein Zuckerbursche” somehow wouldn’t work well as a line of seduction. So we can forgive that. But why didn’t the songwriters bother to change the line “I love you I love you I love you so” to “Ich lieb’ dich ich lieb’ dich ich lieb’ dich so” ? That’s just lazy.

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Franz Beckenbauer – Gute Freunde kann niemand trennen (1966).mp3
Gerd Müller – Dann macht es bumm (1969).mp3
Fans of English football (or soccer, as my American friends would say) are likely to cringe at the memory of their players’ attempts at pop stardom: Kevin Keegan’s 1979 hit single Head Over Heels, or Glenn Hoddle & Chris Waddle with their 1987 #12 hit Diamond Lights, or Paul Gascoigne teaming up with Lindisfarne to belt out The Fog On The Tyne (there’s a Newcastle United thread here). Bad though these might be, English football fans would have no cause to cringe if they knew what their German counterparts have been subjected to, horrors that would make Hoddle & Waddle seem like the Righteous Brothers.

And yet, the two Bayern München legends featured here can be forgiven for their amateur warblings (if not for their club affiliation). Beckenbauer is, in my view, the greatest defensive player of all time. Adept at playing in virtually any position, he was an elegantly authoritative figure on the pitch. Germans, always acutely sensitive to their troubled history, called him “Der Kaiser”, which is preferable to “Der Führer”.

After finishing his playing career (which included a stint with New York Cosmos), Beckenbauer led the West German national team as coach to a World Cup final in 1986 and the world championship in 1990. After abdicating, as it were, he became a functionary for Bayern München, doing all he could to diminish the affection in which German football fans hold their heroes. Today he is a dear friend of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a thoroughly nasty piece of work behind his grinning mask of buffoonery.

If Beckenbauer’s nickname was somewhat misguided, that of his teammate Gerd Müller’s is quite mind-boggling, coming just a quarter of a century after World War 2: “Der Bomber”. The moniker was supposed to testify to Müller’s genuinely breathtaking ability to score goals — he’s by far the best I’ve seen in my lifetime. But it was a misnomer. The nickname suggests that Müller had a mighty shot, firing V2 rockets with accuracy from outside the penalty area. In reality, Müller had no particularly powerful shot. He was, however, compact with a low centre of gravity and an almost unerring positioning instinct. Many of his goals were scored with his backside, or while he was on the ground. His single, Dann macht es bumm (“And then it bangs”), perpetuates the mistaken notion of the blitzkrieging bomber. It also perpetuates the reality that Gerd Müller wasn’t particularly bright. Still, the man is a legend and probably not a friend of the evil Blatter.

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Johannes Heesters – Ich werde jede Nacht von Ihnen träumen (1937).mp3
Vera Lynn has just become the oldest person to have a British #1 album (alas not with her collection of Rammstein covers), but the world’s oldest still active performer is Johannes Heesters. The Dutch-born singer and former actor, whose career was directed almost exclusively at German audiences, is still at it at 105 years of age. As one might expect, he is much loved in Germany.

But he is not very popular in the country of his birth, where he has not been forgiven for continuing his career in Nazi Germany (where all entertainment was subject to Joseph Goebbels’ censorship and even dictate), and especially for performing for SS troops at Dachau. After the war Heesters pleaded that he had no idea about Dachau’s the extent of function. I suspect that he might not be entirely loose with the truth here (not all entertainers are very bright); and even if he knew, how much courage might he have needed to muster to tell the SS to bugger off. At the same time, he did move to Germany in 1935, so fuck him for that.

Still, almost 106 years of age, and still performing. And he has a wife who is 45 years younger than he is — Respect!
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Noel Coward – Don’t Let’s Be Beastly To The Germans (1943).mp3
Not a German song, obviously, but a stinging propaganda satire by the legendary English wit at the expense of Germans. Of course he had no intention of pleading for post-war clemency towards Germans; quite the contrary. And yet, to some extent his satirical entreaty would be realised. To be sure, some Germans were treated badly after the war, especially the many women who were raped by occupying soldiers (and not just by the Russians, who clearly did not share the song’s sentiments). But, truth be told, Germans subjected to occupation in the West cannot have too many complaints about the treatment they received.

Ich hatte seit Samstag den totalen Durchhänger.

Die Schokoladenindustrie hat zusätzliches Personal eingestellt und die Tempotaschentücherkonjunktur habe ich noch vor dem Nieselschniefwetter ordentlich angekurbelt. 

Mein Leben ist vorbei. Ich bin alt, fett, ich finde meine Schuhe nicht mehr und es ist Schluß mit lustisch. Ich muß mich damit abfinden und anfangen Deckchen zu häkeln.

Der Kerl den ich liebe, der will mich nicht mehr. Ihr wollt ihn auch nicht mehr. Aber ich will ihn…er könnte schließlich der Letzte sein, der mich in diesem Leben küsst. Da vergisst man doch alle Achtung vor sich selbst und würde vor Verzweiflung sogar seine Rechnungen bezahlen….theoretisch.

Praktisch bin ich im Verhältnis zu Johannes Heesters ja noch jung…..

Auf die Frage eines Reporters, wie lange er denn noch leben wolle, erwiderte der 174jährige Johannes Heesters, er habe zwar schon Helmut Kohl, Adolf Hitler und Conan den Barbaren überlebt, doch solange er keinen treffe, der schlimmer als seine Ehefrau sei, wolle er nicht sterben.

… und nicht jeder kann die Gene eines Johannes Heesters vorweisen und altert schamlos in den dreistelligen Bereich.

Eine Unsitte ist es also – wie auf MDR Figaro gehört – zu schwadronieren, Erich Kästner könnte morgen am 23. Februar seinen 110. Geburtstag feiern, wäre er denn noch am Leben. Ganz so, als sei das im Rahmen der normalen Lebenserwartung.

Aber vielleicht sind meine Vorstellungen einfach nur zu begrenzt. Und Sie müssen dann nicht erschrecken, wenn Ihnen demnächst einmal ein guterhaltener 525-jähriger Martin Luther über den Weg läuft.

Leider wahr: Johannes Heesters stand bereits im Jahr 1530 in Inquisitionslagern vor spanischen Inquisitoren auf der Bühne.

Auch leider wahr: wie erst jetzt bekannt wurde, ist der sächsische CDU-Landesvorsitzende Stanislaw Tillich Mitglied der CDU.

Nachdem dioxinverseuchtes Schweinefleisch nun auch in Deutschland gefunden wurde empfiehlt der Raucherschutzminister den Besuchern von Weihnachtsmärkten, darauf zu achten, dass nur Grillsteaks verzehrt werden, deren Haltbarkeit vor mindestens 3 Wochen abgelaufen ist. Diese Ware sei garantiert dioxinfrei.

Liebe Spieler des FC Bayern, vielleicht ist es KEINE so gute Idee, während der zweiten Halbzeit zu überlegen, wem man noch Weihnachtskarten schreiben muss.

Zur Stärkung der deutschen Bademodenindustrie bemüht sich die Kanzlerin derzeit ganz besonders um die Ankurbelung des Treibhauseffektes mit deutscher Technik. In Andenken an die im letzten Jahr in Oslo gezeigten Reize der Kanzlerin bleibt zu hoffen, dass möglichst bald die Bademoden der 20er Jahre des letzten Jahrtausends wieder aktuell werden. Oder dass es SEHR starke Sonnenbrillen demnächst auf Kassenrezept gibt.

Mogadischu reloaded: Deutsche Spezialeinheit beendet Entführung in Somalia.
(Nachricht vom 18.10.1977)

Serenade

Una serenata es siempre bienvenida. Pero el buen hombre se ve tan ridiculo que hasta cae gracioso.

Gasparone, ich werde jede nacht von Ihnen traumen

Este hombre que aparce cantado se llama Johannes Heesters; nació en Holanda y hoy ha cumplido 105 años. Está vivito y coleando, incluso sigue cantando. Fué un famoso cantante de cabaret. Pero al mismo tiempo lo encuentro muy irresistible. Esta canción es muy famosa. Lo acompaña Edith Schollwer. La película fue dirigida en 1937 por Georg Jacoby y se realizó en Alemania. He visto al Johannes Heesters de hoy y aunque está muy anciano, se le nota mucha fortaleza. Este año incluso cantó en una gala. El tiempo de antaño, el glamour de antes… ay! que lejano y cercano se ve al tiempo!

Gasparone es el nombre del personaje interpretado por este elegante actor y cantante, un bandolero de mucho cuidado, a pesar de la cara angelical del caballero.

Wurde Johannes Heesters zum 105. Geburtstag -nur- missverstanden und fehlgedeutet?

Hitler war – „Ein Kerl, weißt du, das war er, ein guter Kerl.“

Hatte der niederländische Journalist den alten Mann mit seiner konklusiven Frage, ob Hitler ein „netter Bursche“ gewesen sei, hinterrücks in die Enge getrieben? Wenn man sich den Interviewausschnitt vergegenwärtigt, kann durchaus der Eindruck entstehen, dass Johannes Heesters an und für sich nicht mehr sagen wollte, als dass dieser Hitler eben zu ihm, bei der einzigen persönlichen Begegnung nett gewesen sei.………………………………

Seine Frau Simone Rethel-Heesters, die an dieser Stelle eingriff, erklärte später in einer Presseerklärung, der der AP vorliegt, der Interviewer habe ihrem Mann Jopie “diese schreckliche Antwort” in den Mund gelegt.
Heesters setzt sich derzeit vor dem Berliner Landgericht gegen Behauptungen zur Wehr, er sei bei einem Besuch zusammen mit dem Ensemble des Münchner Gärtnerplatztheaters 1941 im KZ Dachau aufgetreten. Das Urteil soll am 16. Dezember verkündet werden.

Johannes Heesters mimt seit zwei Wochen den Kaiser im Singspiel «Im weißen Rössl» und auch an seinem 105. Geburtstag stand Heesters als ältester aktiver Schauspieler der Welt auf der Bühne, was die Zuschauer bei seinem Auftritt in der Hamburger Komödie Winterhuder Fährhaus frentisch bejubelten. Nach der Aufführung wurde eine Feier im Theatersaal für Heesters ausgerichtet, außerdem erhielt Heesters seinen achten Bambi.

Gasparone, ich werde jede nacht von Ihnen traumen

Este hombre que aparce cantado se llama Johannes Heesters; nació en Holanda y hoy ha cumplido 105 años. Está vivito y coleando, incluso sigue cantando. Fué un famoso cantante de cabaret. Pero al mismo tiempo lo encuentro muy irresistible. Esta canción es muy famosa. Lo acompaña Edith Schollwer. La película fue dirigida en 1937 por Georg Jacoby y se realizó en Alemania. He visto al Johannes Heesters de hoy y aunque está muy anciano, se le nota mucha fortaleza. Este año incluso cantó en una gala. El tiempo de antaño, el glamour de antes… ay! que lejano y cercano se ve al tiempo!

Gasparone es el nombre del personaje interpretado por este elegante actor y cantante, un bandolero de mucho cuidado, a pesar de la cara angelical del caballero.

Serenade

Una serenata es siempre bienvenida. Pero el buen hombre se ve tan ridiculo que hasta cae gracioso.

- Herrje: jetzt produziert Mark Ronson auch noch Elton John.

- Wunderbar: Randy Newman verschenkt “Losing You” vom Album “Harps And Angels”

- Satz des Tages: “Ich bin schließlich keine hundert mehr!” (Johannes Heesters)

- Neu: der großartige Versand CD Baby podcastet neuerdings auch und stellt zum Beispiel Indie-Weihnachtsrockmusik vor (mp3).

- 25 Artefakte zum 25. Geburtstag: Mike Greenhaus huldigt Phish.

- Gottschalk im Senftopf: Nachdenken über “Qualität” im deutschen Fernsehen…

- Video: Ocean Colour Scene – I Told You So (2007)

In seinem neuen Werbespot für Sixt (Video gucken) läßt Jopie Heesters es neben Gina-”Zack die Bohne”-Lisa so richtig krachen und die Reifen qualmen.

Ich kann mir zwar nicht vorstellen, dass die Tanzszenen von Jopie selbst dargestellt wurden und Auto fahren kann er vermutlich auch nicht – er ist ja fast blind. Umso genialer die Idee und Botschaft des Werbespots.
Abgesehen davon: Ich find´s einfach klasse, was dieser Mann (wird am 5. Dezember 105 Jahre alt) noch für eine Vitalität ausstrahlt – Respekt!

Über Matthias Reim mit verdammt viel Selbstironie und Verdammt ich hab nix, ich miet bei Sixt bin ich bei der Gelegenheit auch gestolpert. Das Video war mir ein paar Lacher wert (insbesondere ab 1:27) – cool gemacht.

Im Rahmen der 50. Grammy Awards überreichte Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel den Lifetime Achievement Award an Xavier Naidoo und lobte “den positiven Ausdruck seiner Lieder unter rot-grüner Regierung“. Weitere Showhighlights: Johannes Heesters spielte zusammen mit Bon Jovi den Klassiker “Dead Or Alive“, die demokratische Präsidentenkandidatin Hillary Clinton sang im Duett mit Kelly Clarkson deren Superhit “Since U Been Gone“, und Alicia Keys trug bei der Performance ihrer aktuellen Single “No One” fälschlicherweise die Perücke von Rihanna.

Der 104 Jahre alte Schauspieler Johannes Heesters ist am Neujahrstag in seinem Ferienhaus in Alpbach schwer gestürzt. Heesters wurde daraufhin in eine Innsbrucker Klinik eingeliefert. Der Entertainer hat sich bei dem Sturz mehrere Rippen gebrochen, so berichtet die “Tiroler Tageszeitung”. Heesters und seine Gattin dachten zunächst an keine schweren Verletzungen, aber als Heesters dann jedoch immer stärker über Schmerzen klagte, verständigte seine Frau Simone Rethel den Notarzt.

Here is a collection of German hits from 1930-452. It is fascinating stuff, and not only to the German nostalgists. Look at the stars appearing in this collection:

There is the 1936 hit version of “Lili Marleen” by Adolf Hitler’s favourite singer, Lale Andersen (1905-72). “Lili Marleen”, originally composed in 1915 and a hit for Andersen under the title “Lied eines jungen Wachtposten (Lili Marlen)”, was a popular song in World War II across the fronts. At one point, however, the German leadership banned it because it was too morbid. Andersen was used by the Nazi leadership to record English-language “propaganda-jazz”, which would proscribe her post-war activities as an artist for a while. Once her career resumed, she remained a star until shortly before her death.

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There is the original version of Marlene Dietrich’s (1901-92) “Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt” from Der Blaue Engel (filmed simultaneously as The Blue Angel, 1929), which launched her career internationally. Dietrich’s sister ran a cinema near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, frequented mainly by SS guards. Marlene renounced her sister as a result, yet after the war helped her financially. In post-war West Germany, Dietrich was long regarded by many as a traitor on account of her support for the Allies in WW2. At a 1960 concert in Düsseldorf, an audience member threw an egg at her (in fairness, other audience members gave the offender a beating for his troubles). Dietrich’s last movie appearance was in 1979, in Just A Gigolo, with David Bowie. Maximilian Schell’s 1984 documentary Marlene is worth seeing, if not for the subject matter, then for Schell’s ingenuity in illustrating the recorded interviews with Dietrich after she withdrew permission to be filmed.
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There is Pola Negri (1997-1987), the famous femme fatale of the silent movies era and former lover of Rudolfo Valentino and Charlie Chaplin. The Polish-born actress had returned to Europe after her career floundered with the advent of the talkies and after losing a fortune in the Wall Street Crash, acted in a few Joseph Goebbels-commissioned films, then fled Germany as rumours of her part-Jewish ancestry appeared.

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There is the magnificent diva Zarah Leander (1907-81), who, with her extravagant gestures and deep voice, was an obvious favourite drag queen character in the West Germany of the ’70s and ’80s. Born in Sweden, Leander’s life would make a great biopic. After breaking through in pre-Anschluss Vienna, she became an instant star in Germany when she moved there in 1936 (becoming a particular favourite of Hitler’s). Leander always claimed to have been apolitical; not everybody was convinced of it.

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There is Hans Albers (1891-1960), one of the biggest stars in Nazi Germany but who despised the Nazis. The Nazis forced him to officially split from his half-Jewish girlfriend, Hansi Burg, but he continued to unofficially live with her. In 1939, he arranged for her escape to Switzerland. When she returned to post-war Germany, Albers dropped his girlfriend at the time to reunite with Burg, with whom he lived until his death in 1960. A veteran actor of the silent era, Albers is rightly considered a legend. His hit “Auf Der Reeperbahn Nachts Um Halb Eins” continues to be sung by drunk Germans anywhere.

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There is the tragic Joseph Schmidt (1904-42), a Jewish tenor, who was among the first artists to be banned from German radio by the Nazis. A few months after the release of his film Ein Lied geht um die Welt (the title track is featured on this set) in May 1933, Schmidt fled Germany for Vienna, then after the 1938 Anschluß to Belgium, then after its invasion by Germany to France, and following France’s occupation to neutral Switzerland, where he arrived in September 1942. Several escape attempts had weakened Schmidt, leading to his collapse on a Zürich street. He was identified as a Jewish refugee, who in Swiss law were not regarded as political emigrés, and taken to the internment camp Girenbad while his residence application was being processed. There he fell ill, and was treated in a hospital for an inflammation of the throat. Doctors refused to follow up his complaint about chest pains, and Schmidt was returned to Girenbad. Two days later, on November 16, he died of a heart attack. The following day, his approved residence permit arrived.

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There is the sextett Comedian Harmonists, which had three Jewish members and sank soon after the Nazis took power. In 1934 the group was prohibited from performing in Germany; after a year of foreign tours the group split in 1936. The three Jewish members emigrated, and formed a band which toured under the same name; the three Aryans formed a sextet called the Meistersextett.

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There is actor Heinz Rühmann (1902-94), who remained one of Germany’s biggest stars for close to six decades (and who appeared in the excellent 1930 comedy Die drei von der Tankstelle). Rühmann, reportedly Anne Frank’s favourite actor, was publicly entirely apolitical, but was accused after the war of having divorced his Jewish wife in 1938 so as to protect his career in the Third Reich. However, his next wife (with whom he remained until her death in 1975) had a Jewish grandfather, which caused Rühmann some trouble with the Nazi hierarchy.

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There is Paul Hörbiger (1894-1981), an Hungarian-Austrian actor who became a resistance fighter against the Nazis. Arrested by the Nazis in 1945, he was sentenced to death for treason, with the BBC even reporting his death. Hörbiger lived, and enjoyed a long career on film, TV and stage which ended just a year before his death in 1981 at 86. Long revered in Germany and Austria as a grand old gentleman of stage and screen, Hörbiger’s film credits include the classic The Third Man, in which he played Harry Lime’s nameless porter.

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There is Johannes Heesters (1903 – ), duetting with Marika Rökk (1913-2004, who was a admirer of Hitler in her day), who is despised in his native Netherlands as a Nazi collaborator. Heesters, who performed for Hitler and in 1941 visited the Dachau concentration camp (apparently to entertain SS guards, which Heesters denies), did not distance himself from the Third Reich hierarchy (as Albers did). Yet, the allies allowed him to continue his career after the war, and — like many of his colleagues tainted by association with the Third Reich — enjoyed great popularity in post-war Germany. Heesters is the world’s oldest active entertainer. His career started in 1921, he last appeared in a TV film in 2003.

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There is Lilian Harvey (1906-1968), born in London to English and German parents. During WW1, her father worked in Magdeburg, preventing the family from returning to England. Lilian might have become a big British star; instead her career hit the big time in Germany. After a failed attempt at breaking through in Hollywood, she drew the attention of the Gestapo in the ’30s for her refusal to disassociate from her Jewish friends. Based in France after war, she resumed her career in West Germany.

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There are Die Goldene Sieben, who were founded in Berlin by the Nazi party to record “German jazz that would conform to the moral requirements of the Third Reich, as opposed to the “decadent” US jazz. However, the rotating members of the band failed to invent German jazz, doing so much of US-style swinging that Goebbels’ ministry disbanded the group after five years in 1939. Likewise, Peter Igelhoff (1904-78) was considered too jazzy, and was prohibited from public performances and banned from radio in 1942. Instead, the entertainer was drafted into the army and sent to the front. He survived.

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And there is Richard Tauber (1891-1948), the Austrian tenor who was the subject of Tom Waits’ blues. Tauber’s Jewish father converted to Catholicism, and even hoped Richard would become a priest. Instead, Richard joined the stage, appearing in operas and operettas. Already a big star in Germany, Täuber was badly beaten up by Nazi thugs, presumably because of his Jewish ancestry, and left Germany for Austria. He fled his homeland when Germany annexed it in 1938. He subsequently became a British citizen, and died in London at the age of 57.

Tracklisting:
Comedian Harmonist – Ein Freund, Ein Guter Freund
Comedian Harmonist – Veronika, der Lenz ist da
Marlene Dietrich – Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt
Richard Tauber – Adieu, Mein Kleiner Gardeoffizier
Siegfried Arno – Wenn Die Elisabeth Nicht So Schöne Beine Hätt
Lilian Harvey – Das Gibt’s Nur Einmal
Paul Hörbiger – Das Muß Ein Stück Vom Himmel Sein
Hans Albers – Flieger, Grüß’ Mir Die Sonne
Lilian Harvey – Wir Zahlen Keine Miete Mehr
Comedian Harmonists – Kleiner Mann Was Nun
Joseph Schmidt – Ein Lied Geht Um Die Welt
Die Goldene Sieben – Ich Wollt’ Ich Wär Ein Huhn

Hans Albers – Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb zwei
Pola Negri – Wenn Die Sonne Hinter Den Dächern Versinkt
Heinz Wehner & His Orchestra – Das Fräulein Gerda
Peter Igelhoff – Der Onkel Doktor Hat Gesagt
Rudi Schuricke – O Mia Bella Napoli
Zarah Leander – Kann Denn Liebe Sünde Sein
Hans Albers – Goodbye, Johnny
Heinz Rühmann – Das Kann Doch Einen Seemann Nicht Erschüttern
Lale Andersen – Lili Marleen
Marika Rökk & Johannes Heester – Musik, Musik, Musik
Ilse Werner – So Wird’s Nie Wieder Sein
Sven Olof Sandberg – Unter Der Roten Laterne Von St Pauli
Zarah Leander – Ich Weiß, Es Wird Einmal Ein Wunder Geschehn

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