The Flying Ice Cream Vendor and Other Big German Hits of 1959

My friend Lee, proprietor of the MYPWHAE blog (click here for full title), specializes in reviving the lower depths of the record market, 1950s budget labels purveying cheap cover versions of the popular hits of the time.

His most recent collection is a good example – for example, you get “Mambo Italiano” and “Come on-a My House,” not by Rosie Clooney but Mimi Martel and Elliott Everett and His Orchestra instead. These are among the 15 songs in this particular collection.

The records are great fun, veering between awful and surprisingly good. Lee always wrings excellent sound from the grooves of these battered relics.

I recently mentioned to Lee that I have a large number of German language cover records from the 50s and 60s. He expressed interest, so I prepared an example of such a collection for him and of course for you, dear reader.

The record is called Das grosse Starparade (Parade of Great Stars, as you probably figured). It was a product of the venerable German label Polydor, a pop music imprint at the time. Polydor put out these collections from time to time; this is the sixth in the series. It dates from 1959, incorporating songs from 1958 and 59.

To be clear, Das grosse Starparade compiled all types of German pop singles, only some of which were covers of American hits. Of the latter, included here are covers of “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” “Blue Hawaii,” “Purple People Eater,” “Tom Dooley,” “Promise Me, Love” and “Haiti Cherie,” along with remakes of Brazilian and Australian songs.

I imagine readers of this blog will find most of the artists involved to be unfamiliar, so here are some comments about them and some of their songs.

Freddy Quinn (usually billed as just Freddy) was a hugely popular singer and film star. He was often cast as a wandering sailor – thus his characteristic hit song, “Die Guitarre und das Meer,” from the film of the same name. I enjoy Freddy and have many of his records.

Melitta Berg had her only big success as a hit singer with “Nur du, du, du allein,” a cover of the Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him Is to Love Him.”

Bob und Eddy were Wolfgang Roloff (aka Bob Hill) and Wolfgang Börner (aka Eddy Börner). To make it even more confusing, Roloff later had a number of hits under the name Ronny. Bob und Eddy have two songs in this group.

Alexander (later Rex) Gildo was a German ballad singer who sold many millions of records and starred in film and television. He was dubbed the “German Cliff Richard.”

The Teddies, founded by Werner Cyprys in 1957, recorded a total of 17 singles for Polydor.

Ted Herold was a German singer who also appeared in several films in the 1960s. “Hula Rock,” a paean to the hula hoop, was originally by the Australian LeGarde Twins. (It is not the Hank Snow tune.)

Kurt Edelhagen led a popular big band and was music director for two large German radio stations. “Blue Hawaii” was not inspired by the Elvis movie, which didn't come out until 1961. This rendition was a cover of a Billy Vaughn instrumental from 1958. Edelhagen’s arrangement parrots Vaughn's dual-alto sound.

                       

Caterina Valente is a French-born Italian singer, guitarist, dancer, and actress. She is well known in the US, spending part of her career here. Valente was a singer in Edelhagen’s band early in her career. “Haiti Cherie” is a traditional song; Valente's single was probably inspired by Harry Belafonte’s version, issued as a 45 and on his 1957 Songs of the Caribbean LP.

The elaborately named “Wumba-Tumba Schokoladeneisverkäufer” is Sheb Wooley’s “Purple People Eater” in disguise. For the German market, the people eater has been transformed into, as far as I can tell, a flying chocolate ice cream vendor. Bill Ramsey, an American, came to Germany as an airman, and stayed. He preferred jazz, but made his name with the likes of the “Wumba-Tumba” song.

Information is scant on Das Tom-Dooley Trio. It apparently included Bernd Golonsky, later a member of the Günter Kallmann Chorus.

“Stern von Montana” (Star of Montana) is by the Das Blauen Jungs (The Blue Boys), an Austrian vocal quartet helmed by Polydor's star composer Werner Scharfenberger.

“Fern (Far Away) in Java” was a cover of “Promise Me, Love,” a 1958 single written for Andy Williams by his mentor, Kay Thompson. It is one of a number of Polydor singles by the Stefano Twins.

"Ave Maria no Morro," composed by the Brazilian Herivelto Martins, dates back to 1942. Helmut Zacharias was a hugely popular violinist and bandleader who led his Verzauberten Geigen (Enchanted Violins) on many records.

A few years after Das grosse Starparade was issued, a number of German artists and songs became popular in the US. First was Lolita’s 1961 hit “Seemann…”, written by Werner Scharfenberger, with its overdubbed English narration. That was followed quickly by Bert Kaempfert’s “Wonderland by Night” and “Calcutta,” the latter in a version by Lawrence Welk. (Kaempfert provides the orchestral support on the Ted Herold and Freddy songs above.)

Finally, Elvis sang an adaptation of the German folk song “Muss i denn” in his movie G.I. Blues, which became a hit in Europe under the title “Wooden Heart.” Elvis’ rendition was never issued stateside, but Joe Dowell had a hit here with a cover version.

The download has many more artist photos and label pics. I enjoy listening to these German compilations – I must, I have about 20 of them. Hope you will like this one as well.