Austrian postcard by Ghwala Druck, Vienna. Photo: still for Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen / Laundry – Washing – Well-being (Johannes Guter, 1932). Washing in Antiquity.
Austrian postcard by Ghwala Druck, Vienna. Photo: still for Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen / Laundry – Washing – Well-being (Johannes Guter, 1932). Dr Breuer (Fritz Alberti) explains to an audience in his laboratory.
A real feature film with well-known film stars and sound
The Persil brand (in some countries marketed as Dixan, Wipp or Le Chat) was launched by the German company Henkel in Düsseldorf in 1907. It was the first commercially available laundry detergent that combined bleach with the detergent. The invention of Persil was a significant breakthrough. The name, 'Persil', is derived from two of the original ingredients, sodium perborate and silicate.
To introduce Persil to the general public, Henkel developed its first industrial film, in collaboration with Ufa. Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen / Laundry – Washing – Well-being (1932) became not a conventional advertising film, but created a new genre: advertisements embedded in a real feature film of two hours with well-known film stars and sound.
At the centre of the plot is Professor Stahlschmidt (Paul Henckels), whose scientific interest is awakened when his laundress tells him about a new detergent called ‘Persil’. Meeting the Henkel chemist Dr. Breuer (Fritz Alberti), he is invited, together with his wife (Grete Reinwald), to visit the Henkel factory in Düsseldorf to find out more.
Afterwards, a travelling female demonstrator (Lotte Spira) learns Frau Stahlschmidt how to operate her washing machine with the new detergent. In the end, a salesman (Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur) explains the various domestic uses of the Henkel products.
Henkel and the Ufa also produced an alternative language version in Danish, Vask, videnskab og velvære (Johannes Guter, Holger-Madsen, 1932), starring the Danish superstar of the silent era, Olaf Fönss.
Austrian postcard by Ghwala Druck, Vienna. Photo: still for Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen (Johannes Guter, 1932). The female travelling demonstrator (Lotte Spira) explains to the professor's wife (Grete Reinwald) how to do the washing with the new Persil detergent.
Austrian postcard by Ghwala Druck, Vienna. Photo: still for Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen (Johannes Guter, 1932). The professor and his wife (Paul Henckels, Grete Reinwald) get a tour around the Henkel factory by Dr. Breuer (Fritz Alberti).
Shown for seven years in a row
Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen / Laundry – Washing – Well-being (1932) was directed by Johannes Guter and produced by the Ufa in 1931 and was first publicly shown on 24 January 1932 at the famous Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin.
Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen (1932) also became known as the 'Henkel-Persil-Tonfilm', and it turned out to be one of the most popular films in the German cinemas during the 1930s.
The film was shown for seven years in a row and drew in 30 million spectators, making it the most visited film in Germany. How can the success of the film be explained? Wikipedia attributes it to the free admission, its long run of seven years, the still new sound film and the high popularity of the actors involved like Henckels, Reinwald, Ida Wüst and Fritz Alberti.
Another attraction was that the last act of the film was shot in colour. Henkel would, of course, like to explain the effect of Persil for coloured laundry.
Wäsche - Waschen - Wohlergehen / Laundry – Washing – Well-being (Johannes Guter, 1932) launched the establishment of feature-length industrial and advertising films in Germany. From then on, many products were advertised embedded in a fictional plot.
A Persil clock tower, Wismar, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Photo: Jules @ Flickr.
Sources: Ofdb, Filmportal, Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.
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