Showing posts with label Caterina Valente. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caterina Valente. Show all posts

22 November 2015

Caterina Valente

Italian singer, dancer and actress Caterina Valente (1931) was in the late 1950s and early 1960s the queen of the German Schlager music. Her popularity was global, and she played and sang in fifteen films. The Guinness Book of World Records recognised her as Europe's most successful female recording artist, with over 1350 albums to her credit.

Caterina Valente
Vintage postcard.

Caterina Valente
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 23. Photo: Ringpress.

Caterina Valente and Dietmar Schönherr in Bonjour Kathrin (1956)
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. F 32. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Bonjour Kathrin (Karl Anton, 1956) with Dietmar Schönherr.

Peter Alexander, Caterina Valente, Silvio Francesco
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 73. Photo: Lantin. With Peter Alexander and Silvio Francesco.

Caterina Valente
German postcard by ISV, no. L 2. Photo: Klaus Collignon.

Initial Years


Caterina Valente was born in Paris, France, in 1931 in an Italian artist family. Her father Giuseppe Valente was a well-known accordion player, her mother Maria Valente a musical clown. She had three siblings. With her older brother, the late singer and actor Silvio Francesco, she made later many records together, and he would be a frequent guest and musical director in her stage as well as TV-shows.

Caterina started her career as a singer and dancer at the circus Grock. In 1952 she married juggler Erik van Aro who recognised her talent and accompanied her in her initial years of worldwide success. Their son is the singer Eric van Aro, Jr.

A year later, she made her first recordings for Polydor with the orchestra of Kurt Edelhagen. Soon afterwards she achieved great success with songs such as Dreh dich nicht um (Don't Turn Around). Her hit Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe (1954), based on the Cole Porter song I Love Paris, sold more than 500,000 copies.

After her first musical successes, she sang and danced in the crime film Mannequins für Rio/Party Girls for Sale (Kurt Neumann, 1954) starring Johanna Matz and Raymond Burr. The next year she performed in such German musicals as Ball im Savoy/Ball at Savoy (Paul Martin, 1955), and with Peter Alexander in Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager/Love, Dance, and 1000 Songs (Paul Martin, 1955).

Caterine Valente
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 3928. Photo: Ufa.

Caterina Valente in Bonjour, Kathrin (1956)
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 175, 1956. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: publicity still for Bonjour, Kathrin (Karl Anton, 1956).

Caterina Valente and Rudolf Prack in Das einfache Mädchen (1957)
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 2952. Photo: CCC / Gloria. Publicity still for Das einfache Mädchen/The simple girl (Werner Jacobs, 1957) with Rudolf Prack.

Caterina Valente
Dutch postcard by N.V. v.h. Weenenk & Snel, Baarn, no. 880. Photo: Hafbo. Publicity still for Hier bin ich, Hier bleib ich/Here I Am, Here I Stay (Werner Jacobs, 1959).

Caterina Valente
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 1159. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), Berlin-Tempelhof.

Caterine Valente
Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4197.

Bossanova Girl


In 1954 and 1955 Caterina Valente had international success with Malagueña. The song which introduced the Bossanova in Europe was written for her by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona. It charted first in Europe and eventually in England and the US.

Malaguena was featured on American TV in the Colgate Comedy Hour with Gordon MacRae. Malaguena was followed by Analucia, also written by Lecuona, which when re-released in an English version as The Breeze and I became a top ten hit in both Great Britain and the US.

By this time Valente had become a truly multi-lingual artist, performing her cabaret act and issuing recordings in six languages: French, German, Italian, English, Spanish and Swedish. In France she made the musical Casino de Paris (André Hunebelle, 1957) with Gilbert Bécaud and Vittorio de Sica, and in Germany she continued to make popular Schlagerfilms like Hier bin ich - hier bleib' ich/Here I Am, Here I Stay (Werner Jacobs, 1959) with Hans Holt. In the US she was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1959.

Caterina Valente and Silvio Francesco
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H, Minden (Westf.), no F 31. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann. With Silvio Francesco.

Caterina Valente
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-55. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Ufa.

Caterina Valente
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/22. Photo: Teldec / Farabola.

Caterina Valente
Dutch postcard, mailed in 1964.

Caterina Valente
German postcard by Kruger, no. 902/19. Photo: Teldec / Farabola.

Girltalk


During the early 1960s Caterina Valente switched alliances to Decca Records and scored several hits with them, including Itsy Bity Teenie Weenie Honolulu Strand Bikini, and Quando, Quando, Quando. Valente worked with the legendary Claus Ogerman and recorded material in both Italian and English. Her version of La Golondrina appeared on one of the first charity albums, All Star Festival (1963). The proceeds from that album went to aid refugees.

Between 1966 and 1972 she was a frequent guest on the Dean Martin Show and other American TV shows. From the mid 1950s to the 1980s German, Italian, Swiss and Austrian television produced more than a dozen series of Valente-Shows.

Over the years, she has recorded or performed with many international stars, including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Chet Baker.

In 1988 she issued Caterina 86, a recording made with the Count Basie Orchestra. In 1986 she enjoyed her fiftieth year on stage jubilee with the German TV show Bravo, Catrin! which attracted 17 million spectators. The Italian jazz CD A briglia sciolta (1989) became Valente’s best selling CD worldwide.

In 2001, she released her latest album of newly recorded material Girltalk, with harpist Catherine Michel. Among her many awards are the German Bundesverdienstkreuz (Cross of merit) (1968) and Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz (Grand Cross of merit) (1985), and the Italian Premio Gabardi (Lifetime Achievement Award) (2004). In 1972, Valente married her musical director, British composer and jazz pianist Roy Budd. They had a son, Alexander Budd, but they divorced in 1979. Today, Caterina Valente lives in her villa at the lake of Lugano in Switzerland.

Caterina Valente, Silvio Francesco, Peter Alexander in Bonjour, Kathrin (1956)
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 164, 1956. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: publicity still for Bonjour, Kathrin (Karl Anton, 1956) with Silvio Francesco and Peter Alexander.

Caterina Valente
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4198. With her son Eric.

Caterina Valente
German promotion card by Decca, no. 225.


Caterina Valente and Bully Bulhan sing Schnurri-burri-bum in Die Grosse Starparade 1954 (Paul Martin, 1954). Source: Mr. Steamhammer100 (YouTube).


Young Caterina Valente singing and dancing in Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager (Paul Martin, 1955). Source: SunJohann (YouTube).


Caterina Valente sings Es gibt noch Märchen (There are still fairy tales) in the schlagerfilm Das einfache Mädchen/The Ordinary Girl (Werner Jacobs, 1957). Source: Wyrubowa (YouTube).

Sources: Stacia Proefrock (AllMusic), Carola Bernasconi (IMDb), CaterinaValente.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

18 November 2012

The Choice of Meiter

Our guest today is my colleague-collector Meiter from the city of Groningen in the north of the The Netherlands. Regularly I buy film star postcards from her e-shop at the Dutch site Marktplaats. We started to correspond about the beauty of postcards, about our passion for collecting, film, our children and what they like to eat, about life. Thus I invited her to write at EFSP about her favorite European film star postcards, and she accepted. Meiter: "I like postcards so much, because they resemble (and when old, often are) real photos. They tell a story and represent a certain era. Because they are cards of filmstars, you can read a lot about them in books, magazines and on the internet. You can also make up your own story."
So, here's the Choice of.... Meiter.

Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer. German postcard by UFA, Berlin. Collection: Meiter.
Meiter: "This is one of my favourite cards of Lilli Palmer. She seems relaxed and even laughs. On most of her photos she comes across as an elegant and beautiful woman, but remote. On this one she wears her Sunday dress with, what looks like, an apron. Her husband is out hunting and she just finished cleaning the house and enjoys a well deserved rest in the garden. I like the kitschiness and colours."

Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren. French postcard by Éditions Hazan, Paris. Collection: Meiter.
"Oh, oh, how beautiful. It is not a very old card (I am sure there must be an original somewhere), but it was one of the first cards of which I thought ‘I must have it’. What first struck me was the thing on which she is sitting: is it a chair? It looks like a retro 1960’s design chair, but you only see a curved leg. Sophia manages to sit quite elegantly on it and has a stylish, yet coquettish air. And still, she has this rather innocent look. (And why is she pointing at her knee?) I love it."

Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe. Vintage postcard, no. PU 13. Collection: Meiter.
"I know Marilyn is a Hollywood Filmstar, not a European Star. But this card is My Pride. It is a card I have not seen before. (Now some people will say, of course, it is quite common). On the back it only says “Nr. PU 13”. I assume PU stands for Pin Up and perhaps it is part of a series pin-up cards, Marilyn being number 13 (the unlucky number..). She represents the optimistic 1950’s and 60’s and plays those funny roles in her movies. Yet, she herself led this tragic life and had to play a role both in her movies and her own life. Nevertheless, I am just very proud of this card and like to boast about it."

O.W. Fischer
O.W. Fischer. German postcard by IRMA-Verlag, Stuttgart. Collection: Meiter.
"O.W. Fischer loved cats and, as we can see on this card, cats loved him. I never understood this man. That makes him interesting. He seemed to lead a life of opposites. This photo represents an example: although at he end of his life he lived for and with his cats, he left half of his money to a dogs’ home. This cat is ignorant of the fact that she will not inherit any money. She just adores him."

Caterina Valente
Caterina Valente. German postcard by UFA, Berlin. Collection: Meiter.
"I don’t have anything with Caterine Valente and her music, but I love her cards. A very photogenic lady, and the more kitsch the better."

Jester Naefe
Jester Naefe. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Collection: Meiter.
"Jester Naefe was also called the German Marilyn Monroe. She had a promising future as an actress. Unfortunately she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and died, after an agressive progression of this disease, 8 years later, only 37 years old."

Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau. East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb. Collection: Meiter.
"BEAUTIFUL. This card reminds me of a picture of Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn never had her prom photo taken. In 1956, when she was 30 (!) years old, she asked Milton Greene if he could photograph her as a ‘prom-girl’. The picture Greene made, looks just like this photo of Jeanne Monroe..uh..Moreau."

Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida. French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 55. Collection: Meiter.
"This card is not a cliché picture of La Lollobrigida. I like the colours in it. It is not kitschy, yet colourful. It is as if Gina happens to pass by and accidentally had her picture taken. She seems rather young, but frankly I have no idea. Rather mysterious. But then again I do not know much about her, and it might be a scene in one of her most famous films."

Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Collection: Meiter.
"Claudia once signed a contract which forbade her to marry, gain weight and cut her hair. She already had given birth to a son when she was 17 years old. The family pretended that Claudia was a (much older) sister. When he was 19, he was told his older sister was his mother. How much are you willing to give up to be a filmstar? Claudia Cardinale apparently quite a lot. Originally she did not want to be a moviestar at all. She wanted to be a teacher in her home country Tunisia. Which would have made her happier..."

Anny Ondra
And last but not least: Anny Ondra. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6847/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Lothar Stark-Film. Collection: Meiter.
"I hesitated between Sybille Schmitz and Anny Ondra. But I saw that an extensive article already had been written about the androgyne, alcoholic, drug-addicted, bisexual Sybille Schmitz (I just wanted to use all these descriptions in connection with Sybille Schmitz), so the last card is of pretty, pretty Anny Ondra. When I read about pretty Anny Ondra, I have to think of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ where a silent movie is transformed into a musical with real sound. Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) appears to have a rather shriekish and screaming voice and it is decided that her voice will be dubbed over. Something similar happened to Anny Ondra, not because she was loud-voiced, but because her thick accent was considered unacceptable. I think she sounded lovely, but it is true that she did not sound like a London born girl.. She looks lovely and was married to the same man, a German boxer, for 54 years. Quite romantically. Yet, I am sure there must be more to this story."

Thanks Meiter, bedankt Carla!

The Choice of... is an irregularly appearing series. Earlier guests were Egbert Barten, Véronique3, Didier Hanson, Asa, Bunched Undies, Miss Mertens, and Manuel Palomino Arjona.

02 September 2012

Marie-France Dousset

French actress and singer Marie-France Dousset appeared in a few German films as Marie France.

Marie-France Dousset (aka Marie France)
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/348. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Marie France 1 or Marie France 2
There is not much known about the career and the life of French starlet Marie France-Dousset. IMDb confuses her with Spanish actress Paca Gabaldon (we did too in an earlier post), who also worked under the pseudonym Marie France in Germany during the 1960’s. At the time, Marie-France Dousset appeared as a singer in a few Schlager-films. The Schlager-film had been a popular German film genre since the introduction of the sound film around 1930. These were light romantic comedies in which recording artists sang their hit songs. There are examples from the 1930’s with Willy Fritsch and Hans Albers, but after the war, the genre became really popular. The big stars from the 1950’s were Vico Torriani, Peter Alexander and Catherina Valente. They were followed by the youth idols Freddy Quinn, Rex Gildo, Conny Froboess and Peter Kraus. They had some big blockbusters at the end of the 1950’s and the beginning of the 1960’s, when genres as the Heimatfilm and the Revuefilm became less popular. Around 1960, Schlager films even formed a quarter of the total output of the German cinema.

Peter Alexander, Caterina Valente, Silvio Francesco
Peter Alexander, Caterina Valente and Silvio Francesco. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 73. Photo: Lantin.

Conny Froboess, Rex Gildo, Peter Krauss, Rolf Pinegger
Conny Froboess, Rex Gildo, Peter Kraus, Rolf Pinegger. German postcard by ISV, no. E 13. Photo: Constantin / Grimm.

Mrs Beecher-Stowe Turning In Her Grave
Marie-France Dousset appeared in the Schlager films ...denn die Musik und die Liebe in Tirol/Because ... the music and the love in Tyrol (1963, Werner Jacobs) with Vivi Bach and Claus Biederstadt, and Die lustigen Weiber von Tirol/The Merry Wives of Tyrol (1964, Hans Billian) starring Gus Backus and Hannelore Auer. She appeared also in Onkel Toms Hütte/Uncle Tom's Cabin (1965, Géza von Radványi) based on the famous book by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The international cast included American actor John Kitzmiller as Uncle Tom and European stars like Herbert Lom and O.W. Fischer. Marie-France’s part was only a minor one. DB du Monteil reviews the film at IMDb: “Uncle Tom 's Cabin is more an European movie than a German one: Italian actors(Eleonora Rossi-Drago) meet German (Herbert Lom) or French ones (Juliette Gréco, Mylène Demongeot) ones. Mrs Beecher-Stowe would be turning in her grave if she saw some of the scenarists' ‘adaptations’: On the boat, there's a steamy (for the time) scene between Legree and Cassy. Exit chaste old cousin Ophelia, and make way for a vivacious gorgeous young Harriet. Besides, the deadly serious M. Saint-Clare goes to see a hostess in a bar (Juliette Gréco). The end of the movie becomes epic, as the slaves rise up against their ‘owners’. On the plus side: beautiful Negro spirituals during the Mississippi shots and a nice Evangeline Saint-Clare played by Gertraud Mittermayer. However, it's doubtful that this movie should be reissued some day.” More information about Marie-France Dousset is welcome.


German trailer for Onkel Toms Hütte/Uncle Tom's Cabin (1965). Source: KSMFilm (YouTube).

Sources: DB du Monteil (IMDb), Wikipedia (German), IMDb, and an anonymous comment.

03 July 2012

Rudolf Prack

Austrian actor Rudolf Prack (1905 - 1981) was once 'the most often kissed man of the German cinema’. Nowadays he is mainly connected with his Heimatfilms of the 1950's, but his career already started in the middle of the 1930's.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Film+Foto+Verlag, no. A 3849/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Film+Foto+Verlag, no. A 3741/2, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhof), no. CK-119. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Arthur Grimm.

Krambambuli
Rudolf Anton Prack was born Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), in 1905. He was the son of Rudolf Prack, a postman, and his wife Melanie Elisabeth. Rudolf jr. first worked for a bank to be able to finance his acting classes at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar. He started a stage career in Vienna and made his film debut in the musical comedy Florentine (1938, Carl Lamac). The next year he celebrated his first major success in Mutterliebe/Mother Love (1939, Gustav Ucicky) with Käthe Dorsch. His part as the poacher Thomas Werndl in Krambambuli (1940, Karl Köstlin) finally turned him into a public idol. He cemented his fame with films like Die goldene Stadt/The Golden City (1942, Veit Harlan), Reise in die Vergangenheit/Journey Into the Past (1943, Hans H. Zerlett) and the crime film Orient-express (1944, Viktor Tourjansky).

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Film+Foto+Verlag, no. 3741/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Film+Foto+Verlag, no. A 3471/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Film+Foto+Verlag, no. A 3563/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Ufa.

Heimat
At the end of the 1940's and the beginning of the 1950s', Rudolf Prack became as the nice, young gentleman the ideal protagonist of the post-war generation. After the war the need of the German public had changed completely; they had to fight against doubt, unemployment and a restricted view to the future. During the Wirtschaftswunder period the Heimatfilm arose. These regional films abducted the audience into the alleged world of nature. Together with actress Sonja Ziemann, Rudolf Prack formed the dream couple of six Heimatfilms, such as Schwarzwaldmädel/The Black Forest Girl (1950, Hans Deppe) and Grün ist die Heide/The Heath Is Green (1951, Hans Deppe). Other popular films were Die Diebin von Bagdad/The Thief of Bagdad (1952, Carl Lamac), Die Privatsekretärin/The Private Secretary (1953, Paul Martin), Roman eines Frauenarztes/Novel of a Gynaecologist (1954, Falk Harnack), Dany, bitte schreiben Sie/Dany, Please Write Me (1956, Eduard von Borsody) and Du bist wunderbar/You Are Wonderful (1959, Paul Martin), with singer Caterina Valente.

Rudolf Prack

Austrian postcard by HDH Verlag (Verlag Hubmann), Wien (Vienna), no. 170. Photo: International Film. Publicity still for Lockende Sterne/Alluring star (1952, Hans Müller).

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 493. Photo: Berolina Herzog Film. Still from Johannes und die 13 Schönheitsköniginnen/Johannes and the 13 Beauty Queens(1951, Alfred Stöger).

Caterina Valente, Rudolf Prack
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5423. Photo: Hafbo-film. Still from Du bist wunderbar/You Are Wonderful (1959).

Heidi
Rudolf Prack's film activities diminished in the 1960's. He took part in Die junge Sünderin/The Young Sinner (1960, Rudolf Jugert) featuring Karin Baal, Mariandl (1961, Werner Jacobs), Schwejks Flegeljahre/Schweik's Years of Indiscretion (1963, Wolfgang Liebeneiner) opposite Peter Alexander, and Heidi (1965, Werner Jacobs). He also appeared in TV productions during the 1960's and 1970's. To his last films belong Karl May (1974, Hans Jürgen Syberberg) and the WW I-film Die Standarte/The Standard (1977, Ottokar Runze) with Peter Cushing. Rudolf Prack retired from acting in 1976, and died of pneumonia in 1981, in Vienna, Austria. Prack and his wife Maria Heinisch had three children, Adelheid, Adalberta and Michael.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: Wesel.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel. Photo: Berolina - Gloria-Film / Michaelis.

Rudolf Prack
German postcard by Ufa (Universal-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhof), no. CK-50. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

16 March 2012

Silvio Francesco

Swiss Schlager singer and film actor Silvio Francesco (1927 - 2000) is, despite his many talents, best known as the brother of Caterina Valente. In several film musicals and TV-shows Silvio sang, danced and played the clarinet in the shadow of his famous sister.

Silvio Francesco
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne Eickel, no. F 7. Photo: Lantin.

Caterina Valente, Silvio Francesco
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden (Westf.), no. F 31. Retail price: 25 Pf. Photo: Ringpress / Vogelmann.

Peter Alexander, Caterina Valente, Silvio Francesco
German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 73. Photo: Lantin.

Club Italia
Silvio Francesco Valente was born in Paris, France in 1927. He was born in an Italian family of artists. His mother Maria Valente was an internationally successful musical clown, his father Giuseppe Valente was a well known accordeon player. Silvio grew up in a world of circus and variety. At a young age he learned to play the guitar and he became a gifted clarinetist. His four years younger sister was Caterina Valente, with whom he sang many duets, often under pseudonyms like Club Manhattan or Club Italia. A huge hit was their Schlager Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Honolulu-Strand-Bikini. Caterina and her record company Decca tried hard to put Silvio in the spotlights. Several records were released as Caterina und Silvio, or there were EP’s, with at the one side songs by Caterina Valente and on the flipside songs by Silvio Francesco. He also sang and danced in Schlagerfilms in which his sister played the leading part, like Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager/Love, Dance, and 1000 Songs (1955, Paul Martin) also with Peter Alexander, Bonjour Kathrin (1956, Karl Anton), and Du bist Musik (1956, Paul Martin) with Paul Hubschmid. Without Caterina he starred in the comedy Küß mich noch einmal/Kiss Me Just One More Time (1956, Helmut Weiss) opposite Laya Raki.

Silvio Francesco
East-German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach I.V., no. G 749, 1957. Retail price: 0,15 DM. Photo: Polydor.

Silvio Francesco
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5419. Photo: Hafbo. Publicity still for Du bist wunderbar/You're Wonderful (1959, Paul Martin).

Silvio Francesco
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4863. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Ufa.

The Best Partner I Ever Had
When Caterina moved over from Decca to Polydor, Silvio Francesco got a new singing partner, Margot Eskens. Among their hits were Calypso Italiano (1957), Mondscheinpartie (1959), and Himmelblaue Serenade. Silvio appeared in more films like Casino de Paris (1957, André Hunebelle) starring Gilbert Bécaud, Vittorio De Sica and Caterina, ...und abends in die Scala (1958, Erik Ode) with Caterina, Du bist wunderbar/You Are Wonderful (1959, Paul Martin) with Caterina, Rudolf Prack and Dietmar Schönherr, and Marina (1960, Paul Martin) with Giorgia Moll and Rocco Granata. In the 1960’s brother and sister reunited as a singing duo and had hits like Peppermint Twist, Madison in Mexiko and Quando quando. During the world tours of his sister he was often her musical director. He also appeared in the many TV shows of Caterina, like Caterina from Heidelberg (1969), directed by Michael Pfleghar. Silvio lived in Lugano, Switzerland, where he managed a small hotel. In 1990 he played as Silvio F. Valente in the horror satire My lovely Monster (1990, Michael Bergmann) with Ferdy Mayne and Sarah Karloff, the daughter of Boris Karloff. It was his last leading role in a film. Seven years later he made his final TV appearance in the series Wilde Zeiten/Wild Times (1997, Helmut Metzger). Silvio Francesco died in 2000, in Lugano. After his death his sister Caterina retired from show business. She called her brother 'the best partner I ever had'.


Scene from Bonjour Kathrin (1956) with Caterina Valente, Peter Alexander and Dietmar Schönherr. Source: Mr. Musikus67 (YouTube).


Silvio Francesco sings Die Herren Mexikaner in a TV-show (the clip also includes a performance by the Kessler Twins, and more). Source: Trash Minister (YouTube).


Caterina Valente and Silvio Francesco perform Alla Turca, live in London. Source: Eraki Entertainment (YouTube).

Sources: De Duitse Schlager in Nederland en België (Dutch), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.