1950s and ’60s Italian showbiz stars
the Kessler Twins died in their home near Munich Monday at the
age of 89, German press agency Dpa reported.
Alice and Ellen Kessler, usually credited as the Kessler Twins
(German: die Kessler-Zwillinge; Italian: le gemelle Kessler),
were German twin sisters who as singers, dancers and actresses
were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the
1950s and 1960s.
The Kessler sisters enjoyed a significant degree of popularity
in the US as well, making their American television debut on the
CBS variety show The Red Skelton Hour and appearing on national
television programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show.
They also appeared in the 1963 film Sodom and Gomorrah as
dancers and were featured on the cover of Life Magazine that
same year.
Italians discovered them for their breathtaking legs, long,
incredibly long, almost as long as the journey that took them
from the lights of the Paris Lido to the television studios of
Giardino d’inverno, between Don Lurio and the Quartetto Cetra,
and then Studio Uno with Mina.
It was 1961, and since then, almost all Italians, at least once,
have sung their ‘Da-da-un-pa’, perhaps imitating the Teutonic
accent and a few hip-shoulder jiggles.
Alice and Ellen Kessler will thus remain together, as in the
Italian imagination, and in unison, as they had lived, they died
today.
They were found lifeless today in Gruenwald, near Munich, in the
house where they lived next door to each other, in two adjoining
apartments, separated only by a sliding wall.
Born in Nerchau, Saxony, on August 20, 1936, they fled with
their family to West Germany, joined the ranks of the legendary
Blubell Girls at 19, and appeared on the cover of Playboy at 40,
making men from ocean to ocean fall in love.
Dancers, singers, and actresses on film for Dino Risi in Il
giovedì and, with Alberto Sordi, in I complessi, and on stage
for Garinei and Giovannini, for most Italians, however, the
Kessler twins remain the Carosello of tights, the refrain of La
notte è piccola, and the sketches of Milleluci and Canzonissima,
all still hugely popular on YouTube.
And what did they remember most from all those years on Italian
television?
“We loved working with Mina, Raimondo Vianello, and Johnny
Dorelli, perhaps the one closest to us for his American style,”
they explained in an interview with ANSA.
“Don Lurio had wonderful ideas, but they were too ‘small’ for
two tall girls like us.”
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