Check it Out! The Kessler Twins

Last week, I read in the news that the Kessler twins passed away. In Germany, assisted suicide has been legalized since 2019, and Alice and Ellen Kessler, 89, chose this way to die together. They were an internationally renowned pair of entertainers and gained the spotlight stateside through their numerous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s. 

Their death has relit the debate over assisted suicide in Germany, but instead of focusing on their chosen method of leaving this world, I want to highlight the talent of this incredible sister act. It has been a few years since I have watched their performances on The Ed Sullivan Show, so yesterday - thanks to the magic of Youtube - I was able to sit back and enjoy their beautiful dancing and singing through the clips shared by The Ed Sullivan Show Channel. 

The Kessler twins were best known as dancers but they were also blessed with lovely singing voices and they sang in harmony in almost all of their performances - in English, German, and Italian. After their appearances on The Red Skelton Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show, the leggy duo were featured on the cover of Life magazine in 1963, performed with Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Fred Astaire, and Harry Belafonte, and toured in nightclubs throughout America. 

Alice and Ellen Kessler represented West Germany in the 1959 Eurovision contest placing 8th with "Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n" and I was surprised to read that they had appeared in 12 different films in the 1950s and 1960s, usually in dancing roles. 

Like most identical twins, if you look at them long enough you can tell the slight difference between them, but once they got into a change of costume you had to begin the spot-the-difference game all over again. 

Below are videos from some of the appearances they have made on The Ed Sullivan Show. Check out their unique singing and dancing style - they were truly a one-of-a-kind (or should I say two-of-a-kind) duo! 

A November 24, 1968 performance of "I Say a Little Prayer". 

"Two by Two and Tea for Two" on April 24, 1966. Their skirts always tend to come off at the end of their programs... that's a carried over tradition from German nightclubs. 

"When in Rome"....do as the Romans do! Supposedly, they dance. This catchy number aired on October 16, 1966. 

"The Shadow of Your Smile" performed by the handsome Italian singer Sergio Franchi. We grew up with his LPs. This also aired on October 16, 1966. 

The always popular "Mas Que Nada" from April 19, 1970. 

Our New Website!

Over 12 years ago, my sister and I started Silverbanks Pictures, a hobby business of buying/selling original vintage movie photos that turned into a partnership and a storefront on eBay. For a long time we had hoped to have a website to go with this business and now we finally took the time to build one - and it uses our favorite platform Blogger!  

Our new site: https://www.silverbankspictures.com

eBay's storefront fees have been going up every year so our new website - Silverbanks Pictures (check it out!) - will feature lower prices since we no longer have to sneak those fees into the cost of the photos. We still accept offers on all images and hunt for special requests as well, so if you see something you like or don't see something you like, just send us an email. 

On the right column is a Subscribe button where you can get updates every time new photos are added to the site. 

As a special gift for Silver Scenes readers, type "SILVER-30" in the comment box on the order form and we will take an additional 30% off your order. 

With the holiday season approaching, consider giving the gift of a vintage movie still to the film lover in your life. They not only look great framed but they are investments that increase in value over time!

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

This month we have a really tricky screenshot to share... not because the scene is particularly hard but rather because the screenshot is so fuzzy! This woman appears in motion because she wouldn't stand still long enough to get a decent "shot" at. Anyway, we are sure some of our keen-eyed readers will guess this one quick enough regardless. 

Tale Spinners for Children

There is nothing as exciting for us as discovering something "new"..... and luckily, this thrill comes weekly. After finding that certain something special, the next best feeling is sharing it. So this week, we have something special to share with you: the Tale Spinners series. 

If you enjoy audio books, then you will enjoy these (even though they are aimed at children), especially since the production quality of these albums are so much better than an audiobook. 

Tale Spinners for Children began in England in 1959 as a series of 30 records from the Atlas Record Label each featuring a story for children. The stories were classics and the actors/actresses reading them were usually classically-trained actors with rich and melodic voices such as Denise Bryer, Robert Hardy, Maggie Smith, Donald Pleasence or William Devlin. As lovely as it is listening to these actors, they were always supported by a full orchestra playing background music (once again, classically based) and a cast of other actors each reading the different parts. 

Listening to a Tale Spinners album feels like listening to a radio show but one featuring classic novels... how wonderful is that! 

After the success of the series in England, United Artists brought the Tale Spinners to the American market and pressed 69 different titles (!) including Robinson Crusoe, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Snow White, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, Swiss Family Robinson, Peter Pan, Davy Crockett, and Don Quixote. 

The Tale Spinners series continued until the early 1970s. New titles were no longer released but the series was re-issued up until the mid-1980s. Today, many of these albums appear quite frequently on eBay and several are available on Youtube, a few of which we have linked to below. 

Enjoy! 

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (c 1963)

Robin Hood (c1964)

Knights of the Round Table (c 1963)

Treasure Island (c1962)

The Mikado (c1963)

William Tell (c1962)

Tom Thumb (c1969)

From the Archives: Song of Surrender (1949)

Wanda Hendrix and MacDonald Carey display a striking pose in this original Paramount Pictures publicity photo where they play two lovers caught in a "song of surrender."

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures 

The Spiral Staircase (1946)

Few thrillers have ever wrapped terror in such beauty as Robert Siodmak's The Spiral Staircase (1946). Adapted from Ethel Lina White's novel "Some Must Watch", it is one of the crown jewels of the "old dark house" tradition. 

The story takes place in 1916 in a quiet New England village that is shaken by a killer who is stalking women he deems "imperfect." Inside the great Warren mansion, the latest potential target, Helen Capel (Dorothy McGuire), a young mute servant girl, tends to her bedridden employer Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), unaware that danger lurks within the corridors of the house she calls home. 

Director Robert Siodmak, fresh from his work at Universal, infused the picture with the eerie elegance of German Expressionism. His camera glides through the Warren house teasing us with glimpses of views through mirrors and banisters, as though we were the unseen watcher. The most iconic frame of the film is undoubtably his close-up of the killer's eye and its reflection of the titular staircase. 

Dorothy McGuire gives a remarkable delicate performance as Helen. One forgets her muteness entirely, instead we sense her vulnerability and every thought of fear through her expressions alone. The grand old dame Barrymore gives a barnstorming turn as the sharp-tongued ailing dowager, a role which earned her an Academy Award nomination. George Brent and Gordon Oliver are each cloaked in just enough mystery to keep the viewer guessing, while Kent Smith lends a touch of romance to the proceedings as the young Dr. Parry who is anxious for Helen to regain her speech. The always appealing Rhonda Fleming costars as Mr. Warren's secretary; Elsa Lanchester brings some tipsy humor to the household gloom, and Sara Allgood and Rhys Williams round out the cast of servants. 

Visually, the film is a feast. Nicholas Musuraca's cinematography - that deep-focus chiaroscuro he perfected in Cat People and The Seventh Victim - breathes life into Albert D'Agostino's rambling and gloomy Victorian sets. 

The mystery itself may not stump many modern viewers, but The Spiral Staircase was never about surprise...it is about suspense - that exquisite tightening of the nerves as Helen's silence grows unbearable. In its refinement and restraint, The Spiral Staircase anticipates the psychological thrillers of decades to come and remains a Gothic masterpiece preserved on celluloid.

G-G-Ghost!! 1960s British Pathe Ghost Clips

This month's featured British Pathe clip is actually three newsreels in one and all suitably spooky for Halloween. Titled "G-G-Ghost!", British Pathe assembled these spirited shorts dating from the 1950s and 1960s into one entertaining video. The first is from 1953's "Ghost Hunters" and features the Sussex ghost hunters examining an old country house and why three caretakers were frightened away it. If this sparks your interest, check out BBC's 1975 documentary "Ghost Hunters" to learn more about these Sussex fellows. 

The second newsreel is "Dig that Ghost" and features the haunted Chequers Inn in Amersham. This 18th-century inn once housed three men who were burned at the stake the following day for being Protestant. Finally, the last is 1957's "Pathe Probes that Ghost" where the ghost of half a man named George appears to the owner of the Pilgrim's Cottage in Wilbarston. He was supposedly disturbed by the digging up of tombstones in a nearby graveyard and is looking for a new resting place. 

Ready to watch "G-G-Ghost!"? Simply click on this link.  

Other similarly themed British Pathe shorts: 

English Witch Cave (1962) - 0:47 sec 

The Ghost Town of Lucknow (1967) - 1:08 sec