Arthur Welti

Ernest Arthur Welti (* 14. September 1901 in Zurich , † 12. September 1961 ibid) was the first reporter at Radio Zurich , speaker , actor , author and director of radio plays and Hörfolgen .

Life

Arthur Welti grew up with his sister Hedwig - later married to Paul Müller-Zurich - in their parents' house at Bärengasse 29 in Zurich , which was also the headquarters of the A. Welti-Furrer transport company. At the age of 15 he was already an orphan. At that time he attended the industrial school (Oberrealschule) in Zurich, which he graduated with the Matura in 1920 . He then pursued art history and literary studies in Italy (Florence) and Germany. He completed an acting and singing training in Berlin and Dresden and took on various theater engagements in Germany (Berlin, Karlsruhe , Frankfurt (Oder) , Potsdam ).

In 1932 he returned to his homeland, where he appeared in leading roles with various theater companies in Zurich and Basel. On February 15, 1933, he was hired for the newly created position as the first reporter at Radio Zurich and from then on also worked as (main) speaker, announcer, singer, director, writer of radio texts such as audio episodes, radio plays and much more. In 1938 he wrote the radio play Napoleon von Oberstrass in the spirit of intellectual national defense . Until his early retirement due to illness on January 1, 1960, he had a decisive influence on the new medium at home and abroad as a radio pioneer. He achieved great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly with his reports on the Swiss National Exhibition known as "Landi" in 1939 in Zurich.

Arthur Welti was a grandson of the transport company Jakob Albert Welti-Furrer , nephew of the famous Swiss painter Albert Welti around 1900 (creator of the wall painting Die Landsgemeinde in the Council of States Chamber) and cousin of his son, the Geneva painter and writer Albert J. Welti ( Wenn Puritaner jung are ).

Arthur Welti was the father of Philippe Welti and the grandfather of Sophie Hunger . He found his final resting place in the Enzenbühl cemetery in Zurich .

Works (selection)

• radio play

1. Napoleon von Oberstrass . A strange story that almost got serious. 1938
2. s'Brunneliedli (for children's choir and small orchestra or piano), music: Paul Müller-Zurich
3. The game of the rychen Mann and the poor Lazarus . Revision. April 6, 1944
4. Large and small bakery Tünkli . A cheerful family chronicle by Max Werner Lenz , Emil Hegetschweiler and Arthur Welti, 1944
5. The Girl from Arles (L'Arlésienne). German translation and radio adaptation of Alphonse Daudet's drama
6. Swiss fountain . Dream game.
7. ABC of traffic. Interview with an island protection post . Sketch for traffic education. Music: Hans Steingrube , 1950

• Listening sequences

1. Dying Brunnenhof
2. The Lord shields syne Kilchen , music: Paul Müller-Zurich , April 7, 1941
3. 1100 years of Fraumünster

• Landi 1939.

1. Opening speeches by Director Meili and Federal President Etter. Record: sound documents The 30s
2. General Guisan thanks the Landi director and his staff. Record: sound documents The 30s
3. Schifflibachlied
4. Farewell to the state exhibition. Record: sound documents The 30s

• Director

1. Susi conquers Zurich . First radio operetta by Jürg Amstein , music: Hans Steingrube , 1937
2. Brunnenhofstrasse twenty-eleven , with Ettore Cella , Bunte Sendung, September 18, 1941
3. Steibruch , radio play by Albert J. Welti, with Heinrich Gretler , January 19, 1942
4. The San Luis Rey Bridge . Radio play based on the novel by Thornton Wilder , May 26, 1947
5. The black pike . Radio musical by Paul Burkhard and Jürg Amstein based on Emil Sautter . Composition and musical direction: Paul Burkhard , 1950
6. Colorful evening in the Rudolf Bernhard Theater , November 26, 1952

• Echo of time

1. Signet from Echo of Time , 1946
2. Trip to Italy, April 26, 1946
3. Inauguration of the Pontresina chairlift on August 15, 1946
4. Pestalozzi Children's Village , Trogen, November 27, 1946
5. Swiss Air non-stop flight (New York - Geneva), November 30, 1946
6. Zurich boys shooting , September 12, 1949
7. For the vote on the Rietberg project , 21./22. June 1949

• Reports

1. Shortwave station HB9J. First wireless radio transmission, 1934. CD Beromünster. The sounds of the story. Archive of Swiss Radio (1934–1958), Track 1, SRG (Bern) and Swiss National Sound Archives (Lugano), 1993
2. Sechseläuten , April 1935, a. a. m.
3. Klausen race . Interview with the racing driver Hans Stuck, January 27, 1936. Live report, CD Schweizer Radio DRS 2002
4. St. Gallen deaf and blind institution, October 8, 1938. CD Beromünster. The sounds of the story. Archive of Swiss Radio (1934–1958), Track 1, SRG (Bern) and Swiss National Sound Archives (Lugano), 1993
5. First Swiss zigzag sewing machine, October 1938. CD Beromünster. The sounds of the story. Archive of Swiss Radio (1934–1958), Track 1, SRG (Bern) and Swiss National Sound Archives (Lugano), 1993
6. Refugees in the Waidhaldeschulhaus, April 1945. CD Beromünster. The sounds of the story. Archive of Swiss Radio (1934–1958), Track 1, SRG (Bern) and Swiss National Sound Archives (Lugano), 1993
7. Handling of passengers at Dübendorf airfield, September 1946. CD Beromünster. The sounds of the story. Archive of Swiss Radio (1934–1958), Track 5, SRG (Bern) and Swiss National Sound Archives (Lugano), 1993
8. Spanish bread roll in Oerlikon, April 19, 1947
9. Knabenschiessen, Zurich Albisgüetli , September 15, 1947
10. Destruction of the radio tower in Kloten , April 7, 1948
11. Kloten Airfield, June 4, 1948
12. Air France , July 20, 1948
13. Rally of Swiss radio reporters to Zurich on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Zurich in the federal government, June 2, 1951
14. Albert Edelmann and his new house , November 11, 1952
15. Opening ceremony for Kloten Airport, 29 August 1953
16. 25 years Zurich Zoo , October / November 1954
17. Millet trip to Strasbourg, 15. – 17. June 1956
18. Zürifäscht, June 23, 1956

• interview

1. with Emma Arnold-Sägesser. CD: Mrs. Arnold is going to America. A Titanic survivor tells . The world's oldest verbal testimony to this shipping disaster, April 14, 1937. Swiss Radio DRS 1998
2. with Hanna Reitsch, German aerobatic pilot, on the occasion of the international flight meeting in Dübendorf, 1937. Record: Sound documents The 30s
3. with Luis Trenker , mountaineer and filmmaker, 1938. Record: Sound documents The 30s
4. with Elsie Attenhofer , about her role in Füsilier Wipf , 1938. Record: Sound documents The 30s
5. with Lale Andersen (Lili Marlen), July 21, 1948
6. with Minister Ilg, February 15, 1955
7. with blind father Dr. hc Theodor Staub , 90 years old, August 26, 1953
8. via Swiss Air Lines
9. via Swiss Himalaya Expedition , April 18, 1947

• singing

1. Schifflibachlied , Landi 1939
2. Come on, cute little lift lady In: Susi conquers Zurich. Radio operetta 1937
3. Zurich, Zurich, you beautiful city on the lake In: Susi conquers Zurich. Radio operetta 1937
4. Like a strangely written book (from the operetta: The Beloved Thief), Large Dance Orchestra from the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, April 1940. CD Teddy Stauffer's Original Teddies . Rare and historical Jazz recordings, CD 22003, Elite special, Turicaphon AG, 1995
5. I know how sweet your mouth is (from the operetta: Tanz um Daisy), Large Dance Orchestra from the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, April 1940. CD Teddy Stauffer's Original Teddies . Rare and historical Jazz recordings, CD 22003, Elite special, Turicaphon AG, 1995

Sound recordings (selection)

• Time sign. 50 years of radio in German-speaking Switzerland . 4 long-playing records. Edited by Cédric Dumont , Ex Libris, Zurich 1977.
• Beromünster. The sounds of the story . Archives of the Swiss Radio (1934–1958), SRG (Bern) and Swiss National Sound Archives (Lugano). CD with booklet, 1993.
• Zurich radio stories 1923 to 1983 , 75 years of RFZ. CD, Track 4, Swiss Radio DRS, Studio Zurich
• Mrs. Arnold is going to America. A Titanic survivor tells . The world's oldest oral testimony to this ship disaster. CD, Swiss Radio DRS 1998.
• Klausen race . Arthur Weltis live report from 1934. Interview with the racing driver Hans Stuck , January 1936. CD, Schweizer Radio DRS 2002, ISBN 3-03840-041-6 .

Literature (selection)

• Reto Caluori: Arthur Welti . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 3, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , pp. 2074 f.
• Markus T. Drack (Ed.): Radio and television in Switzerland. History of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG until 1958 . Hier + now, Baden 2000, ISBN 3-906419-12-6 .
• Edzard Schade: Remote listening. The radio photo book of German-speaking Switzerland . Christoph Merian, Basel 2000.
• Paul Weber: The German-Swiss radio play. History - dramaturgy typology . (= Zurich German Studies. 46). Lang, Bern 1996, ISBN 3-906755-66-5 .
• Philippe Welti , Christiane Welti: Arthur Welti. Reporter - director - radio legend. (= Swiss pioneers in business and technology. 98). Pioneers, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-906755-66-3 .
• The 30s. A dramatic decade in pictures. Ringier, Zurich around 1979, ISBN 3-85859-058-4 . (with audio documents)
• Calm broadcast. 50 years of radio in German-speaking Switzerland, 1924–1974. Studio employees tell . Benteli, Bern 1975, ISBN 3-7165-0058-5 .
• Swiss Lexicon. Popular edition in twelve volumes. Volume 12, Verlag Schweizer Lexikon Mengis + Ziehr, Visp, 1999, ISBN 3-9521749-5-5 , p. 206.