Teddy Stauffer

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Teddy Stauffer , born Ernst Heinrich Stauffer , also Ernest Henry Stauffer (born May 2, 1909 in Murten , Switzerland , † August 27, 1991 in Acapulco , Mexico ) was a Swiss jazz musician and band leader . With his arrangements of current American compositions, he was considered one of the swing greats in Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s .

Life

Teddy Stauffer grew up in Murten am Murtensee and in Bern , where he played the violin and saxophone in an amateur band from 1927 , which he named after Bern's heraldic animal, a bear. From 1928 Stauffer began to perform in Germany with his Teddy And His Band orchestra .

Berlin

The Teddies had their first engagement as a café chapel in Gleiwitz . After many engagements on cruise ships, its popularity in Germany reached its peak around 1935/36. In 1936 he received a four-month engagement from Elfriede Scheibel, the owner of the Berlin “ Delphi Palace ” from July to October 1936. This guest performance established the reputation of the Delphi as a swing stage. From the very beginning, his original teddies included the Berlin trombonist Walter Dobschinski and the Stuttgart trumpeter Kurt Hohenberger , who belonged to the Golden Seven in 1937 , as well as the Swiss trumpeters Bob E. Huber and Rudi Dumont. Franz Thon (also a Golden Seven) played the clarinet. He left in 1937 because his fee claim of 1,000 RM (4,000 euros) was higher than the salary that Stauffer granted himself. So the orchestra was restructured. From 1937 it was enlarged. Then there was the clarinetist and set leader Franz Kleindin and the clarinetist Ernst Höllerhagen from the Kurt Hohenberger orchestra .

A guest performance by the Stauffer Band in England made for international glamor. Stauffer brought the singer Betty Toombs with him from London, of whom there are some Telefunken recordings from 1938. She practiced the pronunciation with the guitarist and singer Billy Toffel , who the years before sang only phonetically in English without understanding a word. This was followed by phase changes and a. with the trumpeter Günter ( Duke ) Herzog and the clarinetist Benny de Weille . Until 1939 he performed with his original Teddies band mainly in Berlin and Hamburg. With his jazzy swing music, however, Stauffer increasingly got into trouble with the Reichsmusikkammer .

Switzerland

In winter, Teddy Stauffer and his "Teddies" performed every year in the grand hotels of the ski resorts of St. Moritz and Arosa . In 1939 the band traveled to Switzerland for the opening of the national exhibition, representing the orchestra of Jimmie Lunceford , which was canceled because of the impending war. When the war broke out, the band was in Switzerland, except for the German Ernst Höllerhagen, all German members of the Teddies had to leave Switzerland. A guest performance planned for September 1939 in the Berlin Femina did not materialize.

In Switzerland he worked on the setting of the film s'Margritli und d 'Soldate in 1940/41 . The Margritli song , interpreted by the Schmid siblings , was a great success. Buddy Bertinat wrote many of the arrangements. After Teddy Stauffer left in 1941, the Original Teddies were directed by Eddie Brunner; this is now also included Robert Sherman , who wrote for the band since 1941 arrangements. But the band couldn't build on old successes.

Acapulco

After an engagement on an Atlantic cruise ship, Stauffer stayed in the USA, first in New York, then tried his luck as a film composer in Hollywood. Because of difficulties with his residence papers, he went to Mexico, which became his second home from 1944. In Acapulco he founded a discotheque and was the manager of several well-known hotels, including a. of the Hyatt Regency and the Villa Vera . The Mexicans adored the tall, blond Swiss man as a popular ambassador for Acapulco. "Mr. Acapulco “helped to attract Hollywood celebrities and to make the place, which was then a fishing village with 8000 inhabitants, world famous. During his time in Mexico he made small guest appearances in TV and film productions.

family

Teddy Stauffer was married five times and divorced five times, u. a. with actresses Faith Domergue and Hedy Lamarr . From his marriage to Patricia Morgan, Teddy Stauffer has a daughter: Melinda Morgan Stauffer (born April 19, 1962), who lives in California.

death

Teddy Stauffer died in Acapulco in 1991. After his death, his ashes were thrown into the Pacific as was his last will.

Discography

literature

  • Teddy Stauffer, Fritz Langour: It was and is a wonderful life , autobiography, Ullstein publishing house, Frankfurt / M., Berlin 1968

Interviews

  • Wolfgang Stock: Teddy Stauffer in Acapulco. In: stockpunkt.com. December 9, 2007, archived from the original on July 25, 2008 .;
  • Stephan Wuthe with Franz Teddy Kleindin, 1988–2003 among others for CD Franz Teddy Kleindin Klarinettenzauber 1941–1948, Edition Antikbüro, Berlin 2004, order no. SW2004, 4 260051 362045
  • Wolfgang Stock: Teddy Stauffer: The swing king in paradise. In: stockpress.de. August 5, 2010 .;
  • Wolfgang Stock: Teddy Stauffer explains the swing. In: stockpress.de. July 13, 2011 .;

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stauffer, Teddy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stauffer, Ernst Heinrich (maiden name); Stauffer, Ernest Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss jazz musician and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Murten , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1991
Place of death Acapulco , Mexico