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Teddy Stauffer

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Teddy Stauffer

Ernst Heinrich "Teddy" Stauffer (May 2, 1909 August 27, 1991) was a Swiss bandleader, musician, actor, nightclub owner, and restaurateur. He was dubbed Germany's "swing-king" of the 1930s.

Early life and career

Born in Murten, Switzerland, Stauffer grew up in Murten and in Berne, and played violin and saxophone there in an amateur band from 1927. In 1928 he began to perform in Germany with his band, Teddy and His Band. Their first engagement had the Teddies as a Caféhaus-Kapelle in Gleiwitz. After many engagements on cruise ships his popularity in Germany reached its peak in 1935-36. In 1936 Elfriede Scheibel, the owner of the Berlin "Delphi palace", awarded him a four-month engagement from July to October 1936.

This guest performance justified the reputation of the Delphi as a swing stage. Annual trips to St. Moritz and Arosa, and also a guest appearance in London, were responsible for international fame of the Teddies band. Until 1939, he appeared with his Original Teddies-Band especially in Berlin and Hamburg. With his jazzy swing music, however, Stauffer increasingly got in trouble with the Reichsmusikkammer.[1]

In 1939 the band travelled to the opening of the National Exhibition in Switzerland, replacing the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra, which withdrew because of the impending war. The band happened to be in Switzerland when war broke out; all the German members of the Teddies had to leave Switzerland. In Switzerland, Stauffer took part in the scoring of the film s'Margritli und d'Soldate (Marguerite and the soldiers) in 1940-41; the Margritli-song, interpreted by the Schmid family, became a big success. Clarinetist Ernst Höllerhagen belonged to the Original Teddies from 1939. Buddy Bertinat wrote many of the arrangements. After the Stauffer's departure in 1941 the Original Teddies, were headed by Eddie Brunner. Hazy Osterwald, who also belonged to the band, wrote arrangements since 1941. But the band could not build on old achievements.

After an engagement on an Atlantic cruise ship, Stauffer remained in the United States and tried his luck as a film composer in Hollywood. Due to problems with his residence papers, he went to Mexico, which eventually became his second home.

In Acapulco, he founded a discothèque, "The Tequila a Go-Go", and worked as manager of several well-known hotels (including the "Hyatt" and "Villa Vera"). He also made small guest appearances on TV and in films. In the later years he ran the restaurant "Teddy's" at the main beach in Acapulco.

The Mexicans honored the tall, blond Swiss as a popular ambassador for Acapulco. "Mr. Acapulco" helped attract Hollywood celebrities, and made the place famous, till then a fishing village of 8,000 residents. On August 27, 1991, Stauffer died in Acapulco at the age of 82.

Personal life

Stauffer was married five times:

  • Faith Domergue (28 January 1946 - 8 October 1947) (divorced)
  • Hedy Lamarr (12 June 1951 - 17 March 1952) (divorced)
  • Anne Nekel Brown (29 March 1955 - January 1956) (divorced)
  • Ute O. Weller (26 May 1957 - December 1958) (divorced)
  • Patricia Morgan (1961 - 6 December 1966) (divorced) 1 daughter, Melinda Morgan Stauffer (born April 19, 1962)

Further reading

  • Stauffer, Teddy, Forever is a Hell of a Long Time: An Autobiography (1976) ISBN 0-8092-8089-2

References

External links

This page was last modified 23.01.2014 00:18:50

This article uses material from the article Teddy Stauffer from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.