Together in life, also united in the final goodbye, with double assisted suicide. Alice and Ellen Kesslerprotagonists of the famous German artistic duo, the Kessler Twins – also much loved in Italy from the 1960s onwards –
they died at the age of 89
.
Ellen and Alice’s wills
Postwar German and European entertainment icons, the two sisters have conquered international audiences as singers, dancers and actresses. According to the reporting of the newspaper “Bild”, the twins – who have always been inseparable – have expressed very specific wishes regarding their final separation in April 2024: they want to be cremated and placed in the same urn. With them, also the ashes of their mother Elsa, who died at the age of 69, and the ashes of the dog Yello, who died at the age of 14. “We also stipulated that in the will,” Ellen explained to the German newspaper. A choice that reflects their story: two parallel lives, shared in every moment, which are now reunited even off stage.
Their success exploded in the late 1950s, when Their famous leotard look and perfectly synchronized choreography make their incredibly long legs a signature feature known all over the world. Since then, Alice and Ellen have remained a constant presence on European television, appearing in variety shows, musicals and shows that defined an entire era. With songs “Da-da-un-pa” (or “dadaumpa”), “Chicken and Champagne” and “The Night Is Small” and with their slender physiques, these very blonde sisters gained immense popularity on the most famous black and white Rai television programs. Their long, pointy legs have entered the collective imagination, twisting history TV, singing and dancing on Saturday night shows such as “Giardino d’invermo”, “Studio Uno” and “Canzonissima”.
Da-da-un-pa’s iconic career in Italy
Nate on August 20, 1936 in Nercaua city in Saxony, which after the Second World War was incorporated into the German Democratic Republic, Alice and Ellen attended dance school from the age of 6. At age 11 they were introduced to the youth program of the Leipzig Opera House and at age 18 they fled communist Germany for West Germany to pursue careers as dancers at the Palladium in Düsseldorf as Die Kessler-Zwillinge.
Between 1955 and 1960 the Kessler twins performed at the Paris Lido with the Bluebell Girls dance troupe by Margaret Kelly, where they were discovered by dancer and choreographer Don Lurio (1929-2003). After paying attention, he decided to take them to Italy and had them employed by Rai. January 21, 1961 they made their debut in the very successful television program “Giardino d’winter” directed by Antonello Falqui, orchestra directed by maestro Gorni Kramer, choreography by Don Lurio and participation of Henri Salvador and Quartetto Cetra: the twins launched the songs “Pollo e champagne” and “Concertino”, a cover of the 1959 song by Quartetto Cetra. The then general director of Rai Ettore Bernabei put black stockings on them to cover their 105 centimeter legs, in the hope of the TV officials, being the protagonists of a ‘cold’ eroticism, which does not excite or disturb, Teutonic and therefore quite Nordic.
THATPublic approval convinced Rai to cast “Studio Uno” in October 1961once again directed by Falqui, where they sing and dance to the opening song “Da-da-un-pa“, which turned into a kind of hymn of seduction: its success was so sensational that the doors of cinema, theater and advertising opened for the Kessler twins.
In big screen They appeared in the films “Gli Invaders” (1961) by Mario Bava (1961), “Rocco e le Sorelle” (1961) by Giorgio Simonelli, “Sodom and Gomorrah” (1962) by Robert Aldrich, “Canzoni, bulli e pupe” (1964) by Carlo Infascelli, “Il Thursday” (1964) by Dino Risi, with Alberto Maaf. In 1963 they appeared on the cover of “Life” magazine and made their debut in Bertolt Brecht’s busy theater.
In 1964 the Kessler twins participated in the new Rai Saturday evening variety show “Biblioteca di Studio Uno” by Falqui together with the Cetra Quartet. They were hired again as the cast of the 1965 edition of “Studio Uno”, singing the theme song “La notte è piccolo”destined to become one of their most famous songs. In 1966, on the final edition of “Studio Uno” they sang and danced the opening song “Up and Down” and were able to perform for the first time without thick dark nylon stockings and miniskirts.
The success of the Kessler twins appeared unstoppable in the second half of the 1960s with their participation in various television programs, such as “La prova del litmus”. In the 1969 edition of “Canzonissima” they hosted Johnny Dorelli and Raimondo Vianello and sang the theme song “Quelli belli come noi”. At the same time they created a huge discography consisting of 45s. There is also an advertising carousel for Omsa, one of the most famous Italian companies specializing in the production of women’s stockings, with the slogan “What legs!”.
After starring alongside Johnny Dorelli in the seven-episode TV series “K2+1” (1971) by director Luciano, in the seventies Alice and Ellen Kessler reduced their appearances on Saturday night shows (it was the time of the rise of Raffaella Carrà), acting in the theater in musical comedies by Garinei and Giovannini.
In 1974 they were invited by director Antonello Falqui to the Saturday evening variety show “Milleluci”, hosted by Mina and Raffaella Carrà. In the same year they agreed to pose for the Italian edition of “Playboy” magazinewhich on that occasion reached its maximum sales peak up to that time. In eighties they hosted the Rai programs “Buonasera con… Alice ed Ellen Kessler” (Rete 2, 1981), the second edition of “Al Paradise” (Rai 1, 1984) and “The factory of dreams” (Rai 3, 1987-1988), also appearing as guests in other programs.
In 1986 the Kessler twins returned to Germany and settled in Grünwaldsuburb of Munich, but still often returns to Italy, especially to participate in television programs. And in that period the German and Italian governments awarded the two brothers for their efforts in promoting cooperation between the two countries carried out with his artistic activities. In 1990 they took part in the second edition of Canale 5’s summer variety show “Una Rotonda sul Mare” as competing singers, and they tried to become presenters for the last time in 2004 for Italia 1’s comedy variety show “Super Ciro”.
In October 2011, after a thirty-year absence from the stage, the Kessler twins returned to the stage at the Italian theater. as the protagonist of the musical “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, directed by Giancarlo Sepe and based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. They later also appeared with Ulrich Tukur in an episode of the German crime series “Tatort”, which was broadcast on the Ard channel. In 2012 they sang Carmen Miranda’s song “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat”, soundtrack of the film “Good As You – Tutti i colori dell’amore”. On the occasion of the 2014 Sanremo Festival hosted by Fabio Fazio they were guests on the second night of the singing event.
In Italy they had a long romantic relationship: Alice was the partner of singer Marcel Amont for a long time and later actor Enrico Maria Salerno, while Ellen was the partner of actor Umberto Orsini for many years and was said to have been, for one night, the lover of actor Burt Lancaster during his Paris period in 1956. After a long retirement from show business, they live in Municheach in the apartment communicates with each other. (From Paolo Martini)
