Kessler Twins
Alice and Ellen Kessler (born Kaessler, 20 August 1936 – 17 November 2025), usually credited as the Kessler Twins, were twin German singers, dancers and actresses who were popular in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Quotes
[edit]- What was RAI like back then? Let's get this straight from the start: for two people like us who had come from the Lido, it was like being plunged into a world of prohibition. We kept wondering how Falqui and Sacerdote had come up with the idea of fishing for us on that stage. But we were happy. We still earned good money – four hundred thousand lire – we no longer had to work late like at the Lido, and, most importantly, we were building an extraordinary reputation.
- From an interview by Laura Delli Colli, Le «Signorine Dadaumpa», la Repubblica, 21 August 1991, quoted in Aldo Grasso, Storia della televisione italiana, foreword by Beniamino Placido, Garzanti, Milano, 1992, p. 143. ISBN 88-11-73819-9
- [About their father] He was so proud of his beautiful twin daughters that he would make us walk two or three metres ahead of him so he could hear the enthusiastic comments from passers-by. If, for even a moment, we didn't walk as straight as a die, the command would echo immediately: 'Back straight, walk straight.' Every now and then, he would take us to his favourite pub and force us to dance and play the accordion, just as he had taught us, like you do with circus dogs. Later on, whenever we realised he wanted to take us somewhere, one of us would immediately go and hide.
- From an interview released to the German weekly Die Zeit, quoted in
TV: Kessler raccontano, eravamo terrorizzate da papà, repubblica.it, 30 August 2006.
Quotes about
[edit]- Alice and Ellen (Leipzig, 28 August 1936), dancers and showgirls, made their debut on Italian TV with Giardino d'inverno. They then appeared in no fewer than six Studio Uno series and in Canzonissima '69, before returning to TV in 1980 with Kessler Kabaret. Some of the theme tunes from their programmes have become extremely famous, such as La notte è piccola per noi, Da-da-umpa and Pollo e champagne.
- Aldo Grasso, quoted in Aldo Grasso, Storia della televisione italiana, foreword by Beniamino Placido, Garzanti, Milano, 1992. ISBN 88-11-73819-9, p. 143.
- For Italy [...], they were 'revolutionary' heroines. Their first appearance on the small screen, which at the time was the new domestic hub for families during the economic boom, coincided with the centenary of the Unification of Italy in 1961. And these two smiling, elegant 'Valkyries' [...] were also among the key figures in that unity of behaviour and language attributable to the media power of 1960s TV [...]. At the time, the provincial 'Italietta' welcomed the arrival of the German dancers and showgirls like the landing of two 'Martians'. [...] The entire Italian intelligentia was captivated by their debut [...]. Italy was still truly a Belpaese ('beautiful country'), more naïve and therefore still human, moving to the relaxed rhythm of the Twins. Initially, it was only resurgent bigotry that criticised them and held them up as an example of 'immorality', but in showing off those endless, athletic legs, there was none of the risqué provocation of their Saturday-night successors. Under their iconic black, sheer tights, there was so much more. And for the 'TV addicts' of an era when broadcasting was still limited to a few hours a day [...] and there were only two channels, the real 'Saturday in the village' was the Kessler sisters' show. Italy's girlfriends.
- Massimiliano Castellani, quoted in Morte insieme le gemelle Kessler, icone di un'Italia in trasformazione, avvenire.it, 17 November 2025.
