(Above) Album cover of 1972 LP by Original Donauschwaben. (Below) What this area looks like today. (Click on images to view larger versions.)
(Below) Seen above a bald tuba player, Mandel Building, demolished in 1988 and replaced with NBC Tower.
|
“Happy times, happy people” is the English translation of the title of a 1972 phonograph record by a German polka band. For the album cover, the group was photographed in uniform on West Wacker Drive, near its intersection with North Clark Street, with the west tower of Marina City prominently in the background.
Masterton Record Productions & Distribution, located at the time at 4770 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, produced the LP.
“Original Donauschwaben – Kornel Mayer and the Donau Duo” is how the band is identified. “Original Donauschwaben” refers to both a style of polka music – Donauschwaben, or Danube Swabians, were Germans who lived in the Danube River Valley in Hungary – and the band seen in this photograph. Kornel Mayer was the bandleader – he is at the far right with his hand raised. The Donau Duo (Danube Duo) was the woman and man standing together just right of center.
The east tower of Marina City can barely be seen behind the west tower. To the right of the east tower is IBM Plaza (now AMA Plaza), still under construction – it would be completed in 1974. To the right of IBM Plaza is 401 North Michigan Avenue – and to its right, Lake Point Tower is seen in the distance because River East Center is not yet built. Visible at far right are Mather Tower (now 75 East Wacker Drive), Executive House (now Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront), and Seventeenth Church of Christ Scientist.
There is also a glimpse (see third image at left) of a 13-story warehouse that was known as the Mandel Building. In 1975, it became a temporary location for the Chicago Public Library after the library left what is now the Chicago Cultural Center at Michigan Avenue and Washington Street. It was also a former location of Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1988, it was demolished to make way for NBC Tower.
The LP has 12 tracks, starting with Wenn zwei sich wirklich lieben (When two really love) and ending with Zum Abschied (Farewell).
(Below) Original Donauschwaben in their native habitat.
|
