Die Herren Damen laden ein!

The packaging of this 45 is pretty typical for privately pressed records – white, wrap-around paper “sleeve” and plain label colour and graphics. Everything else about this EP is out of the ordinary. The release in the early 1970s, coincides with the legalisation of homosexuality in Germany in 1971 and that of pornography in 1972.

The” girls” of the Travestie-Cabaret “Die Herren Damen laden ein” ( The Gentlemen Ladies invite you!) perform two jazz-standards and two risqué songs. Or actually, two lyrically graphic and pretty bold songs about sex. The name of the label says it all: SEX-Record.

Still, this is all quite humorous and softened by the cute vocals of the anonymous cross-dressing “Gentlemen-Ladies”. No clue who actually performed this, nor when or where. However, the songwriters of Die erste Nummer were Bert Loska (alias of jazz-vibraphonist Heribert Thusek) and Stefan Laube, who also wrote similar risqué songs together for the LP Graf Porno Mit Seinem Herrenclub “Intime 8” in 1970.

Die erste Nummer ist die Allerschönste (The first time is the best) questions the unrealistic display and frequency of sex actions in the flood of sex films that followed the lift of the ban of pornography. A wonderful musical time capsule of Berlin’s gay nightlife in the early 70s…

RITA JANEE, Die erste Nummer

MANUELA RIVA, Ich will dich

RICKY RENEE, Goody Goody

GLORIA DUVAL, When You´re Smiling