From Erling’s photo album
Erling’s Photo Album 1939–1947
Erling Grönstedt kept albums of his tours – with his own, often humorous captions. Here we follow him from his first tour at sixteen to the summer of 1947, when he was bandleader for a revue touring Sweden’s folk parks – with Caterina Valente and Lars Gullin in the company.
1939
The Femlingarna and the Ångerman River
In the spring of 1939, sixteen-year-old Erling set out on his first tour with the Femlingarna – John Boberg, Karl Grönstedt, Birger Sahlberg, Tore Strid and Erling himself. The journey went from the ferry landing at Meselefors via the Ramsele area to Trångsviken, Frösön and Östersund.
Read more about the first tour on Erling’s page →
The same year he filled an album page with photos of the Ångerman River, under the heading “I kast med Ångermanälven” (Wrestling with the Ångerman River). One of them is captioned “The span that collapsed” – it is the arch of the Sandö Bridge, which collapsed during construction on August 31, 1939. Eighteen workers were killed, and the disaster was overshadowed by the Second World War, which broke out the next day.
Erling’s captions: “Dredging in Klockesundet” · “No bites! Sixten.” · “The span that collapsed”
“From my first tour – spring 1939”
“Wrestling with the Ångerman River,” 1939
Undated
Skis and brass
Two album pages have no year. On one, “Grönstedt’s band in the Sollefteå company sports” is competing – on skis, not with instruments. Erling was a promising skier as a young man, before the dance gigs took over. On the other, Erling stands with a saxophone next to a comrade with a tuba, both in uniform, and the caption simply reads “Me and Hampe!” The photo is probably from his time in the music company of I 21 in Sollefteå, where Erling enlisted in 1942.
Do you know who Hampe was, or when the company ski race in Sollefteå took place? Please get in touch at info@gronstedt.nu.
“Grönstedt’s band in the Sollefteå company sports”
“Me and Hampe!”
Spring 1945
On tour with Kalle
In the spring of 1945 Erling toured with his big brother Karl – “On tour with Kalle,” as the album says. The trip went from the mountains at Handöl to Värmland and the west coast, with stops in Arvika, Säffle, Grums and Gothenburg.
In Stockholm they went to the circus with the world-famous clown Charlie Rivel, and one of the photos was taken on Peace Day – when the Second World War ended in Europe in May 1945.
Erling’s captions: “This is how beautiful it is in Handöl” · “Erling – Rune – Brollan – Kalle!” · “A bunch of ‘jesters’ in Arvika” · “Three bandits in Säffle” · “Cake party in Grums” · “The many cranes of Gothenburg harbor!” · “At the circus with Charlie Rivel in Stockholm”
“On tour with Kalle, spring 1945” – Handöl
Arvika, Säffle and Grums
Säffle, Gothenburg, the circus and Peace Day
Summer 1947
Bandleader in the folk parks
In the summer of 1947 Erling was bandleader for the singer Herbert Landgren, known from Ernst Rolf’s revues. The revue was called “Den betryckta guldkalven” (The Downcast Golden Calf) and visited, as Erling wrote, “Sweden’s folk parks” – including Storvik, Leksand, Mjölby, Boxholm, Kalmar and Köping, Landgren’s own hometown.
The company included the Valente family – with sixteen-year-old Caterina, who later became an international star – and a nineteen-year-old Lars Gullin, later one of Europe’s leading jazz musicians.
After the tour Erling was offered the chance to follow the Valente family to France – “he has probably never been that close to an international career,” the newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning wrote when he turned 60. But he was too attached to the security of home and the shores of Ådalen, and said no.
The revue company, 1947. From left: Gösta Ahlman, Rune Göransson, Gösta Ullström, Maria, Silvio and Josef Valente, Erling Grönstedt and sixteen-year-old Caterina Valente.
Performers according to the album: H. Landgren, B. Nogert, A. Hasselblad, M. Valente, K. Valente, S. Valente, J. Valente, E. Grönstedt, L. Gullin, L. Forsberg, B. Uhlmark, I. Lundkvist
Erling’s captions: “In the square in Köping on June 14” · “Coffee break in Storvik, 18/6” · “Bathing rhapsody! he-he! from Leksand, 29/6” · “Pippin blooms in Mjölby, 6/7” · “In Boxholm, 8/7” · “The gentleman racing driver Folke Andersson, NB not a singer” · “Here Sellma gets aired! Bror (Brollini) Ullmark”
“As bandleader for Herbert Landgren, summer 1947”
The revue crew: Ullmark, the driver and the swim in Leksand
The Valente family and the company – the page has no captions
Portraits in tails and the company on stage – no caption
The brothers
”Ture G.”
The album also has a winter page headed “Ture G.” – skiing and snow-laden cottages. Ture G. is Erling’s big brother Ture Grönstedt (1913–1998). The family’s negatives hold more pictures from the same winter slopes: Ture and his son Tommy on Råstångsberget with the Sandö Bridge below, and Tommy and Erling skiing through the pines.
“Ture G.” – winter photos from the album
Ture and his son Tommy on Råstångsberget.
View from Råstångsberget towards the Sandö Bridge.
Out skiing – Tommy leading, Erling behind.