Dancing until the lights go out - The Sisters G, circa 1928 to 1933

Publicity photograph for "God's Gift to Women", 1931.

During the Twenties and nudging a little ways into the Thirties there was a vogue for sister/twin dancing/singing/showgirl duos. Usually lavishly costumed and quite often sporting the dark, shellacked bob we've come to identify, almost exclusively, with Louise Brooks. Of course the legendary Hungarian-American identical twin Dolly Sisters were the first and most famous; they hit the Ziegfeld stage in 1911 at the age of eighteen. Their enormous popularity on both continents ensured that there would be similar acts joyfully following in their footsteps: the Pearl Twins, the Dodge Sisters, the Fairbanks Twins, even the Norwegian brothers who performed an outright impersonation of Rosie and Jenny Dolly and went by the name of the Rocky Twins. (With so many pairs of performers working the same look, it can be tough to tell one from the other; in books and online, images of a given pair are often credited as another. But then again, almost any photograph of a similarly coiffed, frolicsome duo is just assumed to depict the Dolly Sisters.) Perhaps the best known "followers" of the twin Hungarians were Karla and Eleanor Gutöhrlein, who performed as the Sisters G. Beginning as teenagers, they danced across the stages of Europe, gave a go at Hollywood, and vanished from the spotlight forever aged only twenty-three and twenty-four.

Photograph by Achille Volpé.

Eleanor Gutöhrlein, née Knospe (18 August 1909 - 7 June 1997, Vasa) and Karola (Karla) Gutöhrlein, née Knospe (9 September 1910 - circa 2000) were born in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia). Their parents divorced and Gutöhrlein was the surname of their mother's third husband. From the beginning managed by their mother Margarete, at first they performed as a trio with their older sister Inez. But when Inez married they became a duo, claiming to be twins. While still in their teens, they performed successfully all over Europe. Late in 1929 Carl Laemmle brought them to Hollywood, where they made one "short" and appeared in four feature films in 1930 and 1931: King of Jazz, Recaptured Love, Kiss Me Again, and God's Gift to Women. With rapidly changing tastes in film during the period, musicals were suddenly out, and their lavish dance number in the last film was cut. With it, so too went the Gutöhrlein's Hollywood career. Not long after, they returned to Europe. Being a quarter Jewish, they only made a brief return to Germany before settling in Sweden. Karla married there in 1936 and had a daughter four years later. (It's possible she had a second child; the information conflicts.) She remarried in 1946. Eleanor married a bank director in 1938. The last reference I can find for them performing together appears to be at Liseberg Park in Gothenburg in 1942. Eleanor died in Sweden at the age of eighty-seven; Karla is said to have passed away "a few years later."

Many of the following photographs are the work of Madame d'Ora (Paris/Vienna) and Atelier Manassé (Vienna).

Photograph by Dorothy Wilding.

From a photo-essay published in "Modern Screen", June 1930.

Seen in the image on the left is the same dress worn in the Dorothy Wilding portrait shown above.

Their first film, "The King of Jazz", is an all-color - two-strip Technicolor - musical revue, starring popular bandleader Paul Whiteman and his orchestra.

The Sisters G are not included in the credits at the beginning of the film, but are featured in three musical numbers.

With Paul Whiteman.

In costume for "Kiss Me Again".  Like "King of Jazz", this film was originally shot in two-strip Technicolor.

Rehearsing for "Kiss Me Again" with dance instructor Larry Ceballos.

Two screen-shots from "God's Gift to Women", with (just visible at left) Louise Brooks, Frank Fay, and Joan Blondell.

Ironically, Louise Brooks - at far left - is sans her famous bangs; the Sisters G are more "Brooks" than Brooks.

With Frank Fay.

Karla Gutöhrlein in publicity for "God's Gift to Women".

Three photographs by Achille Volpé, the first two with an unknown partner, possibly Demetrios Vilan. 

After their return to Germany, circa 1933.

Two portraits by Elmer Fryer. Here, Eleanor (?)

Karla (?)