Walter Bockmayer

With a thousand bars of cheekiness and lots of love for detail, Walter Bockmayer revives the sixties. In this swift and – staying true to the appropriate slang – “jaunty” revue, family Konsum remembers: the first love, the first heartbreak – and Dr. Sommer from the youth magazine BRAVO helps to finally give the teenagers sex education. Parents Herta and Jupp eye the proceedings in the milk bar with distrust: of all people, their daughters had to fall in love with foreigners. That’s too much, even when considering that the dreams and longing of the economic miracle generation are oriented towards Italy themselves. But it’s too late: Gisela, 17, is pregnant and thus completely in line with the trend. Because: “With 17 life starts” and “17 years, blond hair”, “17 roses from Athens”; the hits speak the truth, give advice and good arguments against the reasoning of the parents. Hits are a lifeblood. After all, life in those years draws wholly on the entertainment industry and advertisements. Although the correct use of “my BAC” and “your BAC” must still be learned.

The Beatles craze starts and everything else changes, too: Jupp leaves his wife (don’t worry, he will ruefully return to hearth and home later), the daughters fall for the same man, Mr. Sparbier brings a prize for Herta, and the moon landing happens.

Through all this nostalgic remembering, Bockmayer doesn’t forget reality. This results in a witty mix of a jarring sense of life and federal republican sensitivities that were still characterised by existential moments like worrying about proper hygiene forty years ago.