THE SCIENCE FICTION WRITER'S SECRET CABARET LIFE - IN ABBA'S SHADOW
I happened to find a couple of books about Stig "Stikkan" Anderson, the
legendary ABBA Manager. The first book was titled Stikkan (by Oscar Hedlund,
Sweden Music Publishing AB, 1983) and then I found Schlagerkungens krig -
Abba och Hoola Bandoola på Stikkan Andersons slagfält, "The Hitsong King's War
- Abba and Hoola Bandoola on the Battle Ground of Stikkan Anderson" (by Klas
Gustafson, Alfabeta, 2016). Biographies about people in the entertainment
industry is something I have always found interesting
The most interesting things that emerges is that one of Stikkan's best
friends was the author Börje Crona, who unfortunately died last year (Feb 14).
He was a musician in younger days, but later became perhaps best known for
writing science fiction - or "sandkvist" as his wife Annikki called the genre.
Anyway, Börje and Stikkan were best buddies in the 1950s and toured as a music
and comedy duo, sometimes a trio. Börje mentioned at one point that he knew
Stikkan, though I didn't reflect on the matter at the time. But in the Stikkan
books we learn more. Börje Crona is mentioned quite often, in one book on 13
pages and in the other on 12. (I have also read Marie Ledin's and Petter
Karklsson's book Min pappa hette Stikkan, "My Father was Stikkan" - Ms Ledin is
Stikkan's daughter - but Börje Crona isn't mentioned there.)
Listen now...
The Touring Life Begins
Stikkan toured in smaller places in the early half of the 1950s to his own
guitar playing. At the same time he met his future wife Gudrun he also met
Börje Crona "a funny guy from Stockholm who became a piece of cream on the now
legendary mashed potatoes "(says Hedlund's book). Stikkan had written a
reasonably successful song called "Cream on the Mash" ("Grädde på moset").
Stikkan and Börje met each other in 1949, as they both began studying at
their "Folkhögskola" ("folk high school", Ingesund's Folk Music School) and
became room mates. And they were tight until at least 1955 when Stikkan was
married to Gudrun, because Börje was at their wedding that year and even
remember the wedding waltz that Stikkan had written (but never published).
Börje was one year younger and interested in jazz. He was a regular on the
Nalen club in Stockholm, the centre of Swedish jazz, and used to appear on the
smaller Harlem stage, which was breeding ground for Swedish amateurs.
In the interview Gustafson made for his book (in Copenhagen 2 August, 20015)
Börje says:
"It started with that I was on Nalen one evening and the presenter had no
acts to present. He said that anyone coming up to sing a bit would get five
crowns. I was in desperate need for money and rushed up and sang something. The
pianist, the almost blind Reinhold Svensson, said that was very easy money.
That was my only merits in music."
All guys on Nalen were known as Dudes ("Snubbar") so Börje became known as
The Dude on Ingesund.
Stikkan said that Ingesund became important for him:
"Because for one thing I met Börje Crona, and another thing was that I could
reach out with my songs."
PR flyers and vodka
They started to tour. They offered the event organisers in the Värmland
province either a 30 minutes program or a program with two parts 20 minutes
each. According to a PR flyer they offered "funny acts, laughs, guaranteed to
make the audience happy" (approx translation).
Börje tells a story in the interview about a unhappy arranger who came to
them and with deep regrets said. "Sorry boys, I have really tried..." Would
they have to cancel? No audience?
"No, it was worse," Börje said. "I haven't been able to get you any vodka..."
/In Sweden known as "brännvin"./ We drank bravely. I had been so nervous when
our cabaret in Arvika opened that I had poured a lot of booze into myself. It
almost ended in a disaster. There was a sudden pause during which I had to
enter the stage and improvise. I could hardly stand on my legs!"
It had been an almost full house, thus Börje's nervousness, with nearly 150
people in the audience this Saturday in March in 1950. And the show had started
at 11 pm, or "Better late than never" as the ad for it had stated. The show was
called "Cream on the Mash" from Stikkan's song and students from the music
school had been a part of it. They later formed a trio together with another
friend from the school, Bengt Bernhag (who was to mean a lot for Stikkan
later), a the trio called themselves "Stig Andersson and His Mushy Cream Drops.
(Stikkan would later drop an "s" from "Andersson".)
On page 42 in Hedlund's book, Börje and Stikkan show up on a PR photo - Börje
with crossed arms and he looks a bit mysteriously angry - with the caption:
"Event organisers expected genuine 'artist cards' and the Cream Drops went to
the photographer." As a duo they called themselves the Cream Drops
("Gräddklickarna") or sometimes Stig Andersson's Cream Drops, "an attraction on
a national level". In Gustafson's book we see the trio on a PR flyer
advertising several of Stikkan's songs. Stikkan is in themiddle, Bernhag sits
on the right, and to the left we see Börje laying down, all of them over a
picture of a big guitar. In the ads they call themselves "spectacle makers" and
"crazy artists".
More from Hedlund's book: "Börje Crona and I had invested in a Stockholm trip
in the spring of 1950 and successfully negotiated with Georg Eliasson. 'Cream
on the Mash' was sold and published ... It was Crona on a leave /from the
"Folkhögskola" / who succeeded in interesting Roffe /Bengtsson/ for
'Tivedshambo' " so Roffe recorded Stikkan's song on Börje's suggestion.
"Tivedshambo" was one of the last songs ABBA sang, by the way, an a capella
performance with a new text when Stikkan was the main guest of Swedish TV's
"This Is Your Life".
Börje lodged his friend Stikkan with an aunt in Djursholm (posh Stockholm
suburb) while he himself had a temporary job, he says in Gustafson's book:
"I dropped Stikkan of on Norrmalm Square. He'd be around there while I
worked, and then I came along and picked him up."
Stikkan spent the time having a look-around in Stockholm, among other things
the so called mutoscopes (movie machines with pictures that you cranked) in the
Birger Jarl Passage. They showed e g lightly dressed girls.
"I wondered what he thought about them, but Stig said he never tried them
since they coasted 10 öre /about 2 cents/. He was terribly economical. Mean,
you could say.
The First Record
At the same time they recorded their first record in a sort of
record-it-yourself studio in the Gröna Lund fun fair, called "Din egen röst"
("Your Own Voice"). It was Stikkan's songs "Putte Fnask" (slang for "little
boy") and "Baciller" ("Germs"). The record is shown in Gustafson's book and is
probably in the archives of the Västergötland Greater County Museum, in
left-over material from Stikkan which has been donated there. (Gustafson
mentions that he has visited these archives.)
Beside their studies they also toured, during weekends and vacations, later
on outside the Värmland province (where Ingesund was situated). Börje was
brought to Stikkan's hometown Hova and meet his family. They continued their
shows after they had left Ingesund. Stikkan would later begin training as a
teacher in Karlstad and Börje got a job as a journalist on the Afton-Tidningen
newspaper in Stockholm.
The critics didn't always have much positive things to say about their show.
Börje tells us:
"One reviewer wrote: They are as usual: Bad songs and worn-out jokes. That
stuck with Stig. He returned time and again to this thing with worn-out jokes.
He didn't think it was correct, but it was true.
They had their show in for instance Brömsebro and Huddinge. They had a
month-long engagement on Boulevard, a cabaret theatre on Ring Street in
Stockholm, where they were alternating with The King of the Pickpockets, The
Singing Speed Cartoonist and the nude model Lena. Striptease was banned, but it
the model sat still it was art...
"She sat in a pose and the lights were turned off and when they were turned
on again she sat in another pose For the last show we had to do some prank, so
when the lights went on for the fourth or fifth time it was me and Stig who sat
there.
Known from the Radio
Through contacts with the radio man Georg Eliasson (who also wrote the youth sf
book Space Pirates) received an invitation to play in the "Breakfast Club",
Sigge Furst's hugely popular radio program.According to Hedlund:
"And 'Cream on the Mash' then got its big break and you turned up in weekly
magazines and began to think in larger terms than amateur cabarets in Arvika
and Grums ... Börje Crona thought it was a pity that this would cruelly compete
with both Tre Knas and Carl Gustaf Lindstedt, but that's showbiz - tough! "
Hedlund tells us:
"Together with Börje Crona and Bengt Bernhag, they had the experience from
The Cream Drops since 1950 and now, as you say, the 'Stockholm scene' was to be
conquered. It was difficult! It was things like 'The Unknown Half-hour' on the
Nalen club and small shows here and there. But with 'It Will Be No Wedding'
('Det blir inget bröllop') in 1954 ... it began ease up. Swedish Radio gave us
20 minutes one afternoon, Sten Carlberg produced the program which consisted of
two amateurs, borrowed jokes, our own songs as well as Walle Söderlund's
orchestra. There was just one channel at that time, the National Program, so it
felt great. "
The duo Crona and Andersson recorded ten songs during the years 1954-55, of
which seven had text and melody by Stikkan, two were from abroad with Swedish
translation by Stikkan and one was a parody of Swedish "schlagers" (hit songs).
Aftonbladet newspaper wrote about the duo that they were "funny record
makers. 'Det blir inget bröllop på lördag' ("There won't be a Wedding on
Saturday") was also made in six (!) other more conventional interpretations by
other artists. In Crona's and Andersson's version it didn't sound like an
ordinary 'schlager', but instead became more like a cabaret act. The version
was filled with 'crazy whims', changes in rhythm, birdsong, a cock crowing -
certainly inspired by the film "Hellzapoppin'" (Swedish title "Den galloperande
flugan").
The Pay Becomes Pants
It's when Stikkan did his military service that he got a leave to go to
Stockholm. At Stockholm Central (Stikkan says in Hedlund's book) "Bengt and
Börje waited and received me. Immediately we took the fateful stroll to
Vanadisplan and Phillips which then was there at the classic address 16 Gävle
Street." They
also visited Nils-Georg's music publishing:
"It was Börje and I who stepped in. In an unlikely mess of notebooks,
cigarette plates and old coffee cups, and we finally distinguished two people:
Georg Eliasson and then great piano celebrity Stig Holm."
They bought the songs "Cream on the Mash" and "Tivedshambo" for 100 crowns,
and:
"First, Crona and I went out and the money was just enough to buy to
gabardine pants, but it wasn't enough for a whole suit. Then we went and sat
down in the grass outside the City Hall where I re-wrote ''Cream on the Mash'.
... Then the creamy drops Andersson & Crona had a triumphant homecoming to the
red 'Änglaro' barracks, and the pants had a real shine about them. "
The Dude Jazzed and Smoked
The music duo lived at the same place, a folk high boarding school in Ingesund.
According to Hedlund's book:
"The students were lodged in red barracks between the pine trees, and one of
them was called Änglaro which, as a result of Stig Andersson's accession, as
the name seemed like an exaggeration became 'Bänglaro'. /Pun lost to
translation/
'It was the boys for themselves and the girls for themselves ... at least it
was so intended within the rules of the school system. We stayed on the lower
floor /it is Gudrun talking/, the guys on the top. Stikkan's best buddy was
Börje Crona, called The Dude ('Snubben'), and nobody had so handlessly fallen
outside the folk education ideals. The Dude smoked in secret. He brought with
him genuine jazz records from Stockholm and America! "
Gudrun says more about Stikkan's tours: "He / Stikkan / went around and was a
'comedy couple' with different partners, e g Roffe Bengtsson, Minimal Åström.
Börje Crona, Akke Carlsson. "
They also appeared in the Folk Parks:
"Hey, now we are in Glava ... that'll make you glad, ah!" /pun 98% lost in
translation/ With this smashing start, Stikkan, Bengt and Börje 'The Dude'
Crona stepped up on the swaying folk park stage planks. There came more
mosquitoes than audience. "
Börje Crona did not continue his artist career, while Stikkan, as we know,
went further in the entertainment industry. The book mentions that Börje
started selling illustrated limericks (which he called mumricks) and took on as
a tourist tour leader, but the book misses that he also worked at the newspaper
Afton-Tidningen in Stockholm (which must have been before and/or until 1956,
because AT was folded).
Afton-Tidningen was owned by the Swedish unions' federation (LO). But Börje
can't in Gustafson's interview recall that he and Stikkan ever talked about
politics. The subject wasn't of interest to either of them
How they broke up
It was Börje who wrote the dialogue and sketches to their show, and Stikkan
made the music. It was when Börje wanted to contribute to their music numbers
that it went sour.
"I had begun making songs of my own and wanted them in our stage show. That
was the end of our cooperation. HE must be in the centre.
Gustafson tells how Börje during the interview outs up his hand as a stop
sign, to show how much Stop it became.
But that must have been after Stikkan's and Gudrun's wedding in the summer of
1955 that the Cream Drops went sour, because Börje was invited to it.
Afterwards the newly-wed moved to a small one bedroom flat in the Stockholm
district of Södermalm, where Börje visited on occasions. It had only cold
running water and the loo was outdoors in the yard. On one visit he was urged
to be quiet and still. The electricity meter had stopped but there was still
electricity in the cables - which meant that the electricity wasn't metered,
and was free.
"They moved extremely carefully so that no vibrations in the floor would make
it run again. I happened to stomp the floor so that the electricity meter began
turning again, They never forgave me.
Perhaps it was this that became the final straw in their partnership.
Father of Görel
As far as I know Börje played the bass, but if I'm not wrong also guitar, when
he was touring with Stikkan (I have a memory image of guitar hanging on the
wall of the Cronas on Döbelns Street). He was a funny guy who liked a good joke
and often carried a little hip flask from which he'd offer a small snaps. As
you may know he is he also the father of actress Görel Crona. I met him in the
audience once when Görel performed with the Park Theatre in Vita Bergen,
Stockholm.
He and his wife Annikki often sent Christmas cards with pictures of
themselves in flower-decorated holiday clothes on the beach from a sunny South
Sea island, where the couple transported themselves during the winter months to
avoid snowy slush in the Vasastan Stockholm district.
The Book That Was Massacred
In addition to being a tour leader and selling stories to the rags he worked as
translator and released a large number of humour books (several with his
"mumricks"). But He was also one of Sweden's most productive sf short story
writers. He had just one novel in print, which he called Kling from the Space
Police ("Kling vid Rymdpolisen"). But that book was so badly massacred by the
typesetter - a guy known in fandom, we may call him B - that when it was
published under a new title World in Danger ("Värld i fara"), Börje had to buy
a newspaper ad and apologise for that the sorry excuse for 'typesetter' had
filled the book with faults, missed jokes and above all 'four-letter' words. He
was ashamed and sorry that he thus couldn't show the book to his old mother, he
later said. (Story on that in Swedish, see note below.)
However, he also published five short-story collections on Delta, between
1977 and 1983 (see https://w.wikipedia.org/wiki/Börje_Crona ;), wrote in Swedish
Galaxy already in 1960, later in both the Jules Verne Magasinet and Nova SF -
and we also published him in Teknikmagasinet, with the fine short story "The
Power Is Mine" ("Makten är min").
The Twist-End Master
As a short story writer, he wanted a good, workable idea and often used a
twist-end, in the tradition of O Henry and Fredric Brown. One Crona story
portrays sport fishing, from the perspective of the fish. Another tells how
amputated limbs are useful in music-making. Another tries to measure the
plants' emotional life. We have a story based on the notion that there is a
hyper space - but you can not travel faster than the light there, you go even
*slower* than in normal space. At the 1979 SF-Kongressen he let the audience
participate in the writing of a story, found in one of his collections as "A
Buried Dog" ("En hund begraven" - one Mr Engholm was one who contributed). He
has written about time travel, invasions from space and nuclear war - all with
the same healthy cheerfulness. Börje Crona wrote snappy and entertaining, but
the almost mandatory final twist-end could sometimes be rather over-strained.
Börje Crona has accomplished the story with sf history's *worst* twist end.
The title has s,lipped from my memory but the story is about a robot stranded a
strange planet. Its electricity begins to fail, but the planet has water. The
robot succeeds in getting electricity and the answer to how it has been done is
the twist-end of the story. I warn sensitive readers! This twist-end can cause
stomach pains, acute constipation and pain in the hair ... when you in
desperation tear in it. Here, with some hesitation, the end of that story:
"You've heard of wattery porridge!"
/A so-and-so attempt to rescue a totally useless pun.../
Epilogue
In the obituary in Dagens Nyheter March 9, 2017, the image of the Dude as the
Man of Twisted Ends was confirmed. A nurse who attended to him as he was dying
was named Lisett /"ett" is Swedish for "one"/, and Börje Crona's last words in
his life are reported to have been:
"Is your sister named Listvå?" /"två is Swedish for "two"/
--Ahrvid Engholm
More on Börje Crona (and some on Stikkan):
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Börje_Crona ;
(https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%25C3%25B6rje_Crona&prev=search)
The Cream Drops' videos on Youtube, "There Is A Shimmer around Grandfather's
Days": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=646n3ogLUws ;
And "There Will Be No Wedding on Saturday":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBLFSu4xJuU ;
Stikkan and Börje with "Our New Teacher is Whacky":
https://www.last.fm/sv/music/Stikkan+Anderson+&+Börje+Crona/_/Det+är+knas+på+vår+nye+magister
An LP by Stikkan Anderson where Börje Crona appears on some tracks:
https://www.popfakta.se/sv/utgivning/e/a7cf64c6-c09a-455f-a9ff-8cfac0a1aa00/stig-stikkan-anderson/
"A Little Kiss in the Spring", which Börje recorded tigether with Roffe
Bengtsson:
http://testicanzoni.mtv.it/testi-Povel-Ramel_27580/testo-En-Liten-Kyss-Om-Våren,-Rolf-Bengtsson-Och-Börje-Crona-23340699
The text (try Google Translate) of a Stikkan song which Börje Crona apparently
recorded alone (but with orchestra and choir), "It's Great That He's So Nice":
http://textarkivet.atspace.cc/det_ar.htm ;
A Börje Crona discography with eight recordings:
http://78-varvare.atspace.cc/borcro.htm
Another Börje Crona-discography with nine recordings:
http://www.thorsven.net/BDABBA/Musiciens/m09409.htm
A really nice short story (in Swedish, try Google Translate) about how
Christmas is re-invented after the Great Atomic War:
http://sv.svenskanoveller.wikia.com/wiki/En_riktigt_gammaldags_jul ;
The Börje Crona obituary in newspaper Dagens Nyheter (through Google Translate):
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=https://www.dn.se/familj/minnesord-borje-crona/&prev=search
"The Life of Stig 'Stikkan' Anderson", a short video in English presenting
Stikkan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FV7GXbgbhc
"A Walk with Stig L Anderson", another portrait in English about Stikkan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8se31UdZung
Stikkan Anderson on Radio Luxemburg (very bad sound):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo0nI55sod0
Börje Crona vists a film premiere with daughter Görel and grandson Gabriel:
http://finest.se/galleries/sa-olika/attachment/347752/
Börje himself tells in a transcript from an sf convention (in Swedish, try
Google Translate) how Kling from the Space Police/World In Danger was
massacred: www.lysator.liu.se/lsff/mb-nr20/verstteri_och_versitteri.html
Not Börje Crona, but ABBA doing "Tivedshambo" (with English subtitles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0hbNGQPOuU
In later years, Börje Crona re-released many of his books (including all his sf
books) as E books, and they are available via e g Adlibris or the libraries.
-----
(Engelsk version av den uppdaterade Börje Croina-artikeln från i går.
Observersa att länksamlingen sist är utökad jämfört med i går. --AE)
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