Paul Guggisberg

Paul Guggisberg was born into a Bernese working class family, the eighth of 10 children. In the late 1920s he joined the newly formed jazz band "The Original Teddies" as a drummer, under band leader Teddy Stauffer, going on tour for several years in Switzerland, neighboring Germany and also on cruise ships. The band's popularity peaked in Germany in 1935/1936 and got into frequent trouble with the Reichsmusikkammer for performing jazzy swing music that ordinary German bands were not allowed to play. After 1939 the band returned to Switzerland where they remained for the duration of the Second World War. During this time, Guggisberg appeared in several Swiss movies as part of the Teddy Stauffer ensemble, notably in "s'Margritli und d'Soldate" in the fall of 1939. In 1941 bandleader Teddy Stauffer emigrated to America and the leadership was passed on to Eddie Brunner. After the war Guggisberg continued to perform with the Original Teddies, which by that time had lost its luster performing mostly in Alpine resort hotels and cruise ships. On July 23rd 1953 he married Canadian-born Kathryn Rose Scott in Lucerne, Switzerland, whom he had met during one of his stints at one of the Swiss resort hotels. Polly Guggisberg retired to Geneva, Switzerland where he died at the age of 62 on the 16th October 1967.