"Ich möchte eine Möwe sein!" - Elisabeth von Österreich - Austria Wochenschau 1972

Starting on February 4th, 1972, the Austrian Wochenschau, had an item regarding the production of the newest documentary about the life of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth von Österreich, played by Marisa Mell. The Austrian Wochenschau was an promotion vehicle of the Austrian government, started after World War II, to promote the Austrian way of life in all its facets, covering almost everything from culture, sports, politics.... This pseudo news show ran each day in the Austrian local cinema's during one week before the main feature. The items had a duration from 30 seconds to several minutes depending on the importance of the subject and the available items during that week. Free translation (voice-over): "She (Marisa Mell) is convinced about her role: (Marisa Mell in her own voice): In this television play, she (Elisabeth von Österreich) will be portrayed for once like it should be, meaning, how she was in real life! (The director of the movie): The title of the film will probably be: "Elisabeth von Österreich - Ich möchte eine Möwe sein!" a documentary about the life of the Austrian Empress. (Voice-over): The Graz born actress Marisa Mell is regarded as one of the leading world actresses. So it is not strange that the paparazzi went beserk when Marisa Mell in this scene was crowned Empress of Hungary.

From a time when smoking was still fashionable!

Marisa Mell was a child of the sixties. Born in 1939, she started her movie carreer at the end of the 1950's early 1960's, so it was fashionable at that time for women to start smoking like men did for centuries! Marisa Mell was no exception! She loved smoking and did smoke a lot. You could even ask when did she not smoke! Even in the last years of her life, before the diagnoses of throat cancer, cigarettes were often her only companion in harsh times! Her favorite brand was the German brand "HB", short for "Haus Bergmann"! HB cigarettes belonged to the ten top-selling brands in Germany at that time with a market share of 3,5%. From 1959 untill 1984, HB was the market leader among the German brands, 1975 even the market leader in entire Europe. Today, HB cigarettes are not advertised anymore due to government regulations in most of the European countries but despite this fact, HB smokers still stick to "their" brand which causes HB still being a long seller. Marisa Mell did not only smoke in private but also smoked in several of her movies like Venusberg in 1963, French Dressing in 1964, Train d'enfer in 1965, New York chiama Super Dragon in 1966, Objectif 500 millions in 1966 and Les Belles au bois dormantes in 1969.