Am Laufenden Band = At the Laufenden Band

Am Laufenden Band was a Radio Bremen production, running on channel WDR from 27 April 1974 to 31 December 1979 and which contained 51 Episodes. Four pairs of family members of different generations (eg. mother and son, grandfather and granddaughter, uncle and niece, etc) had to do little tasks, puzzles and quizzes until one pair won the first round. In the final round the remaining two played against each other having to answer questions about the primetime news broadcast of the same day. The winner got to sit in front of a conveyor belt with lots of goods or symbols representing goods and always including a question mark representing a surprise prize. Everything which could be recalled correctly afterwards, could be taken home.

Am Laufenden Band was a German version of the Dutch game show Een van de acht hosted by Rudi Carrell. The show's name comes from a conveyor belt where prizes were put at the end of the games.

Apparently Rudi and Mies Bouwman (creator of the Dutch and original programme) clashed over the rights of the programme and that Rudi didn't pay her enough for the programme). There was also an British version, known as The Generation Game hosted by Bruce Forsyth, and then Larry Grayson in the 1970s. (It was the Larry Grayson version that Mike Yarwood sent up in his 1978 Mike Yarwood Christmas Show and ABBA joined in the spoof).

Frida's father, Alfred Hasse, was there for the broadcast in the wings (as Frida was in Germany where he lived), but did not appear on the show. It was filmed the same day as the German premiere of ABBA - The Movie and they were on the programme to promote the film.  NOTE that the link to ABBA - The Movie is of the Australian footage. There is a separate entry for the Swedish footage.

Episode 36,.

Other guest on this episode (order in appearance):

1. Heinz Eckner (German actor)
2. Britt Ekland (Swedish actress)
3. Jürgen Drews (German singer) - Unnahbarer Engel
4. Dave Parker (stand-up comic) mimed Charlie Chaplin
5. ABBA - Take A Chance On Me and Thank You For The Music
6. Friedrich Schütter (German actor)

After running onto the stage, they performed Take A Chance On Me and (part of) Thank You For The Music plus had a small interview. Guitarist Janne Schaeffer joined them for the performance of Take A Chance On Me one of the only times he actually worked with them on a TV performance rather than in the studio. 

At the end they are shown sitting at a table with the other guests including fellow Swede, Britt Ekland and Agnetha greets winner, Herr Jäger from Bremen.

This was the first outing for the silk animal print costumes - Agnetha's red rabbit, Frida's green wolf, Benny's eagle and Björn's stork.

The performance of Take A Chance On Me has been officially released on the ABBA - The Album Deluxe edition

Click here for a rehearsal picture.

Click here for a TV listing from Leidsch Dagblad - 18 February 1978, p.5.

1. Frida - at the start of Take A Chance on Me, she just misses the first note and punches her first as if to say, "Damn!"
2. Frida - as she perches on Rudi's chair she almost falls backwards and Björn pulls her back.
3. Agnetha - when asked if her baby can talk yet, she says it can - it says, "ABBA, ABBA, ABBA!"
4. The winner Herr Jäger from Bremen at the end scene with Agnetha.

Rudi Carrell: "Yesterday they visited Princess Margaret in England and today they're our guests - ABBA! And I always think it's nice to see you. I never saw two couples acting as perfectly as you do."

(Agnetha is sitting next to Benny and Frida is next to Björn)

Agnetha: "No! This is wrong. We have to change! (They change seats)
Rudi: "Sorry! I misunderstood. You belong together. This won't happen again!" (to Frida) "How is the baby?"
Frida: "Oh, that's not my son, it's Agnetha's!"
Rudi: "Oh, she's got the baby ... how long ago? Two months I think?
Agnetha: "Yes, he's now two months old."
Rudi: "Two months. Has he said anything yet? Is he talking yet?"
Agnetha: "Yes, of course!"
Rudi: "What does he say?"
Agnetha: "He says, 'ABBA ABBA ABBA" (laughter and applause)
Rudi: "I heard you have already sold more records than The Beatles. i don't know whether this
is true, but I suppose you have your own company by now. Is there something like an 'ABBA
Limited'? What is it called in Swedish?"
Benny: "It's called AB"
Rudi: "Ah, it's called AB, not ABBA. And now you made a film? Where did you shoot it?"
Björn: "In Australia"
Rudi: "During the tour I believe. And the director was Ingmar Bergman?"
Björn: "No, Bergman made The Silence. We make the noise! (laughter and applause)
Rudi: "OK, let's have a look at some clips from the film."

Clips from ABBA - The Movie are shown ending with Thank You For The Music from the final scene and ABBA stand up and sing along in the TV studio. The last notes of the song can't be heard for the applause.

Information from Intermezzo Magazine No.30
Thank you to Rafael & Stefan's ABBA Pictures and Trijnie's ABBA Annual, Philippe Dupont, Jozsef, Melinda, Gerard Hesen, Erik Menkens, Emese Szabó, Julian D, Guido and Sam Shervz.
YouTube links c/o André Selbach