1952 – 27th Segment: “He’s Good at One Thing, and He Another”

In this series we present 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. On Czech Radio’s web pages you can find a poll, in which you can vote for the best hit from the past century. We look forward to your vote! We continue with the year 1952.

1952

The construction of Lipno reservoir began.

Emil Zátopek won three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Helsinski - the 5 and 10 kilometer races and the marathon.

On November 17th, the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences was established.

The legendary duo of cabaret theater, composers Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich, ended when Voskovec bid farewell to his homeland and permanently settled in the United States. Werich, stayed in Czechoslovakia and remained hopeful that social justice would prevail even after the communist takeover. The lyrics of the finale of the very popular film, “The Emperor’s Baker,” testifies to this.

'The Emperor’s Baker', photo: Aerofilms

The name of the song was “He’s Good at One Thing, and He Another.” It was an obvious example of the illusion that prevailed at that time, “if we give everything to everyone, then in the end we will have everything, together.” The film was released in the spring of 1952, and it was clear that this desire for togetherness had already brought about the exact opposite.

Critics of the communist regime were thrown out of work, arrested, sent to trial and jailed in labor camps. The reality of daily life was very different from how intellectuals and ordinary citizens had imagined.

Vote for the best song of the century!