Accordion of ‘Polka Queen’ Vlasta Krsek featured in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ to be auctioned

For decades, Vlasta Krsek kept her favorite accordion — which she played with head-tossing abandon in the downtown Chicago parade scene in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” — at her Berwyn bungalow.

Now, more than a year after her death at 83, it’s being auctioned off.

Paramount Pictures

It’s part of an auction Friday of Hollywood memorabilia that also includes John Travolta’s “Vincent Vega” suit from “Pulp Fiction,” Gal Gadot’s “Wonder Woman” lasso and Patrick Swayze’s surfboard from “Point Break.”

Provided

Pre-auction bids for the accordion had hit $2,500 by Wednesday, according to Julien’s Auctions.

Krsek, known as the International Queen of Polka, pounded out “Twist and Shout” and “Danke Schoen” on her accordion on a parade float backing Matthew Broderick in the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller.”

A Prague-born World War II refugee, Krsek composed polkas for the Chicago Bears and Pope John Paul II, played for President Ronald Reagan and once danced the polka with Mayor Harold Washington.

Her accordion is a Baldoni, a company that was long based in Wisconsin and is known for its craftsmanship, according to the book “Squeeze This! A Cultural History of the Accordion in America.”

“This accordion was special,” Krsek’s daughter Helen said. “It had a special sound — especially with her fingers running the keys.”