‘Ferris Bueller’ accordion Berwyn polka queen Vlasta Krsek played in Chicago parade scene sold at auction

Polka queen Vlasta Krsek of Berwyn and her Baldoni accordion, which she played in the parade scene in downtown Chicago in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” | Gene Pesek / Sun-Times file

The accordion that Vlasta Krsek, the Berwyn musician who was known as the “International Queen of Polka,” played in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” has been sold for $12,500 at a Hollywood auction.

Krsek, who died of cancer last year at 83, performed “Twist and Shout” and “Danke Schoen” on the instrument while riding on a float with “Ferris” star Matthew Broderick in the exuberant parade scene in the 1986 John Hughes movie.

Vlasta Krsek and her accordion with director John Hughes and Matthew Broderick during filming in downtown Chicago of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

The accordion, which Krsek kept for years at her Berwyn home, was custom-made by Baldoni, a company long based in Wisconsin.

It was sold through Julien’s Auctions over the weekend at a Hollywood entertainment auction whose priciest item was a notebook, sold for $437,500, with Sylvester Stallone’s handwritten ideas for his 1976 movie “Rocky.”

The accordion Vlasta Krsek played in the parade scene in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was sold for $12,500.

A World War II refugee from Czechoslovakia, Krsek immigrated to Chicago and worked at General Electric, as well as composing polkas and performing. Her performances included playing on Johnny Carson’s and David Letterman’s late-night TV shows and for politicians including President Ronald Reagan and Mayors Harold Washington, Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley.