NIGHT LIFE IN BERLIN.

Bruce Herald, Volume LV, Issue 66, 28 August 1919, Page 3

NIGHT LIFE IN BERLIN.

V ■■ ■ ■ I ,Mr Wythe Williams has gone to Germany for the. Daily Mail, and is travelling there during this interesting . crisis. Here is a lurid i picture, of night life -in the German .capital. The first place to go to is the i Mascotte, in the Behrenstrasse, the ! biggest, gayest, and; best restaurant iii Berlin. From 8.30 to 9 is the best time to dine, for the night is long. . It is a great, heavily ornate place, In the centre, is a minature lake, with'' fountains bathing marble females of Teutonic amplitude. -No restaurant outside of New York ever cost so much money, and noiie was ever so hideous or oppressive. A red-coated orchestra, perched in -a crimson balcony, plays the Destiny waltz, Tipperary, Tannhauser or Yankee Doodle. Anything to oblige. The correct inaitre d'liotel,' who worked at the Waldorf-Astoria, in New Yoi'k, wafts one' io. a table and inclines air' attentive eat. "Ah J the little forbidden things are not on the menu/'-Hors-d'oeuvres; tomato .. soup, sole a la maison, Chateaubriand with pommes sautees, fromage,- . fmite raftraichis, burgundy, coffee (real), liquers—rprice £l3 for two diners, including tip. "This should not be mentioned in the newspapers—so much to eat. The i poor might not like it. " * At 11 o'clock the maitre d'hotel leads the way through the ''Midnight ©rotto" to the Palais de j.Danse. The two establishments ' are thus connected. If. you eat I heartily and expensively enough at the Mascotte you are entitled to | a free passage through, the grotto into the dance palace. Tke escort will "discover" a table in the front row, next to the. dancing floor, and will choose a bottle of German champagne, at 50 shillings. Tango, waltz, fox tro't and shimmy dance are all on view. Introductions are unnecessary. In the Palais de Danse one picks out one's lady, stands before her, clicks one's heels together, [ and bows from the waist. ; The ; dance is on and joy is unrefined. But imagine a beautiful woman (there fire a few) opening her mouth and saying "Ja." , v V , At 1 o'clock several alternatives are offered. Gambling club, cabaret—out in, the west end—or a smaller dance hall—more in time. The same old places- of' the'pre-scription-filled gaiety of before the war that have caused so many fevered, descriptions of night life in Berlin.

In-the gambling clubs greater stakes are o'a the: tables than at Monte Carlo. Nothing is thought of £SOOO. Most of it is in notes so suspiciously fresh that- the ink almost smears if it is rubbed. Most of the ' habitues' are Russians. Some of the old Junker crowd are about, staring quite as insolently as ever through their mpnacles. The bourgeois patrons are war profiteers. Sometimes when the bank is hard hit it closes payment for half an hour., Then new and fresher mark notes appear, with numbers that are not listed at the Reichsbank. But no one cares. In the cabarets and little dance halls the abandon of the night con : tinues with the dawn. Occasionally shots can be heard outside. But no one cares. The waiters stagger under great trays of champagne, and suppers of foie gras and truffles sandwiches. Berlin has unlimited, money—good and bad —and either the Allies will get it or the Bolshevists will. So there is a race to spend it.: There is music everywhere. The favourite number is the Waltz of Destiny, soft, slow, haunting, tragic, and sweet. Berlin dances it, on the volcano's ,brim. But no one cares. -