GAY BERLIN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2143, 28 December 1920, Page 8

GAY BERLIN.

By German law, all places of amusement have to be shut, at 11.30. In spite of this there are probably more socalled night clubs in Berlin now than in any other city in the world (writes Mr Arthur Mills in the "Daily Mail"). To visit one it is necessary first to obtain an address, which most of the head waiters at the restaurants will supply. - We will say that 44 Potsdamer Strasse is the address given.' The next step is to take a cab and drive to Potsdamer Strasse. We arrive at No. 44. Only a few street lamps are alight, and we can see no sign of any dancing establishment. No. 44 appears to be a large hat shop. We try the door and find it locked. A mistake in the number, obviously. Abusing the waiter who has given us a useless address, we turn to go, when a figure steps out of the shadows. He touches me ou the arm, " Follow those two men," he whispers and disappears. I look and see two respectable-looking old gentlemen hobbling down the street some 20 yards ahead. Obedient to our instructions, we follow them. We walk for perhaps 100 yards; the old gentlemen never look round. Have they really »ny thing to do with us, we wonder t One of them stops and lights a cigar. As we pass him he points silently to the door of a house, raps it with his stick, and walks on. The door is opened and we find our"selves, being examined by a pair of small, pig-like eyes, set in a large, square face. After a close scrutiny we are admitted and the door is slammed and bolted behind us. This house is in darkness except for the light of a bull's-eye lantern carried by our new guide. We follow him up four flights of stairs. More doors are opened and locked and bolted behind us. At last we find ourselves at our destination. A long, low room, lit by shaded lights. All round the walls tables, crowded with men and women. In a corner a small orchestra. Two couples are dancing iti the space in the centre of the room. * We are led to a table, and a bottle of champagne is put in front of us. On all the other tables there are champagne bottles —sometimes two or three. The price is 250 marks a bottle (nominally £l2 10/-). We wonder, where these well-dressed Germans come from, and where they get the money to pay for so much wine. The waiter points out two young men at a table by -themselves. They are fiue-looking young fellows, arrogant, but with an air of better breeding than the rest of the room. "Graf von and Oberleunant von ," the waiter tells us, "both of them ex-officers of the Prussian Guard. A fortnight, perhaps a month, they will lead the life here, and then —caput." "Caput" Is a popular slang word in Germanv, meaning "broke," "bankrupt," ''done in."