davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
BERLIN'S SORDID NIGHT LIFE Is STAGED IN GI

merry Frou-Frou" was nothing short OF
the apotheosis of joy.
The chorus was sung half dozen times,
and the monologist went through all the
extravagant motions of conducting large
choir of "frou-frouians," although no one
was singing excepting the unattended
young women.
The closing hours of all cabarets and
cafes is IL 80, which only means that then
no more drinks may be had. orchestras
stop playing and lights are turned down.
but guests are permitted to linger over last
dregs of wine often up to midnight. Upon
leaving cafes of this character guests are
confronted at the door with as many as a
dozen aims seekers in the form of old
women selling flowers in beseeching and
Datronizing tones and crippled soldiers
ceiling matches and imploring help.
To the novice, the closing door of this
asst cafe would serve to be the knell of all
light life revelry, but to the connoisseur 1t
Is only the beginning of the spicy time,"
md he needs only to go up to scout, often
n the guise of a taxi hustler, or match
oeddler to whisper in his ear that he
wishes to be guided to a place away from
he pOlizei Cor police) where some real
dancing may be seen.
1t was my experience to be taken by
such scout, One time German pugilfst
down rows of back streets to the side en-
trance of an apartment house Here sur
reptitious knocks brought an attendant
who stealthily opened the door and led the
way through labyrinths of pitch dark cor
ridors to ,dimly lighted, green curtained
window, where again numbered taps
brought a waiter. When given the high
sign he opened the door to the cafe, ad-
mitting us to the small back room Of a
respectable daytime conditorei CONNECTION.
cry shop.
Likewise. here there was no admittance
charge save for the large tip paid 10 the
scout" but the cheapest bottle of wine
obtainable cost $50 marks; or s5.62. The
narrow space permitted only four small
tables, around which sat excitement seek
ers, some speaking German, others Eng.
lsh but all in whispered tones which
gave the entire atmosphere the air of for
hidden sweets
In the dim light slhouetted against
dark open doorway was a violinist, playing
slow, seductive music, hardly audible. A.
intervals a woman dressed in black vel
vet, decollete, strutted through the room
Queries from more courageous guests as
to when the real dancer was to appear
were unanswered, and the suspense in
creased.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Crowd Wanted a Saiome,
But Walters Warned Them

Finally she appeared, the same woman,
clad in a scanty net costume and to
sprightly music danced with some dexter
ity to the evident disappointment Of some
Of the guests, who kept calling for
Salome. Those cries were suddenly inter
rupted by threatening gestures from the
walters, who in hushed voices ordered all
to be quiet saying: "PoIizei! Poltzeif'
Clinking Of glasses stopped and all pres
ent were supposed to shudder, in antici-
patton of a raid. None came. and the calls
for nude dancer were resumed. The
same woman reappeared, this time In
scantier costume. but still within the law,
and danced to an exotic tune.
Protests from the guests continued, and
their Indignation was shown by the small
tips placed on the dancers tray. It was
then A. NJ, and the time for departing
had not come, but the lettering night life
seekers left simultaneously, murmuring as
they went that the whole thing had been
travesty and they hoped never to return.
The dance hall, the cabaret and the
secret chamber represented an average
entertainment of the three categories of
the night life for which the German capital
is notorious.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

were about, leisurely smoking and waiting
to make the acquaintance or escorts, and
ostentatiously applauding each number of
the programme. When no escorts wan
dered in some of these girls donned their
hats and went out, apparently to join the
marching throng on Friedrichstrasse
The headliner was advertised as bal
let" doing Eva" dances, which year ago
might have meant by women almost or
wholly nude. The ballet" proved to be
composed of three women. one at least 40
years old, who knew little about dancing.
assisted by two girls without any pro-
ficiency, and all of them suitably gar
mented. The guests were evidently sup
posed not to be dismayed by the complete
fraud of It all. for one subsequent per-
former. monologist, sang a ditty about
the good times to be had in this particu-
lar cabaret, and importuned the audience
to join in the chorus and evince in song
the conviction that "a rendezvous in the
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

from abroad. The greater number of
foreigners here are Scandinavians but the
representatives of other lands are to be
seen after dark in the same proportion as
during the day. But despite this prepon-
derance of outsiders the character of the
entertainment is determined by the city it.
self, just as in Paris the quality is French
and in New York it is American.
The taste Of this entertainment is ex-
traordinarily insipid as l can perforce tes-
tify, for | recently made explorations of
Berlin to see for myself what was going on.
l visited the Palais de Dance, dining first
at the Mascotte, it's pretentiously elegant
restaurant, and Watching the dancing
thereafter in the palace" itself
The Mascotte serves the best food in
Berlin in a large room lavishly colofed
with plush and gold and radiant with the
dazzling lights of innumerable mirrors re-
fiecting a large fountain of colored water
in the centre of the room. small viva
cious orchestra plays alternately Viennese
operetta airs and American jazz A dinner
for two costs not less than 500 marks Ito
day only $6.25), but 1t would be difficult to
spend 1000 even il the best wines and the
rarest dishes on the menu were demanded.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

But gay Berlin is a trite misnomer.
Defeated Berlin" would be psychology
cally more descriptive and significant.
But though the excess of Berlin has been
a sign of the times, this cannot be said
of the candor which is an essence of the
normal German nature. The German ap-
praisal of sex is wholly foreign to the
Anglo-Saxon or Latin mind, not only for
those who speak of sex scientifically but
in every popular sense. German Socialist
women are making unabashed propaganda
for a measure which the outraged clericals
call medicinal Bolshevism."
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

will gain the day and that the Germans will
not only prove to their enemies their good
intentions but also win from them a recog
milton of their sincerity.
A visitor TO Gerhard Hauptmann's home
cannot but feel that in his mountain fast
pess he is somehow aloof from the meaner
struggles going on below. Soon after leav-
ing the ancient town Of Hirschberg deepset
In the valley of the Riesengebrge, the travel
Ter sees the Kynast mountain ruin. over
its summit winds a serpentine mountain path
toward Agnetendorf. the home of Haupt-
mann.
Along the road I met the people who live
i'm his books. There were woodsmen, maidens,
mountaincers and glass blowers. Peasant
cottages with low sloped shinged roofs and
window boxes peepcd here and there out
of the woods. The way then turned sharply
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Even the Marriage Institution
Being Modified Radically

The very meaning OF marriage has come
to be somewhat modified in Germany
In society" and in the middle classes get.
ting married is regarded much as it would
be in England or America, with possibly
more emphasis on the property of the con.
tracing parties. But for the rest of Ger
many the trial marriage" in which law
plays no part, is general practice.
The ceremonial marriage does not stand
for-a full acceptance of each other by a
husband or wife, but for the establishment
of home. 1t may follow after long in
innate comradeship in which every pre-
scribed social precept has been obeyed save
that of going through the ceremony itself
This is often because several years have to
elapse before marriage becomes possible
financially, and both husband and wife
may have TO continue earning and save all
they possibly can for the openly espoused
enterprise.
Since the Germans see sex in different
perspective from other peoples, and go
brusquely to the extreme in normal times
they responded to a national reversal in
their characteristic manner by pushing
beyond the rigor of commonly accepted
codes.
The morals police were not idle during
this phase and numerous raids were made
sometimes among people of good social
standing, indulging in private orgies. So
many obscene films were confiscated that
the press not long ago was invited to an
exhibit of them and to lend its help in the
campaign of suppression 1t was after this
exhibit that one of the best weekly periodi-
Gals in Berlin wrote deploring the shall
low philosophy of German excess, and
pleading that more ina agination and fancy,
and less buntness, be shown by German
pleasure seekers to the end that both they
and the public could go their ways with
out a conflict.
But this period is passing. or has passed.
and to-day the German will argue as he
used to do, that he should not be re-
preached for a night life which exists
chiefly for foreigners And in this re-
spect the man of Berlin is no different
from the New Yorker or Partisan who
disclaims any knowledge of the resorts
of his home city. And so far as the dane
ing palaces and cabarets and barrooms
are considered he undoubtedly is right.
Night life in Berlin is chiefly patronized
by men from out of town, many of them
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Dancing Floor Always Filled
But Holds Only 10 CoupI

From the Mascotte the way leads to
the high ceiled dancing hall, which for
many years often has been praised as the
most attractive in all Europe. But here
the only real captivation is the Hungarian
strong sweep of its rhythms. In scarlet
coats and elevated on a gilt balustraded
platform, drums and cymbals robustly
smashing, it is like dynamo keeping the
thronging couples on. the floor awhirl.
The dancing floor Is not large, and not
more than seventy couples can enjoy it
simultaneously, but it is always filled
The women clad in brilliant hues and the
men in the black and white of evening
clothes make 1t festal sight. Around
the dance floor sit the guests, grouped
about small, white covered tables all obey
ing the law Of the house by drinking cham
payne. Those who wish only to look on
are free to do so: those who care to mingle
with the dancers need consult no further
formalities than their desires. A woman
with an eseort Is safe from approach;
woman alone is there with the intention of
being invited.
This Palais de Dance is what most Amer
leans refer to as one of the sights of
Berlin, and many a church deacon and
responsible leader from some smaller or
larger gopher city has had his fling" by
going there for a bottle or for the oppor-
tunity of talking across the table with one
of the gayly clad women. | know of many
American husbands who have visited 1t in
company of their wives and daughters
just to give them and himself n chance to
COO "eoma 1ifa a1wnvs concluded that
the fact that the majority of women who
were there present solely professionally
served somehow to make visit more at
tractive to those travellers who were rather
glad to be away from home and be free to
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

stretch a point without their neighbors
hearing about it. Certainly no other enter
tainment (unless it were the delight in
the sentimental music) could justify the
time spent
cabarets. 1t may have been merely chance
that hit upon slow evening; at any rate,
it was week day, and hardly dozen pay
ing guests appeared during my stay The
cabaret had NO stage, only small pol
ished floor SPACE surrounded by the tables
and half closed booths. No admission was
charged the source of revenue being the
wines and food.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

Special Correspondence to THE New York
HERALD
CopUright, 1921 by THE New YORK HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau.
Berlin. Oct. D.
OD EoPLEs must try to know one
- another without the aid or him
drance of politicians and states
men," was the opinion of Gerhard Haupt-
mann. Germany's foremost dramatist and
poet when visited him at his home in the
Sllesian mountains recently He has
horror of interviews and is one of the rare
figures in public life who has successfully
avoided giving them for years But his feel
ing for the need of better understanding
between peoples, and notably scientists and
artists of different countries. decided him to
descend from his splendid isolation.
"Man must speak to man. heart to heart
he continued. He was upset to hear that
German scientists had been excluded from
the recent international medical congress IN
Brussels THE world needs to keep abreast
of the German progress in science as much
as that of any other nation" was his opinion.
Asks the Neutral Countries
10 Organize World Conferences
His solution was for neutral countries to
take the initiative i'm organizing conferences
of international Importance They could i'm
this way offer a neutral meeting ground
and open the way to mutual understanding.
Possibly partly because he has pleasant
memories of going to Stockholm to receive
a Nobel prize Hauptmann thinks Stockholm
would be the ideal city to take such initia
tive He offered 60 go there and to put the
enthusiasm he has until now been putting
INTO his verse into building up a bridge for
better understanding between nations
Gerhard Hauptmann looking down from
the heights of the Silesian mountains found
IT difficult to understand that Germans
should be so disliked abroad He was un-
happy over the Upper Silesian dispute where
he feels that Germany has claims which are
OF older date and more substantial than those
of the Poles. lie hoped that comm N sense
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
By RAYMOND SWING.

Special Correspondence to THE NEW YORK
HERALD.
Copyright, 1921, by THE New YORK HERALD
New York Herald Bureau,
Berlin. Oct. ..
CN T IGHT LIFE" in large city might
NJ be casually defined as either
brilliant or dull The Paris of
before the war knew how to have a cheer
ful time while amusing itself. Berlin
never did. And the German capital re-
tains to-day its dulness as place of pleas
ure.
The Germans understand how to stage
dramas, operas and musical comedies, but
they have no talent to play at being
worldly. That might be virtue were IL
not that they tried very hard to do both.
They open the most approved mundane
resorts they gamble, carouse dance and
mock.
Berlin levies the so-called pleasure tax
on $500 resorts, and this list includes
about $50 cinematograph theatres, 500
drinking places with music and large
number of variety or vaudeville theatres
cabarets and dance halls. Exempt from
the tax are cafes without music and thea
tres with distinctive artistic or educational
standards. The pleasure places are not
expressing an innate craving for an illu
sive sentiment
The German out TOR an evening lacks
the grand manner" A great night dance
hall in Berlin may be filled with men in
evening dress and women in daring decol
lete and only champagne will flow and the
music be lively and mysterious, but the
atmosphere will be without verUe or joy.
And so it is with German cabaret 1t is
oftener obscene than witty, oftener vulgar
than risQue.
On the Friedrichstrasse, which still in
the night is the mart of the unfortunate
woman, there parades as wretched pro;
cession of human misanthropes as the
world can show. In the long reach of it's
dimly lighted walks there is no shred of
deception or illusion. Hundreds of women
march through the darkness obliquely peer
ing at the passerby, signalling, question
ing, pressing always or and on, night after
night A few of the women appear to be
30 years old; by far the greater number
are much younger, and many are yet in
their teens. Every city has its vice and
it's Friedrichstrasse. But in Berlin one of
the most important business streets is
frankly committed to this sordidness.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Reaction From the Defeat
Reflected in the Night Life

Night life may be test of nations
health quite as much as its foreign ex-
change rate or it's mortality statistics. A
people who experience something so catas-
trophic as defeat in world war react to
the experience in every phase of their be-
havior. And so il comes that the fall of
exports and the number of girrs of the
street may bear as factors a parallel rela-
tiCn to the nations life. And the way Ber-
lin conducted itself in respect of the So
cafled decencies of life may be of relatively
notable importance.
Judged by excesses, Germany has gone
through a grilling dissatisfied and spirit
ually rebellious period. For the lesson of
a loose night life is not the wickedness of
IL put the despair II bespeaks. Cities, like
individuals are not extravagantly immoral
for the pleasure It brings, but out of de-
fance-defiance not against any race or
moral rule, but against the truth which has
brought them down.
And il needs no Freudian perspicacity to
read the season Germany has passed
through. II has been a time of revolt,
fatigue and misery. That IL has cost many
thousands of men their self-respect and
many young girls their hopes goes with
out saying.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

n
No
Standar and The Wicked
Lthome
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Ancient Ballet OF Three
With Little Skill to Display

The cheapest obtainable bottle of wine
cost so marks. or rs cents. and this might
have been had during daylight for half
the sum- few unattended young women
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
First Editions and Coins
Are HauptmannS Hobby

Books line the walls of nearly all rooms.
Hauptmann proudly showed me his treas
ures: first editions. de luxe bindings and
coins. My eye wandered to his Cork tables.
NAt present he Is busy on a short epic poem,
Anna" to appear the middle of October. A
great epic It'll Eulenspiegel." dealing part
ly with present day problems. will appear
shortly after. He Is just revising the lass
act of an old comedy he wrote some eight
years ago for the Beriner Lustspiel- Theater
dealing with the ups and downs OF an artist
in Berlin and in Sesian provincial town
Al the top OF the house is the den of
the poet. Here he has various instruments
for science is his pastime. on a table I'm
the centre stands a large globe Another, a
glass one contained two goldhnches of
which Hauptmann was very proud, Wooden
ship models hang down from the ceiling. He
divided his love he said. between the noun
tains and the and keeps as many re-
mnders Of both about him az possible.
The poets wife greeted me before my dc
parture She was a slight delicate figure be
side the great knotty bulk OF Hauptmann
himself. II was the impression OF herssip-
ping I'm and out Of the room chatting and
laughing as her husband continued with his
work which I carried with me. As / de
scended the hill the tower again loomed
up behind me step more and frs cut IL
of from view.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Eager for World CONT,

and around the last corner tower loomed
up out of the dark forest. The high frs and
balsams are those which Hauptmann planted
about it some twenty years ago
Hauptmann took me about TO the favorite
hooks Of his garden He does his debating
each morning at bench from the middle of
the garden. Rain or shine every morning
he walks or rides for several hours.
Entering the house my eve was first
struck by a large oil painting some fairy
tale i'm cheerful colors. Opposite was a great
open fireplace where artists from every
where gather of an evening There were
a few pieces Of heavy beech furniture about
the room and the ceiling was a star decked
blue. Hauptmann for some reason had hung
n golden crown up in the middle OF the
room.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16

Gerhard Hauptmann. German drama
tist and poet, who urges neutral ma
tions to call international scientific
conferences.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
Advertised as Gay City,
In Reality Is Only Garish


Berlin has been advertised the last two
years as an excessively gay city. Some of
this notoriety has come from travellers
who do not distinguish between gayety
and garishness and some from the prov
inces. The Bavarian or East Prussian
with business to transact at the capital, has
gone back to his home town and written
to his editor in protest against the Gomor-
rah licensed by the republican regime.
Berlin as politically radical city is not in
good favor with the conservative provinces,
and the outcry against it's libertinism has
been part of the reaction against it's revo-'
lutions and street riots.
Night life. was hardly kept alive during
the war in Germany, and what there was
survived to give the soldier on leave the
relaxation. of a change. Public dancing
was prohibited and the night resorts were
closed, though in their stead were opened
innumerable drinking rooms with "bar
ladies' and music. But dissipation then
was more and more personal rather than
a group indulgence
After the revolution came the time of
contrast. Dancing was once more per-
mitted and the old resorts were reopened.
Plays which the censor had suppressed
were performed. The life of the daughter
of joy" was filmed with a spice Of pathos
to flavor the otherwise obnoxious topic.
Cabarets outrivalled each other with acts
of suggestive titles and candid contents.
Berlin was, generally speaking, a city ION
the loose"
And this letdown seems to have been
characteristic of an unusually large num-
ber of individuals. The war was lost and
the rigid discipline of the Kdiserreich
having failed to bring success it's stand
ards were denied along with its institutions
and systems.
The New York herald., 1921-10-16
By SANFORD GRIFFITH.

Special Correspondence to THE New YORK
HERALD
Copyright 1921. by THE New YORK HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau.
Berlin Oct. o.
Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-02-01
POLITICAL

{1srael Zangwill in Yale Review.)
The American Zionists with Justice
Brandeis at their head. are at logger
heads with their European fellows
because they insist that the time has
come to wind up Zionism as a plat
FORM movement and to transform it
into a purely practical enterprise OPP
Grating In Palestine exclusively. With
Lloyd George, they believe that all
the political work has now beer done,
and that it is "up to Zionism' to
change words into deeds. The Euro
Dean Zionists urge, on the other hand,
that Zionism is a matter of culture
and national feeling in the diaspora,
but that even for the limited objective
of collecting money and generating
enthusiasm for the Palestine work, q
worldwide organization is still
necessary. The honors of the "argu-
ment might well go to Justice
Brandeis. had the political founda-
tons been really well and truly laid"
But this is far from. being the case.
What the mandate" may contain IS
unknown at the moment Of writing.
but as yet there Is nothing-as Jabo-
tinsky forcibly points QUITO guaran-
tee ven a succession Of Jewish gov
ernors. The whole pro-Jewish policy
may be reversed at the discretion of
the next British foreign minister or
the next government. Was 1t not I'M
DER British rule hat a pogrom-a
phenomenon unknown in Jerusalem
since the Crusades-was allowed to
rage for three days unchecked?