Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-08-23
NiqhtIife Booms in Berlin
While Crises Come and Go

Crises come and 90. but West
Berlin has lost none Of It's
gaiety and glitter. When the
sun goes down. the city is aglow
with neon. the nightclubs are
packed and the entertainment
is as gay as in the days before
the war.
Out-of-town night owls fiock
to the big. brassy dance halls
like Rests with It's spectacular
waterfall ballet" and the smart
supper clubs like The Ambassa-
dor in the new Berlin Hilton.
The Berliners. particularly the
young set. tend to haunt the
political cabarets. where enter
tanners satirize current events.
and smoky cellars where jaz Is
king.
The craze for American
music which swept the city .
decade ago has now reached o
fever pitch, reports Pan Ameri-
can world Always from Berlin.
The majority Of hot clubs" as
the Jazz dens are called. are
noisy, dimly lighted and
damned to the rafters night
after night.
Cats in The Bathtub
The city's Oldest rendezvous
for hep cats Is the Badwanne
or Bathtub, q steam box where
the beat is "cool. man. cool"
Another club Is Eden's Saloon.
q hcle-in-the-wall. equipped
with 10 telephones so the clients
can converse without table
hopping. The jukebox Is wen
stocked with hot American
platters plus q few Spanish and
Arabic disks for novelty. j
1--WE sell bad air and good
atmosphere" says owner Ralph
Eden. How successful this
combination has proven can
only be Judged by the fact that
Eden has used his profits tol
open an American-style auto
mat around the corner.
A favorite spot for Beriin's
so-called beat" generation Is
the Eierschale or Eggshell.
Here, the prices are as low as
the lights with beer and cokes
at IS cents. Bands with such
fine old German names as the
Pensioners, the Louisiana Hot
Seven and the Spree City
Stompers play everything from
pure Dixieland to rock n roll.
Twice Q week, q blues combo.
partly composed Of American
GIs, takes over upstairs.
Wall decorations, incident
ally, are as American as the |
music with scenes from both
New Orleans and the Wild
West. The ceiling is covered
with black gunny-sacks. which
serves as sound-proofng, while
o meter in the kitchen is used
TO record the decibels.
The high point Of the year
for the jazz cellars is Mardi
Gras, when customers bring
box lunches and sleeping bags
for the dusk-to-dawn jam ses-
sions. The floor on gala nights
Is so tightly packed that dane
ing couples are forced to hop
UP and down. In other words.
the joint is really jumping.
Berliners under the age Of
Is must present their identifl-
cation cards upon entering the
jazz cellars. Youngsters who
fail to leave the clubs before
10 pm. are subsequently barred
from the premises.
Slides and Swings
Another nietry. popular with
the avant garde, is the Full
Bottle. where the interior re-
semhles the inside of q barrel.
The bar features swings, built
for two, as seats and a copper
ceiling made by the same f1rm
that turned out the metal sta
tue on the Brandenburg Gate.
Aside from the jazz cellars
and quaint bars, Berlin has a
number of family-type beer
halls. Notable among them Is
the gigantic New World. an
arena seating 1000 with comic
posters IS feet high. Berliners
Of every age vie for space on
the dance floor. where they
lumber and bounce and march
to the blare. Of brass bands
playing military music and Ba-
varian drinking songs.
A 10O-foot slide connects the
upstairs bar Of the New World
with the main floor. and hum
dreds Of screaming customers
make q rough-and-tumble en-
trance via this route every
night. Around the dance floor
there lisa Coney Island midway
with test-your-strength and
guess your weight machines.
shooting galleries and fortune
telling booths.
Berlin has its share Of abso-
lutely unique night spots. Mem
orable are such clubs as The
Golden Horseshoe, where Gus
TONERS ride horses around o
circus ring: Remde's st. PAUL.
am Zoo, where the guests are
supplied with fishing poles to
prod the performers and the
, Walterchens Ballhaus, where
the women ask the men TO
dance.