Berlin dance club tokens
Background
Between around 1920 and around 1933, Berlin boasted a number of businesses offering drinks and entertainment, ranging from cabaret to dancing. They seem to have done well. They were considered decent enough to be listed in tourist guides. Artists such as Marlene Dietrich, Claire Waldoff and the Weintraub Syncopators performed regularly.
The clubs
Eldorado stood out, as it catered to homosexuals and travestites. It was opened in March 1922 on Kantstrasse 24. It was a huge success. By 1927, owner Ludwig Konjetschni moved the club to Lutherstrasse 31. That venue proved too small also, so in 1931, Eldorado moved again, this time to Motzstrasse 15.
Things got tight in 1932. A new police chief, Kurt Melcher, implemented the arch-conservative policies of the Von Papen government, including a campaign against homosexuality. A ban on same-sex dancing broke Eldorado. When Hitler's national socialist (nazi) party came to power in 1933, Hermann Göring, minister without portfolio and founder of the Gestapo, decided that clubs like Eldorado were entartet (depraved.) Eldorado was handed over to the local Sturmabteilung (SA). Konjetschni and his family fled to Australia.
Rio Rita was part of a complex centred on an office building with a shopping gallery on street level called Femina-Palast on Nürnbergerstrasse. The building, constructed in the period 1928-1931, included an events and ballroom called Femina, decked out in sumptuous art deco and Bauhaus style. The complex was ordered by the owner of a hotel in Kurfürstenstrasse, Heinrich Liemann. While the main building was hardly touched during the second world war, the events hall was destroyed. The rest of the building has been re-developed into a hotel.
The tokens
Some of these establishments issued chips for dances with hostesses or hosts employed by the club. Many are holed, an indication that they were kept piled on a stick or wire when for sale. In view of their similar style, they may all have come from the same manufacturer, using the same designer. Illustrations may be enlarged by clicking them.
These tokens are listed in Berlin Marken und Zeichen by Wolfgang Hasselman, München 1989, ISBN 978-3870459680
Catalogue
| Berlin dance club tokens | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Filename | BDC1 | |
| Side 1 | full length dancer *BAJADERE* BERLIN JOACHIMSTHALERSTR. 11 | |
| Side 2 | full length dancer *BAJADERE* TANZ-ATTRAKTIONEN | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | 3.35 | |
| Notes | ||
| Source | Henk | |
| File:BDC2.jpg | ||
| Filename | BDC2 | |
| Side 1 | Dancing couple, BEHRENS FESTSÄLE ELSASSERSTR. 10 | |
| Side 2 | Kneeling lute player, TÄGLICH LUSTIGER WITWENBALL | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | 3.35 | |
| Notes | ||
| Source | Henk | |
| File:BDC3.jpg | ||
| Filename | BDC3 | |
| Side 1 | Strip tease dancer, BERLIN ELDORADO LUTHERSR. 31 | |
| Side 2 | Show dancer with male, •BERLIN• ELDORADO VIS.A.VIS.SCALA. | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | 3.35 | |
| Notes | ||
| Source | Henk | |
| ||
| Filename | BDC4 | |
| Side 1 | male dancers breaking through pearl circle BERLIN MOTZSTR. 15 *ELDORADO* | |
| Side 2 | female dancers breaking through pearl circle BERLIN MOTZSTR. 15 *ELDORADO* | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | ||
| Notes | ||
| Source | Pellenore | |
| ||
| Filename | BDC5 | |
| Side 1 | head left NACHTLEBEN Barbetrieb NUR and KÖNIGIN / KURFÜRSTENDAMM 235 | |
| Side 2 | head facing "DIE SCHÖSTE TÄNZERINNEN NUR" KÖNIGIN | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | 3.35 | |
| Notes | ||
| Source | Henk | |
| File:BDC6.jpg | ||
| Filename | BDC6 | |
| Side 1 | Flamengo dancer. Melodie Berlin Nürnberger Platz 2 | |
| Side 2 | Flamengo dancer with hat. Melodie Tanz - Bar Attraktionen | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | 3.35 | |
| Notes | ||
| Source | Henk | |
| ||
| Filename | BDC7 | |
| Side 1 | head right DIE TANZBAR BERLINS • TAUENTZIENSTR. 12 and • RIO RITA • | |
| Side 2 | head right DAS • BALLHAUS • BERLINS. NÜRNBERGERSTR. 50 • and femina | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 35 | |
| Weight (grams) | 3.35 | |
| Notes | ||
| Source | FosseWay | |
