http://translate.google.com/transla...ehmann+entr%C3%A4tselt&biw=1280&bih=577&noj=1 it is a token theater pass. hopefully the link above workd
An interesting token. I would never have guessed,it to be a theater pass. Thanks for original post.and the answer to it.
Those pieces were made with various movie theater names. "Handelshof Lichtspiele" could refer to the city of Essen; here is one with the Atrium movie theater in Krefeld. http://de.picclick.com/Atrium-Krefeld-10-Dollar-Medaille-190818120049.html "Man braucht kein Geld" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Money_Needed is a movie from early 1930s; Heinz Rühmann was a famous German actor. The "newly arrived cousin" mentioned in that article is from the US, hence the reference to the United States of "Amerika". Christian
Yes, I think so. The movie was made in 1931 but had its premiere in '32. And I guess those tokens/passes were given out when the movie was first shown in the city mentioned on the piece ... Christian
Dear chrisild, I get what you mean.but how did they use this and for what?they used it like a ticket or as a memory?
Ah, I watched the movie on YouTube the other day. It's in German, and the technical quality is, oh well ... but the movie is pretty funny considering its age. The background is the economic crisis in the early 1930s, and the basic idea has been used in novels and movies before and after 1932: It does not matter whether you actually have money, as long as others are convinced that you have it. Hence the title "Man braucht kein Geld" or "No Money Needed". And a $10 coin is actually what, in the movie, starts the hype: The uncle from Chicago is basically broke but always has his last money with him - an American $10 coin. Think of a 1932 Eagle maybe. The piece is "sort of" shown in the movie, but never sharp enough to be recognizable. Heck, much of the (fictitious) town shown in the background is cardboard walls too. The brilliant idea of our bank clerk: The uncle should give that gold coin, his last money, as a tip to the hotel boy. And sure enough, the boy runs to a bank and wants to cash the piece. The cashier asks about it, the boy says where (and from whom) he got it -- and the rest is history. The place becomes a boomtown, rich, glitzy, they even find and refine oil. But all of a sudden the German government gets a bill from some city hospital in Chicago; the uncle had been treated there before but could never pay. And now that the uncle is back in Germany ... well, the federal government forwards this bill to the state which forwards it to the city. Scandal! The supposed millionaire is actually broke! But wait, at this point, nobody except some town council members knows. So our bank clerk says, nah, we will of course not make that public, the town will silently pay that medical bill and continue to profit from all the investments. By the way, while Heinz Rühmann is the star of the movie, there is also that cute girl ... played by an actress named Hedwig Kiesler. In the movie, the two get engaged and then married "for PR reasons". But of course it's true love at the happy end. Never heard her name? Click the link. Christian
