It’s a big day at the Bergmann’s house. Their oldest daughter, the 22 year old Dana is leaving their tiny Village South of Kassel for Hamburg to pursue a career in singing. Everybody got up early to bring Dana to the train station. Her overanxious mother, packed an overabundance of provisions as if her daughter might starve on her way to Hamburg. Her father is grumpy and moody not wanting to let go of his baby girl. She tries to convince him by telling him her voice coach thinks she’s ready.  Her father has other opinions of her coach.  Her kooky grandpa is obsessed with watching the ‘wheel of fortune’. Tim and Tina are Dana’s 7 year old twin siblings who try to use that day’s occasion to go swimming rather than going to school. In a fast paced sequence Dana barely makes it to the station in time for the train.

            Dana arrives in Hamburg’s main station and finds herself ihelpless trying to find the way to her Hotel.  Seeing her distress a helpful and extremely good-looking man offers her assistance. After they strike up a flirting conversation Dana agrees to let him drive her to her Pension. They pack her bags in his car and drive towards Dana’s pension. Along the way he stops at a newsstand asking Dana whether she could get him a pack of cigarettes and hands her a fifty mark bill. She wants to appear thankful for the ride and agrees.  When she returns she finds him gone with all her luggage. 

Dana who is now without food, clothes, money or any idea where to stay calls her parents for help.  There only solution for this moment is to give her a family friends telephone number. She calls the woman who turns out to be on vacation.  The lady doesn’t want Dana alone in Hamburg so gives her the number of another friend: Frank, the owner of ‘Fool’s Paradise.’ The Fool’s Paradise turns out to be a club in downtown Hamburg where Dana could possibly stay and maybe even work. With any amount of luck she might get her first singing gig there too.

Dana takes the subway, to the ‘Fool’s Paradise’. When she arrives a little worse for wear and getting pretty hungry her problems are once again multiplied when Bruno the bouncer denies her entrance.  Bruno, who hears every kind of tale of people trying to get in the club, doesn’t believe that she really wants to see Frank.

So  Dana sneaks in through the kitchen. She meets Nellie who works at the Fool’s Paradise’ as a cigarette girl some nights and as a fortune teller on other nights. They strike up an immediate friendly connection. Nellie then introduces Dana to Frank who agrees to let her , temporalrily,stay and work as a waitress.

At Frank’s behest Nellie shows Dana their shared room and introduces her to the other ‘Fool’s Paradise’ employees. She is introduced to Julia and Robert the Star dancers specializing in Tango and Lindy Hop, Till the slick and cunning assistant manager, Pierre the bouncer (whom she had met earlier) who, to appear more manly insists on being called Bruno, Benny the glamorous drag queen, Patrikk the swing dancer, Andy the overenthusiastic mime who cant shut up, Lola, Gina and Reena the singing triplets who are almost always stoned as well as Paki, Mansa and Diallo the three young, energetic, African immigrants who wash dishes in the kitchen but constantly try to talk Frank into letting them onstage...

Fools Paradise

the Plot