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The German beer garden at Waldameer Park was called [[underlined]] The Hofbrau [[underlined]]. It was a large open-air place with a roof over it. At one end was a stage out in front of which were many long wooden tables and benches. I suppose it held at least 200 people seated at the tables, where they drank beer, ate pretzels, sang German songs, and watched the show. There was a small German band complete with accordion, bass horn and flute, maybe more. But they could oom-pah the beer garden music so well that you just about had to beat time with something or go crazy with frustration. The master of ceremonies was known as "Smiling Fritz," who was a big, jolly, middle-aged man with a square Teutonic face, blond hair and a fine baritone as well as an accent to set it all off properly. Then there was a soprano whom they called "Miss Mildred" or something similar. She had a fine voice too and when she and Fritz sang duets, it was really something to hear. Midd Mildred's most famous and most popular song, which she always had to sing two or three times during the course of an evening, was "Is it True What They Say About Dixie?" I can almost recapture the words now but not quite. Fritz had a very popular routine about "Schnitzlebank" wherein he'd sing a lead-off line and ask a question, all in German, and then point out the answer on a blackboard.  also in German, and the guests would roar the answer in an enthusiastic if poorly-accented and not-so-harmonious burst of complete cooperation. All the waiters could sing and they would render a few numbers occasionally. One of them also possessed the ability to imbibe a half-gallon of beer in less than ten seconds--maybe it was five! He'd simply open his mouth wide as well as his throat and pour the pitcher of beer down without swallowing. This was one of the feature acts and the crowd never seemed to tire of it. The modus operandi was to take a small group out, get a table by yourselves if possible, order a couple of pitchers of beer and an ample supply of pretzels, and fall to. The Hofbrau was open only during the good weather and it was usually a delightful place to spend a summer evening. Many of our customers enjoyed it and we used to go there frequently on our own, getting a small congenial group together. Willie's father loved the place and we'd go several times during visits. I don't recall there was any cover charge and with beer costing around 75¢ for a half-gallon pitcher, you could have a big evening out there for a buck or so apiece. This place went on summer after summer, hugely popular, but when World War II came along, it pulled the curtain on the Hofbrau. I don't remember whether it closed when the war started in Europe in September 1939 or it remained open until we got in and so was finally closed for the summer of 1942. At any rate, it was a great institution and it was too bad it had to be closed on account of the war but I suppose that from a psychological point of view, it really had to be done. Unfortunately it was never revived after the conclusion of the war and I guess it is now gone forever. Sort of too bad.