Commercialized Prostitution in New York CityKneeland, George J. (George Jackson)
History
Commercialized Prostitution in New York City
Kneeland, George J. (George Jackson)
Prostitution -- New York (State) -- New York
If the getting and holding of attractive inmates is one important
qualification in a madame, getting and holding trade is its necessary
counterpart. Madames are selected who are known to be expert in soliciting
trade and "keeping it in the house." They gradually accumulate lists of
names and addresses of men and boys, keeping them up to date, and at
stated intervals they send announcements of change of address or a veiled
suggestion as to the "quality" of "goods" on display. One ingenious owner
has a very neat printed folder reading, "Kindly call at our old place of
business, as we have a Beautiful Spring Stock on view." Occasionally--as
in the accompanying circular--no object at all is alleged:
"_Dear Sir_:--Kindly call at your earliest convenience at the below
address.
"Respectfully yours,
"X 1. W. 36th Street."
This notice was sent to a long list of patrons--to sailors on board
certain war vessels, to business men, and to clerks.
Runners, lookouts, lighthouses, and watchboys--the names involve
overlapping duties--also figure largely in procuring trade. The chief
business of the lookout is to stand on the curb in front of the house or
near the door and warn the inmates who solicit at the windows, or the
madame in the house, when officers or suspicious-looking strangers
approach. He opens the doors of cabs and taxis and conducts prospective
customers to the entrance of the house. If a stranger appears to be
"green," the lookout urges him to visit the resort, at the same time
describing the inmates and the prices charged. One of his important duties
is to see that street walkers do not solicit in front of his employer's
house and "take the trade away." Together with the runner or lighthouse,
the lookout is supplied with cards advertising the house, which he gives
to men and boys in the street. He also goes wherever men and boys
congregate--to saloons, restaurants, entertainments, prize fights,
wrestling bouts, lobbies of theaters, hotels, and other public places, to
distribute cards and to drum up trade. For example, on March 7, 1912, a
runner, who was paid twelve dollars a week and tips for his services in
behalf of a "fashionable house" on West 46th Street, went to the
Sportsman's Show at Madison Square Garden to advertise his establishment.
On June 24, 1912, a runner for a house on West 25th Street stood on the
northwest corner of West 24th Street and Sixth Avenue, describing its
attractions to passersby. At the noon hour or at closing time he stands in
front of entrances to factories, department stores, and other places of
business to accost the workmen and distribute cards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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