James Lipton used to be a pimp! No foolin'!
Parade article. Is it true you were a pimp in Paris in the 1950s?
I was. It was only a few years after the war. Paris was different then, still poor. Men couldnt get jobs and, in the male chauvinist Paris of that time, the women couldnt get work at all. It was perfectly respectable for them to go into le milieu.
Prostitution?
Young women desperately needed money for various reasons. They were beautiful and young and extraordinary. There was no opprobrium because it was completely regulated. Every week they had to be inspected medically. The great bordellos were still flourishing in those days before the sheriff of Paris, a woman, closed them down. It was a different time.
How did your involvement come about? You became friends with one of the prostitutes in Paris?
We became great friends. When I ran out of money, I said, I have to go home. She said, No, you dont. Ill arrange for you. So she arranged for me to do it. I had to be okayed by the underworld; otherwise they wouldve found me floating in the Seine.
Did you represent more than one girl?
Yes, a whole bordello. I represented them all, but her especially. I did a roaring business, and I was able to live for a year. The French mecs didnt exploit women. They represented them, like agents. And they took a cut. Thats how I lived. I was going through my rites of passage, no question about it. It was a great year of my life.
Do you think people should buy sex?
I really dont. I think if you cant earn it on your own, then you dont deserve it.
Interesting. I’m wondering if the definition of “pimp” was the same back then as it is now, or if it meant he was just something of a “concierge” who brought business to the establishment. Since he refers to “the underworld” I’m wondering if they had “specialists” who would handle the rough stuff? Thanks for posting :-)
It was a great year of my life. Do you think people should buy sex? I really dont. I think if you cant earn it on your own, then you dont deserve it.
A liberal in a nutshell - naked hypocrisy, with a smile.