Writer Brain

[rolanni]

A reader asked what my interest in Sin in the Second City — the history of the Everleigh brothel in Chicago — was. The short answer is that I’m interested in the demimonde. We do work with certain types of. . .unsavory. . .individuals in our books and stories. Audrey Breckstone, for instance, runs a whorehouse in Boss Conrad’s territory on Surebleak, so reading about Chicago May and the Everleigh sisters could be annointed as “research.” But, yanno, everything’s research when you write fiction — see “grist for the mill.”

What also interested me about the Everleigh’s story was the fabric of Chicago at the turn of the century (frequent auditors of this journal will recall that I’m also guilty of reading The Devil in the White City), of which the club, and the Levee and the First Ward were all vibrant strands, the larger fabric of the nation at the time, and the. . .ease with which sexual hysteria gave birth to what became the FBI.

I must say that Sin in the Second City is miles above The Story of Chicago May in terms of author competence and, therefore, this reader’s enjoyment. Nuala O’Faolain seemed, at best, baffled by her subject, frustrated with actions that made no sense to a memoirist trying to get into another woman’s head. Ultimately, her attempt left me unsatisfied, and a little annoyed at her whispered conclusion that such women as May, really, don’t deserve the scrutiny of history.

Karen Abbott, on the other hand, is a reporter. She writes a clean hand, and brings a firm, largely non-judgmental voice to her narrative. Her book was a pleasure to read, and I came away from it with a nice headful of thoughts and ideas. Ms. Abbott learned that very valuable lesson — News (and History) is People.

Granted, part of the difference in the richness of the narration is the available records. May left a book, written after she was “reformed” and apparently none too factual. There were some police and prison records, a few newspaper reports. She was a part of the scenery of her time, only briefly elevated to newswothiness by her membership in a particularly inept criminal enterprise.

The Everleigh sisters, on the other hand, strove to be seen, to make a mark, to be favorably reviewed. Their club was patronized by Chicago’s wealthiest and best-placed men. They were firm pillars of the First Ward, if only for the staggering amount of protection money they paid.

They were also interesting to me because of their enlightened business model. They ran a whorehouse in Chicago in the early 1900s. At a time when their nearest competitor was charging $10 (in 1900-bucks, now) a trick, the Everleigh “butterflies” charged a whopping $50 per client. The girls were seen by a real doctor retained by the house, who, among other benefits, advised them to adopt what the Chicago Vice Commission some years later characterized as “perversion” in order to avoid disease and “other problems.” An Everleigh harlot could expect to earn (“take-home pay,” if you will) between $50 and $400 a week (in 1900-bucks). The “butterflies” were the healthiest, best-paid sex workers in the city of Chicago. It was a business model that succeeded brilliantly, and by its success ought to have inspired others to take up their methods.

Politics and people being what they are, of course that didn’t happen.

. . .This is all aside the “morality” of the business, of course, “morality” being a slippery stair at best. And certainly even high-class whores were subject to the various environmental dangers of living in the Levee, the quintessential Bad Neighborhood.

. . .which reminds me — notice the Writer Brain at work — of an article I read not too long ago about the uranium mines in. . .Colorado? There was “proved” a connection between working the mines to a high incidence of cancers among the mine workers, and so the mines were shut. No other business came to replace it, which is, if Maine is any measure, About Par, leaving the people out of pocket and wanting to work.

Every single person the reporter investigating this place spoke to bemoaned the loss of the “good jobs.” Yes, lots of people in town died of cancer, but the jobs in the mines were “good jobs” they were glad to have them, and they would return to the mine in a heartbeat if it were opened again. Life, the interviewees said, though not in so many words, is dangerous; people die here. It’s how we live and provide for our families that’s important.

. . .and — last diversion, I promise — a few years ago, I was reading histories of Indian abductions. At that time, a reader asked me why on earth I was reading that stuff. And I answered that I supposed the back-brain wanted it for something, and I had learned not to inquire too closely into these matters.

Years later, I now know why the back-brain wanted abduction stories, so — research. It’s all around you.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

I would point out, though, that despite the fact that the Everleighs apparently did not rely on sexual slavery, and that some prostitutes lied about having been forced into prostitution, sexual slavery was (and is) quite real. Just because some of this was "hysteria" does not mean that all of it was, and in the pre-FBI America, it was far too easy to commit crimes against travelers, migrants or the friendless in general, and get away with it.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Yes, well. The fact that "white slavery" is still going on, says to me that, when the opportunity to truly fix the problem arouse, They screwed it up. If, instead of smashing the ant hill of the Levee and scattering "vice" throughout the city, the politicians of Chicago had opted to preserve the Levee, police it for and ruthlessly close slavery rings, clean up the protection racket, and come down hard on drugs and other violence, people might actually have fared better.

As it was the choice to make an example only exacerbated the problem and made it harder to control.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

In America, it is entirely possible for poverty to kill you quicker than cancer. I'm disturbed that people would prefer to work in unsafe conditions than not at all, but it's no surprise.

Re: Thoughts

[ckd]

Like the people who re-enlist in the armed forces because another tour in Iraq or Afghanistan is less scary than losing their family's health coverage....

Re: Thoughts

[james parks (from livejournal.com)]

I think people bemoaning the closing of the uranium mine in Colorado is probably a case of "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." They grew up there and that is all that they know. Change can be scary.

And as for people re-enlisting just to get health care benefits, that is absolutely not the reason people re-enlist. Regardless what you may have been told or read.

Re: Thoughts

[james parks (from livejournal.com)]

Let me amend the above past to read
"And as for people re-enlisting just to get health care benefits, that is absolutely not the reason MOST people re-enlist. Regardless what you may have been told or read.

Re: Thoughts

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the amendment. Some people may actually re-enlist for the health benefits, which was, I believe, ckd's assertion.

The folks whose town was built on a uranium mine -- nope, they'd had change, and change was food stamps and no jobs in a place that had been in living memory prosperous and self-sufficient. Change wasn't scary, as they made clear in the article -- change didn't work. They would far rather work and be productive, if somewhat shorter-lived than others (though it was also made plain in the article that most of the long-timers didn't believe that uranium was responsible for the cancers; that, in fact, inert uranium was harmless), than be broke and at loose ends.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes. If society makes it difficult or impossible to get safe and sane work, or survive without work, then people will tolerate dangerous conditions rather than die of poverty. But it also makes them restless and prone to violence.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, cool and interesting as always.

People tend to forget that we need jobs, period. Good, bad,
whatever, as long as we can feed our families.

As a side note, I am finishing "The Poisoner's Handbook" by Deborah Blum, just out in paperback, and I would recommend this
to anyone who liked "Devil in the White City." It's about the
history of the pathology and toxicology in Jazz Age New York City
- but there are excursions to mustard gas and influenza (it was
World War I of course).
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

I plan to read Second City - the author also wrote a biography of Gypsy Rose Lee, which I read recently and liked a lot. -- I finished The Devil in the White City on my second try. The first time I skipped ahead to the gruesome bits, and I always find true crime creeps me out. This time I read it on my Kindle so I couldn't easily skip ahead, and that worked. :-)

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

That's the most fun kind of reading to do - picking up ideas that look interesting and following them. My latest reading on that path was/is The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to South Park. Not as exciting as the demi-monde, but full of cool ideas and explanations about the oddities of our language.

Sin in the Second City

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info on your interest in the Everleigh sisters. I had forgotten Miss Audrey's establishment on Surebleak, an oasis of culture and refinement and even a place where children could be educated. Saw on TV that there is a rather high class legal brothel outside Las Vegas where the working ladies are paid very well and where there are doctor's visits. It's run by a man though. I look forward to the results of your research in the future.
C.