DANCING PARTNERS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 20

DANCING PARTNERS

SALARIES EARNED

The probable incomes earned by "dance hostesses," '.'professional dancing, partners," and "dance hosts" or "gigolos," as the men aro colloquially known in London and abroad, have become an object of keen curiosity as a result of a telegram from- Geneva printed in tho "Daily Mail."

In this telegram it was stated tiiat a young man had given £8 to each of the professional dance-partners withwhom ho had danced ou the night before his arrest. ,',.'.:

Such a sum is exceptional, but not so infrequent as might bo supposed. In the Casiuo towns thero is .a regular tariff ami a regular convention. If a gigolo approaches a tabio and asks whether one of the .women sitting there would care to dance he does so, the first time, as a speculation. That is to say, if, when he approaches her again for the uoxt dancu (supposing she has accepted his. first .invitation), sho rofuses him, he cannot expect a.tip. If,sho accepts ho will bo given «a 100-franc note at the very least either by her or her escort at the end of the afternoon, or 'ovening.: '■■■'.-

The average sum earned by a gigolo on tho Continent, may bo estimated at about £8 a day for one who has a good 4■' practice," and about. il'<i for ono who is new to the profession and does not know many peoplo.

In London, whoi'o there arc now about 40 gigoJos, there is a different procedure at nearly'every restaurant-or dance club that employs them. A. man was dismissed from one smart establishment for doing-what is toloratod in another. This is to exact a percentage of the earnings from tho "danco hostesses" for introducing them to unattached

At Lite restaurant where tliis \ s ; ,|. lowed the retaining fees given are nominal, but the women earn between £l'O ttud £30 ;i week ami the humi betu^,, £10 and £15 a week,- np.-irt. fr on) what they reeeivo I'rpm dance hostesses Hero, though there is no hard-and-fast rule, a dance hostess expects at ] wist two guineas for -dancing with tho same mail tho whole evening ami is not suririsod if she receives £5.