Private Dancer

[Boo Radley]

Flashermac said:

"Woman of Bangkok" is set in the 1950s...But it was actually written in the 1960s...

It was first published in 1956.

http://tinyurl.com/lek56

http://tinyurl.com/rxqb2

[Pom Michael]

It is getting to the point now that you cannot state any "fact" around here without a link to prove it!

Good one there Boo!

[Flashermac]

First published in 1956? That's a surprise to me. My copy of "Woman of Bangkok" was published in 1968.

 

[bibblies]

I've still got a copy of 'A Woman of Bangkok'. It's my favourite Bangkok book for the way it flips between the man and the woman's viewpoints and it's amazing how much of it still holds true today. Or not - human nature and national cultures don't change that much in 50 years, I suppose.

 

I found Private Dancer a bit overcooked, especially the ending. Up to that point, the story was based on fact. I read an article on his real story - the main bar where his girl worked was Voodoo and Jools bar was another one involved.

[Flashermac]

"From Siam to Thailand: Backdrop to the Land of Smiles" -- Jorges Orgibet, 1982

 

 

"It was 300,000 Japanese troops during World War II (here as conquerors and not as invited allies) and the 30,000 British and Indian troops who followed them that helped fill Bangkok's 85 cabarets of the 1940's. The majority of the patrons, after all, were Siamese and Chinese. (About a third of Bangkok's residents were Chinese).

 

"The grand old lady of them all was the cabaret atop the Hoi Tien Lao Chinese restaurant just off New Road in downtown Chinatown. The Cathay Club was probably the most popular of all. Those were the days when the White Tiger, the Leopard, Noisy, the Snake and a few of the more notable dance partners were the toast of the bachelor community.

 

"There was a nine-storey building on Yawaraj Road in Chinatown reputedly the world's largest whorehouse. Then there were the strip joints, the most renown was a big two-storey wooden theatre across from the Chalerm Krung cinema.

 

"Thirty strippers appeared, minced across the stage and removed a superfluous article of clothing. Then, during the next thirty minutes, the pacesetter was followed by 29 girls following exactly the same routine. On the next round the troop leader, with a few dance steps and wiggles, shed another bit of garment. The remaining 29 members of the titillating ensemble followed one another over the next half hour, and so on, ad nauseum. It started to get interesting about 9."

 

...

 

"Bangkok in the late '40s even had the reputation of being one of the blue movie capitals of the world. One top-floor loft on Ban Moh housed a Thai film studio devoted entirely to blue movie production.

 

"So don't blame the late-coming Americans for any cultural impact on Thailand. Cabarets, night clubs, blue movies and the lot abounded long before the GI's showed up. These cultural pursuits were strictly Siamese contributions to pleasure and entertainment. It was the 300,000 Japanese troops who turned it into a booming industry and 30,000 British and Indian military culture-hounds who nurtured it after the Japanese departure."

 

pp. 17-18

[limbo]

Darn,

 

Used to live real close to the Chalerm Krung movie theatre, just about 50 years too late it seems.

[Flashermac]

Lots of brothels still left in Chinatown. Don't know if any of the strip shows are still around. I was taken to one once back in the mid '70s. That's when there was almost no nudity in the go-go bars. The "naughty shows" were all behind well guarded doors.

 

Just remembered something ... when I first came there was a stunner who freelanced at the Thermae Coffee Shop. She was white as snow and her name was Sumi. I realised the first time I saw that she must be half Japanese. I asked her and she said yes. Papa was a Japanese soldier who knocked up mama in 1945. The gal was pushing 30, but looked more like 20. It struck me as ironic -- the daughter of a Japanese soldier and a BG in WWII was entertaining US GIs in another war 25 years later.

[Old Hippie]

"... It struck me as ironic -- the daughter of a Japanese soldier and a BG in WWII was entertaining US GIs in another war 25 years later. .."

 

Well, ever wonder how many of these girls today had mothers who "worked bar" 30 years ago? Hell, maybe some of you older guys went with there moms back then!

[limbo]

Picked up a Thai/Negro girl once from Thermae, looked like her Mum had been active in the 7tees or 8tees.

[Flashermac]

In the '80s and '90s there were a fair number of GI kids in the bars, the half-black ones obviously the easiest to spot. They've passed their "use by" day for dancing these days. If you see a half-black one now, odds are her papa was African.

 

p.s. I've mentioned to Dean Barrett a couple of times when a dancer looked familiar that we might have shagged her mother. Most disturbing is the fact that nobody used condoms back then. Oh, dear ... ::