[Ads-l] "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Upon reflection, "euphemism" isn't quite the word I was looking for.  For example, there was a polite fiction that Miss Kitty of Gunsmoke was a saloon keeper/hostess.  But the role she occupied was obviously that of a madam (who had a heart of gold . . .).  Clearly, the developers and writers of the show needed that character for dramatic purposes, but couldn't explicitly call her a "whore", so she was therefore a saloon keeper.  

That's what I'm trying to get at with respect to chorus girls/prostitutes.  Were the dramatic roles they occupied in the 1920s/1930s really that of prostitutes, but everyone turned a blind eye to the fact and called them chorus girls, to avoid censorship issues?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 8:22 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> 
> Probably not, though in reality there was some overlap, which was
> widely understood or suspected. Chorus girls showed their legs for the
> interest of males, danced in skimpy costumes ditto, wore lots of
> makeup, etc. Hmm.....
> Stereotypically they had "sugar daddies," which was just one step away
> from prostitution - if that much.
> 
> The streetwalker in Sherwood's "Waterloo Bridge" (1929) was an out-of
> work chorus girl.
> 
> JL
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 12:59 AM, Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> > ---------
> >
> > _Picture-Play Magazine_  July 1925 p. 105"However=2C Hope unties her
> > blindf= old and twangs her little lyre=2C for I understand her next
> > picture will al= low her to play a =96 it must be said =96 vamp with
> a
> > heart of gold."
> > _Variety_ 1/12/1932 p 50 col 5"Mary Nolan is more restrained as a
> > racketeer= ing lady with a heart of gold."
> > _Modern Screen_ June 1933 p 87"Sizzling story of the good old days of
> > New Y= ork with Mae West as the wicked woman a heart of gold."
> > _Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin_ 3/13/1937 p 10"It deals in a
> > dull an= d ponderous manner with one of those "ladies of the evening"
> > with a heart o= f gold=2C who allows herself to be talked into
> posting
> > for a famous artist= =2C and under his guidance learns to loathe the
> > life she has been living."
> > =
> >  [quoted from NY World Telegram]
> >
> > "Chorus girl with a heart of gold" shows up regularly starting in the
> > late = 1920s.  Was "chorus girl" understood to be a euphemism for
> > prostitute?
> >               =
> >                   =
> >
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> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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