Le Sphinx was a ''maison close'' (
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
) in
Paris in the 1930s and 1940s. Along with the "
Le Chabanais" and "
One-Two-Two" it was considered one of the most luxurious and famous Parisian brothels.
It was the first luxury brothel and opened on the left bank of
Seine
)
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. Because of its location in the triangle of "literary" cafés (La Coupole, Rotonda and the
Cafe du Dome in
Montparnasse, it was popular with
literary
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
and
artistic bohemians
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
.
Inside the Brothel
"Le Sphinx" was not a brothel in the usual sense of the word. The main attraction in it was not in the richly decorated rooms with
air conditioning and nickel-plated beds, but in the dance bar on the first floor, where you could also make a
haircut or a
pedicure. There were normally 15 girls, selected by the madame, in the bar. However, no one forced them to have sex with the clients, the girl decided themselves. Some Sphinx workers never engaged in
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
, but worked in as "hostesses", receiving commission from drinks drunk by guests. Probably, this feature of the Sphinx made it so popular among French bohemians of that time.
Unlike the "One Two Two" and "Le Chabanais", the rooms of which were executed in the styles of different countries and eras, the "Le Sphinx" was completely sustained in the Egyptian style. The
frescos
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
of Le Sphinx were created by
Kees van Dongen (the best brothels of the time attracted the attention of famous artists; for example, the walls of Le Chabanais and
La Fleur blanche
La Fleur blanche was a famous ''maison close'' ( brothel) in the city of Paris, located at 6 rue des Moulins in the 1st Arrondissement. The property was also known as ''rue des Moulins'' and was famous for its torture room.
History
The buildi ...
were painted by
Toulouse-Lautrec).
The greatest commercial success of the Sphinx came in 1937, when the famous
Exposition was held in Paris. During the exhibition "Le Sphinx" had 120 girls and in the most successful evenings took up to 1500 customers.
History
Before World War II
The initiator and inspiration for the opening of the brothel was ''Marthe Lemestre'', nicknamed "Madame Martun".
Marthe Lemestre began her career in
New York City, where during
prohibition she opened a bar illegally selling alcohol. A few months before the
Wall Street crash and the beginning of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, she sold the bar, which gave her start-up capital to start a new business.
Moving to
Paris, Madame Martuna decided not to convert an existing building to a brothel, as was done by the owners of "
One Two Two
The One-Two-Two was one of the most luxurious and illustrious brothels of Paris in the 1930s and 1940s. The name was taken from the address, 122 Rue de Provence, 8th arrondissement of Paris. The numbers were translated into English to ensure ...
" and "
Le Chabanais", and built a new five-story mansion in the Art Nouveau style, decorating its facade with a gypsum mask of the
Sphinx, from which institution and got its name.
The main investors of the brothel were French criminals
Paul Carbone
Paul Bonnaventure Carbone (1 February 1894 – 16 December 1943) was a Corsican criminal involved in the Marseille underworld from the 1920s until his death in 1943. He was known as the ''Emperor of Marseille''. Associated with François Spirit ...
and
François Spirito
François Spirito, born Lydio Spirito (1898 – 9 October 1967) was an Italian-born French gangster. He was one of the leaders of the French Connection, and inspired the film ''Borsalino (film), Borsalino'', which featured Alain Delon and Jean-Pau ...
, who already had experience in organizing brothels in
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
and on the
Cote d'Azur
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
.
The absence of trouble with the law was guaranteed by the secret protection of the
Préfet de police In France, a Prefecture of Police (french: Préfecture de police), headed by the Prefect of Police (''Préfet de police''), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National Pol ...
Jean Chiappe
Jean Baptiste Pascal Eugène Chiappe (3 May 1878 – 27 November 1940) was a high-ranking French civil servant.
Chiappe was director of the ''Sûreté générale'' in the 1920s. He was subsequently given the post of Préfet de police in the 19 ...
and Minister
Albert Sarraut.
The brothel opened with great pomp on April 24, 1931, at 31 ''Boulevard Edgar-Quinet'' and was presented as the "''American Bar''". Guests at the opening included the Mayor of
Montparnasse and his wife.
The public were informed that the bar is located on the site of the former workshop of the cemetery masons, and is connected by an underground passage to the famous
Parisian catacombs.
German occupation of Paris
During the
German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
, Le Sphinx, like several other luxury Parisian brothels, was requisitioned for the use of German officers, in order to prevent their contacts with the local population. The health services of the
Wehrmacht were responsible for organizing the sanitary control of these establishments. Captain Haucke, commissioner of Geheime Feldpolizei, was responsible for managing prostitution in Paris.
Eva Braun and her friends were reported to have visited Le Sphinx, and
Hitler supposedly ate in the brothel's restaurant in June 1940.
After World War II
In 1946, after the adoption of the "''
Loi Marthe Richard
Loi Marthe Richard (Marthe Richard Law) of April 13, 1946 abolished the regime of regulated prostitution in France that had been in force since 1804. It required the closure of brothels ("maisons de tolérance"). The law bears the name of Marthe ...
''", the brothel was closed.
The building was requisitioned to accommodate convalescent students of the
Fondation de France
The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent administrative agency which was established by the French government in an effort to stimulate and foster the growth of private philanthropy and private foundations in France.Fon ...
.
In 1962, the building was demolished; the van Dongen frescoes and Egyptian interiors were destroyed.
A branch of the ''Banque Populaire rives de Paris'' now stands on the site.
La Brigade Mondaine
La
Brigade Mondaine
''Victims of Vice''Also known as ''Vice Squad''. (french: Brigade mondaine) is a 1978 French film directed by Jacques ScandelariCf. IMDb based on Michel Brice's novel edited by Gérard de Villiers.
Cast
* Patrice Valota: inspector Boris Corentin ...
(National Police Department responsible for the surveillance of prostitution) monitored "Le Spinx" during the 1930s. Photographs were taken to monitor the clientele, and the phones were tapped. Snapshots of the hygiene record drawn up during a health check on November 10, 1936, show that the house employs 5 sub-mistresses and 65 boarders in fancy outfits. The house opened from 3 pm to 5 am, with 3 passes per woman per day during the week, 2 on Sunday, for a single rate of 30 francs plus tip.
Famous visitors
*Writers:
Joseph Kessel,
Georges Simenon,
Blaise Cendrars,
Jacques Prévert,
Jean-Paul Sartre,
Colette,
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
,
Henry Miller,
Ernest Hemingway,
Lawrence Durrell
*Artists:
Moïse Kisling
Moïse Kisling (born Mojżesz Kisling; 22 January 1891 – 29 April 1953) was a Polish-born French painter. He moved to Paris in 1910 at the age of 19, and became a French citizen in 1915, after serving and being wounded with the French Foreign ...
,
Kees van Dongen
*Musicians
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
*Film actors:
Gary Cooper,
Errol Flynn
*Politicians:
Albert Sarraut,
Paul Reynaud
*
Alexandre Stavisky
Serge Alexandre Stavisky (20 November 1886 – 8 January 1934) was a French financier and embezzler whose actions created a political scandal that became known as the Stavisky Affair.
Early life
Alexandre Stavisky was a Polish Jew born in moder ...
, the famous swindler
*There is evidence that in 1932 "Le Sphinx" was visited by
Eva Braun with her friends, and on 23 June 1940, during his brief visit to Paris,
Hitler ate in the brothel's restaurant.
Interesting facts and legends
Since 1905, opposite "Le Sphinx", at number 16 ''Boulevard Edgar-Quinet'',
rented a studio. Some sources suggest that Voloshin visited the "Le Sphinx" and hired models there. This is incorrect; Voloshin left Paris long before the opening of the famous brothel.
In Literature
* "Le Sphinx" is mentioned in
Henry Miller's novel
Tropic of Cancer
* In 1975, the former madame of the institution ''Marthe Lemestre'' published a book of memoirs "''Madame Sphinx''".
* The "Sphynx" is mentioned in
W. Somerset Maugham's novel
The Razor's Edge
''The Razor's Edge'' is a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. The story beg ...
(1944), when Isabel, Gray, Larry and Willie are making a tour of the tough joints in Paris, sometime in the early 1930s
See also
*
Prostitution in France
Prostitution in France (the exchange of sexual acts for money) was legal until April 2016, but several surrounding activities were illegal, like operating a brothel, living off the avails (pimping), and paying for sex with someone under the age o ...
*
Parisian Brothels
The authorities of medieval Paris attempted to confine prostitution to a particular district. Louis IX (1226–1270) designated nine streets in the Beaubourg Quartier where it would be permitted. In the early part of the 19th century, state-con ...
Other Paris brothels 1920-1940s
*
Le Chabanais
*
One-Two-Two
*
La Fleur blanche
La Fleur blanche was a famous ''maison close'' ( brothel) in the city of Paris, located at 6 rue des Moulins in the 1st Arrondissement. The property was also known as ''rue des Moulins'' and was famous for its torture room.
History
The buildi ...
References
External links
Boswell, Le Sphinx 1937 .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sphinx
Brothels in Paris
Culture of Paris
Buildings and structures completed in 1931