I put up a lot of old-time mugshots lately, and I thought I exhausted the subject, then Jorge sent me a link to more that I'd never seen before. These were police photos of prostitutes taken in Montreal in the 1920s. What a find!
None of them were what I expected. American gangster movies of the period always portrayed prostitutes as high-living Flapper-types (above). After seeing Jorge's pictures I'm wondering if that image was exaggerated. I don't see any Flappers here.
Here's a few of the Montreal pictures. The woman above was a madam in a house of ill repute.
So was this woman (above).
And so was this woman (above). Yikes! Two of these women managers were pretty mean-looking. I wonder if that's because some of their employees were virtual slaves. I don't know if that's the case...I'm just guessing.
Some of the women (above) who were mere sex workers in those houses looked pretty mean themselves.
Maybe they were madams in training. They look hard as nails.
Some of the workers looked tragic, as if nothing good ever happened to them in their entire lives.
Others looked simple-minded.
By the 1940s the women (above) in the mugshots looked more normal...well, sort of.
Maybe by then more women were in that business voluntarily. 'Just a guess.
What were women in that line of work like before the 1920s? I'm not sure, but this mugshot (above) from 1920s Australia might contain a clue.
BTW: Most of these pictures were derived from a site called "vintage everyday," 1/26/2014
Perfect photos to make studies from, no matter how repulsive they look! Great find. I'd like to see you make a story with designs based off these criminals.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you arranged this and your commentary way more than how the original webpage did so.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whatever became of these women? If they managed to leave the life?
Although they do have wonderful character in their faces, there's a permeating sadness to them.. and they almost seem like they're from the 19th century than the 20th.
Jorge: Thanks again for the great pictures. These women do indeed come off as very sad. Of course they've just been nabbed by the police, so they probably weren't in the best of moods. Even so...the sadness seems to run deep.
ReplyDeleteLets (not) play the dating game!
ReplyDeleteYep, I must now draw character adaptations of these beauties! A great selection of historical gems you have here. They are so disguxy! by all means, more please!
Several years ago I used to live in a neighborhood with a fair amount of prostitution. Many times I'd be waiting early in the morning for a city bus to take me to my university job, and the "working girls" would be out working the morning rush-hour commute. They looked like modern versions of these women: quite ragged-looking, dressed in t-shirts, jeans and tennis shoes, and a million miles away from glamorous. To put it crudely, most customers only saw the backs of the women's heads; looks didn't seem to matter.
ReplyDeleteThe women had the same sad and world-weary look as well. And I don't blame them.
Rebecca: An interesting comment! I really feel sorry for women like the ones you describe.
ReplyDeleteCertainly doesn't look like the "everyday workers" were making much. Literally working your a$$ off while and earning only enough to live hand to mouth certainly kills a good deal of joy in any profession.
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