Origins
The One-Two-Two was opened in 1924 by Marcel Jamet and his first wife Fernande, who called herself Doriane. She had formerly worked in another brothel in Paris, Le Chabanais. Doriane, through her husband, acquired 122 Rue de Provence. Initially, she only employed three women.
Originally, the building had three floors and was the former private mansion of Prince Joachim Murat. A fourth floor was added by Marcel Jamet in 1933. It was later increased to seven imposing floors. There were white shutters which were always closed.
Doriane left the One-Two-Two to marry a rich diplomat in 1939. She was replaced by Georgette Pélagie, known as Fabienne, a young woman who became sub-mistress at the age of 21 years. Marcel Jamet married her in 1942 and hosted an extraordinary feast for the 56 distinguished guests, who consumed 34 magnums of champagne and 176 bottles. [1]
Fabienne went on to write a book about the One-Two-Two in 1975.
Operation
The building had twenty-two decorated rooms. Forty to sixty-five prostitutes worked for 300 clients per day. It was open from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am and the sub-mistresses filtered the men at the entrance. The girls of the establishment had to have four sex-sessions a day at twenty francs each, excluding tips, and two sessions on Sundays. There was also a bar, a refectory for the girls, and a doctor's office. [2]
There was also a restaurant, the Boeuf à la Ficelle ("beef with the string," named after a recipe of roast beef filet dipped in a broth of vegetables and spices on the end of a string). The waitresses wore only high-heeled shoes and a camellia in their hair. Guests were welcome for dinner and coffee and to smoke a cigar in a living room afterwards. They could chat with girls without the obligation to go further. [2]
German Occupation
During World War II and the German occupation of Paris (1940–1944), the One-Two-Two, like other luxury brothels such as Le Chabanais, was a place of "after-work" relaxation for many German officers who came to benefit from the services of the young boarders.
The establishment was not affected by rationing. Otto Brandl, one of the main officers of the Abwehr in France after September 1940, was involved in the Parisian black market. He and captain Wilhelm Radecke ran their black market operations from the One-Two-Two. [3]
Also involved were "Monsieur Michel" (Mandel Szkolnikoff), the biggest supplier of the Germans, and "Joseph" (Joseph Joanovici), a former Romanian-born scavenger who had the status of "economically valuable Jew", members of the French Gestapo (nicknamed "Carlingue" or Fuselage in French) and members of the Pierre Bonny and Henri Lafont criminal gang.
After the Liberation of Paris by the allies, Fabienne traded with the Americans. She wrote that there were very good people, but also racists. She didn't accept that one guy wanted to hit a girl because she was black. [3]
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"The Lanterne Verte was a brothel; it was declared as such, and in its large hall, furnished as a cafe, naked girls served the offer of the house. A schoppen white wine cost a franc and who wanted to fuck with the girls or wank one, the waitress was paid forty sous. Everything happened on a bench or chair of the establishment: there were no rooms. Customers entering were usually surprised at two or three pairs who were just in full swing. This Lanterne Verte was a prosperous business; each waitress served thirty customers on average between twelve o'clock and five o'clock in the morning, which brought her sixty francs".
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"The Fourcy in the district of Saint-Paul, the most famous of the Paris slaughter houses, demanded 5.50 francs per session. "Five francs per lady and room," as if it were a chorus's chorus, who goes to the room? "The ten sous, which were asked for as a supplement to the five francs, is not a tip, but a tariff for the towel attracted so many customers on working days that some ladies who were not too bad, were anything but unemployed and able to cope with seventy sessions."
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Prostitution in Paris, both in street form and in dedicated facilities has had a long history and remains present to this day.
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The history of prostitution in France has similarities with the history of prostitution in other countries in Europe, namely a succession of periods of tolerance and repression, but with certain distinct features such as a relatively long period of tolerance of brothels.
