Historical question

The girls were called dime a dance girls or taxi dancers. They were supposed to encourage their partners to buy them drinks , on which the dance hall made money. Often the girls were strictly supervised, and not permitted to date the customers or agree to a side hustle. The business could only operate in certain legit neighborhoods if they kept away from prostitution.

I believe Gloria Graham ‘ s character worked at such a place in Criss Cross. Lucille Ball was a dime a dance girl in Lured.

Taxi dancers typically received half of the ticket price as wages and the other half paid for the orchestra, dance hall, and operating expenses.[18] Although they only worked a few hours a night, they frequently made two to three times the salary of a woman working in a factory or a store.[19] At that time, the taxi-dance hall surpassed the public ballroom in becoming the most popular place for urban dancing.[20]

Taxi-dancing flourished in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s, as scores of taxi-dance halls opened in Chicago, New York, and other major cities. Like other nightlife venues, the taxi-dance hall ran the gamut from the classy establishment to the cramped and seedy hole-in-the-wall. Roseland in New York City, for example, which offered taxi dancing in the late 1930s, appealed to the more discerning patron. Far more common, however, were halls catering to a working-class clientele. By the mid 1920s, taxi dancing had become a nightlife entertainment staple in many large American cities - Wikipedia


Taxi dance halls were in the middle of the spectrum bwteen dance instruction studios and brothels. No women customers were allowed , just dance hostesses. They were for the most part respectable, but the profession veered toward the line.

One is featured in the mini series Lillie about Lillie Langtry. It shows her wanting to be the exclusive patron of an attractive dancer. This same idea is mentioned in Cotton Club, where the RICHARD Gère character admits he was paid to dance with old ladies, and talks about the “ after work” implying prostituti9n. Men did not get the same protections as women doing this work.

The Wiki article mentioned that a respectable taxi dance hall would not allow female customers. The only women allowed were employees. It’s interesting to me that these dance halls were so popular. Was it financial, ? Was it that bringing a date to an evening of dancing meant transportation, flowers, drinks cover charge, while a taxi dance hall only charged 10 cents a dance and provided a compétant partner. If a young man really liked to dance this was a good deal

I’m thinking of 0rofessional dancers at resort hotels in Europe and the Catskills. The dancers could do anything from ball room instruction to escort work to prostitution .

It really is funny there is not a smoother name for this. The complicated gluing words to gether is almost Germanic. It’s not an English word coining process at all. In English we typically borrow a term from another language, or take a useful adjective or verb and turn it into a noun, like escalator, or computer.

Don't forget Charity Hope Valentine's colleagues....




this song is known as the taxi dancer's lament





 sharp eyed posters will note Rita Hayworth, second from right,  in an early B  second lead from 1937.

LOL. Don't believe the spin marshamae, or the whitewashed movies of the classic era. These girls would go at like bunnies if the Johns had bucks to spend. Also, people were a whole lot more discreet in those days. Way more privacy too.