Sex for one part
1
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
It was the mid
eighties and Retrograph, the photo archive
decorative arts library, was getting well known.
One evening the phone rang and a coarse blatantly
obviously Australian voice asked if that was
Retrograph. She wanted to know how much I would
charge for my Parisian lady print in a bedroom. I
asked what kind of company the business was in.
She shrieked across the room to find out. The
reply came. A brothel.
She then went on to say that Mary-Anne Kenworthy,
the owner was coming to London the next week as
she had won an award at the Sexual Freedom Awards
ceremony! Could she make an appointment to come
on the Saturday, the morning of the awards? I was
fascinated, never had I met the owner of a
brothel before and so I agreed.
I looked up Langtrees in Kalgoorlie on her
website and presumed she was the tempting lady
illustrated on the website.
The day dawned and Mary-Anne appeared with her
minder. She had no makeup on, with short cropped
brown hair and a sunny smile. Her minder looked
glum. He was the manager of her bordello and
looked after the girls. She looked like Jane
Fonda except for her clothes. A simple fresh
white blouse and a very short mini skirt and
pumps on her feet.
I had prepared my ladies of the night. 200 sepia
original postcards from about 1920 judging by the
decor and hairstyles.
But Madam seemed more interested in talking to me
about how she became a working girl in Australia
where brothels were legal. She was originally
from New Zealand. Her minder went out for a drink
in a pub. He had a red pitted nose so I suspect
he was an alcoholic. He had heard it all before.
Madam told me her bible was called ‘Sex for
one’ and she always travelled with it. She
wanted to show it to me and thus another
appointment on the Saturday before the awards.
Written
16/1/25 at Nightingale
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