Dancers

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In the interwar period, a single dancer was an employee of dance schools who had to invite female guests to dance at dance events . The profession came up after the end of the First World War . Its popularity at that time is related to the final loss of power of the aristocracy (see class boundaries ).

In Austria nowadays the term “one-dancer” (mostly used in plural) is used to describe young people who go to dance schools and who, as members of a dance formation, open the numerous ball events during the carnival season.

Historical meaning

The heyday of the dancers were the years after 1918, when many officers discharged from the army made their living in this way. Since they knew how to behave perfectly and could wear elegant clothes , they were valued by the local operators as well as the ladies. After the First World War there was a shortage of men or a surplus of women, which of course also had an impact on the selection of men in dance courses.

In the history of music , this situation is through the hit Beautiful Gigolo, armer Gigolo (Text: Julius Brammer , Music: Leonello Casucci , 1929) received.

Then there's the hit Dear little gigolo ( Willy Rosen / Robert Gilbert ), played by Julian Fuhs and his orchestra, singing: Leo Monosson , recorded on Ultraphon A 687 (. Mx 15478) on October 22, 1930 as well as Marek Weber with his orchestra on Electrola EG 2131 (mx. BD 9249) from November 6, 1930; both recordings were made in Berlin .

Some impoverished aristocrats were active as dancers, as emulated by the Austrian film His Highness, the Dancer ( 1927 ) with Anny Ondra for the screenplay by Walter Reisch . The power over a man who, as an officer or aristocrat, had previously been an authority that was virtually unattainable for them, was what attracted the customers. Conversely, in this function, bourgeois men could compete with aristocrats or, which often happened (especially since the identity of the dancers mostly remained a well-kept secret and was only spread by rumors), pretend to be such.

The film director Billy Wilder also worked as a "dancer" (officially: "society dancer") in Berlin in the Eden Hotel from October to December 1926 . In January 1927 he wrote a serial report about it in the BZ am Mittag : Waiter, please have a dancer. From the life of a dancer . Hellmuth Karasek in Billy Wilder , Hamburg, 1992, pp. 58-63, quoted from it and added later interesting and amusing memories of Wilder about this time and activity .

Current forms

Today this occupation still exists on cruises on board luxury liners , where women traveling alone spend their time. As a gentleman hosts or Distinguished Gents are there men called out on behalf of the shipping company ask these ladies to dance or even otherwise entertain such. B. through musical performances or walks. The typical age of a gentleman host is between 45 and 72 years, depending on the target group. As a reward for their work, the gentleman hosts usually receive the cruise free of charge or at a very low fare.

Gentleman hosts have to be single and follow contractually agreed rules, are subject to a dress code and may e.g. B. only dance three times each evening with the same passenger. Smoking is undesirable and drinking is very reluctant. A hidden marital status, gambling with a financial background or intimate relationships with the female guests are grounds for termination.

Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon played Tango in the film . two dancers. In a guest role in the ZDF “Traumschiff” episode Rio de Janeiro, broadcast at the end of 2007, Harald Schmidt portrayed a gentleman host whose secret wife suddenly appears in front of him and makes the trip.

gigolo

In German, the word gigolo (from French gigoter , "fidget; dance") had changing meanings over time . In the 1920s it was a less derogatory, more pitiful term for a dancer. Gigolo was later called a man who dressed and behaved excessively fashionably.

In English today (2007) gigolo is referred to as a man, regardless of a specific service, who can be endured by a loved one (see also male prostitution ). One such gigolo is for example John O'Hara's several times dramatized and filmed novel hero Pal Joey (1939), while the American gigolo from 1980 played by Richard Gere simply prostitutes himself.

Movies

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anna Warnholtz: The man who pleases women traveling alone. (Interview) welt.de, September 28, 2015, accessed on September 28, 2015
  2. ↑ Leo Dictionnaire: gigoter