Lipton’s year as a Parisian pimp
James Lipton isn’t ashamed that he was once a pimp.
James Lipton isn’t ashamed that he was once a pimp, said Dotson Rader in Parade. When the host of TV’s Inside the Actors Studio was a young man, hemoved to Paris, and found the French capital brimming with prostitutes. “It was only a few years after the war. Paris was different then, still poor,” says Lipton, 86. “The women couldn’t get work at all. It was perfectly respectable for them to go into le milieu [prostitution].” He struck up a platonic friendship with a young prostitute called Regine, and one day told her that he had to return to the U.S. “She said, ‘You’re broke, aren’t ya?’ And I said yes. And she said, ‘The problem is solved. You’re going to be my mec.’” Mec is French slang for pimp. Lipton decided to give it a try, approaching tourists and asking them if they’d “like a personal tour, a sexual exhibition.” He proved to be good at the job, and ended up representing a whole bordello. “I did a roaring business, and was able to live for a year [in Paris].” Despite that success, Lipton admits he still looks down on people who pay for sex. “I think if you can’t earn it on your own, then you don’t deserve it.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Why do Russian oil bosses keep dying?
Under the Radar There have been 'at least 50' mysterious deaths of energy company executives since Putin ordered Ukraine invasion
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The insides and outsides of Helsinki's energetic art scene
The Week Recommends Finland's capital has an admirable mix of street art and museums
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
'We have witnessed firsthand how health and civics intersect'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published