Wicked Charlotte by Stephanie Burt Williams

Author:Stephanie Burt Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

JEANETTE LARK: A PUBLIC PROSTITUTE

Prostitution is famously known as “the oldest profession in the world,” but it was definitely not something that polite Southern society discussed. In Charlotte, with its numerous hotels and streets stretching out into the county, prostitution had more places to go. And with the money that flowed through Charlotte, prostitution was inevitable.

Still, when the Charlotte Observer approached new reporter Charles Kuralt to do a story on prostitution in 1955, this polite Southern gentleman who ultimately would become a household name was not necessarily keen on the idea. He tentatively investigated and then declared that there was no prostitution in Charlotte. How could there be with its well-clad ladies walking briskly down the sidewalks to Belk’s or the pharmacy, or the men in fedoras tipping their hats in hello or walking by a ball field where children were running around the bases?

However, when the newspaper did not like Kuralt’s initial answer, he came back with a rare gem—instead of a general exposé on prostitution in Charlotte, Kuralt told the story of one prostitute, high-priced Jeanette Lark, who was open about her lifestyle and the money she received from it. In a Southern city like Charlotte, Lark’s story is remarkable, not necessarily because of her prostitution, but because she was not famous or notorious, just a minor criminal whose infamous legacy was recorded by Kuralt to stand the test of time. It gives us a glimpse inside the repression of the 1950s, and, frankly, where that repression ran, seemingly right into the arms of Jeanette Lark or someone like her, ready and with money to spend.

“Sometimes I made way over $100 a night,” Jeanette Lark testified from the witness chair. One week, she said, she made $1,000.

The pretty, married brunette said she plied her trade for almost a year at two local hotels. She gave 40 percent of her income to two bellboys, James and Will Ely, she testified. They allegedly arranged her “dates” for her.

Jeanette Lark made the headlines.

Service was stellar in Charlotte hotels in the 1950s, especially if she was plying her trade in a downtown establishment. The halls would be cool and the bellhops discreet, especially if they were getting paid under the table.

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