HIRED ESCORTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2081, 16 May 1907, Page 4

HIRED ESCORTS.

11l New York it is seriously proposed to organise means by which old maids or lone widows can call up suitable- male escorts by telephone in case they desire to attend a theatre. It has been discovered (writes the Daily Telegraph correspondent) that there are hundreds of women, strangers in apartments and hotels, who are simply yearning to go to the play if they can only find obliging young men to pilot them, and so until further notice a dozen handsome, wellbehaved young men will be lined up ill .the lobby of the Lyric Theatre at Now York. They will wear blue uniforms and white gloves, and in bold letters nil f)i.pir caps will be the words “Lyric Theatre Bscort,’? These gentlemen will be on hire at 8s per head, apd prospective patrons may have them waiting at the vestibule door within 20 minutes after calling up the theatre on the telephone. They will ho a boon tq timid old maids no less than to coy debutantes. They have been taught to say “Yes, miss,” and “No, ma’am,” and to look well after their charges. They will not be sworn in as special policemen, so that they will not be allowed to carry a truncheon, but once an unattached playgoer is placed in their custody the theatre will guarantee safe delivery. “I have selected these gentlemen,” said the Lyric manager, “from a hunch of 400 applicants. All have convinced me that they are highly educated. They have certificates of good character. They will be gentlemen that any lady might be proud to have as her escort. I got the idea from an old maid, who was a great admirer of Sarah Bernhardt.”