The Cavaliers were the young-blood dandies of the Weimar Republic, the kind of fellows that always seem to flourish in hard times, university-educated, well-dressed and -mannered, who live for naught but art and pleasure. As with the old-school English dandy, they pretended towards aristocracy, though their ancestral portrait might be bought at a flea market, lived on other people's money (mostly Dad's), and were "where they should be all the time", whether it was at the Opera, the nightclub, or the spa. Peculiarly German, however, was their fierce loyalty to each other (derived from having been frat boys in college) despite any class, ethnic, or geographic differences, coupled with a certain cold-bloodedness: the world was divided (by taste and overall coolness) into Cavs/non-Cavs, and never should even one Cav be preferred over another -- having exclusive friendships was considered effeminate!

More germaine to our discussion, however, was the Cavalier attitude towards sex. Sex, in the Weimar Republic, had two faces: on one hand, dating, as an activity seems to have been in a primitive state -- most young folks went out in mixed-sex clumps and clusters while their parents figured out who was best for whom, on the other, prostitution was so prevalent that it was borderline respectable. "Paying for it" gave it a special spice -- especially when you had so much to choose from.

There were old hookers, young hookers, S/M hookers, transvestite hookers, mother/daughter act hookers, twin and triplet hookers, thin, fat, tall, short, Asian, African, and anything between. Want to screw a pregnant woman? A boy of fourteen and his sister? Some combination dreamed up by the Marquis de Sade? The girl next door? Your kindergarten teacher? Your mom? Step right this way, my boy...we can arrange, or at least simulate, your deepest desire. On the top of the tree were the Telephone Girls.

Telephone Girls weren't simple whores, they were "engaged" by a prospective Cavalier, who would specify that he might take out "Marlene", "Thea", "Greta", or "Lotte", (or whoever was in the news) that night. Back at the Agency, a girl, somewhere between twelve and seventeen, would be dressed and made up to simulate the star in question, and delivered, in the manner of a oiran, by a limousine. The kid was supposed to stay in character, although she might, as a diversion, suggest going to a fair or conditorei, she should stick to night clubs, high end restaurants and the like (imagine yourself at whatever, who wouldn't?); her Cavalier was supposed to treat her as the boss (although sex seems to not be too far off the menu). It wasn't simply pedophily, it was the combination of starfucking, technology, role reversal, and of course the conspicuous consumption of spending X zillion (depending on how inflation was going) marks wining, dining, and buying gifts for a girl who would treat you like a lapdog in public. (Kind of puts a different spin on Lolita, no?)

Data is scant on how much these kids actually took home, though it argues for a certain amount of gentle handling that most of them seemed not to have 'worked' after retirement....

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