pago 4 fathom friday, march 14, 1930 .
Rubbordub-dub business
handles the aches, pains
By Bill Graf
Massage: The rubba-dub-dub of friction
at work.
However, services offered by massage
parlors, studios and spas are as varied as
their clients needs.
"It helps relieve stress. And because the
client is able to totally relax it's good for
his mental health. But, some of my clients,
just wanted to be touched, simply because
they hadn't been touched by a woman in
a while," a former masseuse explained.
For fear of incriminating herself she
asked to remain anonymous. For the sake
of the article well call her Stella Blue.
Miss Blue explained that many of her
regular customers at the Atlantis Health
Spa in Costa Mesa, Calif., where she work
ed for five months, were wealthy business
men with high-pressure jobs.
They just wanted to relax for an
hour," she said.
"One of the regulars was a millionaire.
He came in every day, sometimes twice a
day and spent as much as $300 in one
day."
Miss Blue said the spa gave only straight
massages but still many clients came to the
spa for erotic pleasure.
"I was told when I started that some of
the younger men will want to jack-off
during the massage. I thought that if it ever
happened I'd have to leave the room, but I
didn't."
Other clients, she said, used drugs
during the massage to heighten the sensual
experience.
Sex and Coke
Miss Blue recalled, "One client came in
for a three hour massage at $40 an hour
and we snorted cocaine off and on
throughout the massage. The massage was
totally straight, I just massaged him and
we snorted coke and shot the breeze for
three hours."
A former serviceman and client of
Southern California massage parlors stated
that most of his experiences were erotic.
"For $10 you got the regular massage,
for $25, the hot French rub. For $35 you
massage each other, and for $50 you could
go all the way," he said.
"But with inflation it's probably $100
by now," he added.
He also wished to remain anonymous to
save himself embarassment. Therefore for
the sake of clarity hell be Tom Wright.
Brothel message
Wright said his seven experiences made
him believe there is "practically no
difference between massage parlors and
houses of prostitution.
"When a client enters one of these par
lors," he said, "the interior was very
plush.
The grls were seated in an ornate
room so you could view the merchandise.
She would take you back to a room with
nothing more than a mattress and an un
shaded lightbulb. In the back room they
would offer the extras.
"I don't look back on this with pride.
"It v, ? dissatisfying for both of us. The
chick had done it so many times."
But Wright added, persons are bom with
sexual desires that you have to let out. If
you're not able to establish a sexual
relationship, they're (massage parlors) an
outlet.
"Many say it's a victimless crime, but I
don't know if that's true. Theprls seemed
scared of something. Maybe they were
afraid that if they didn't' turn enough
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tricks, they'd be out on the street and
exposed to even worse types."
He said that one girl at the parlor .told
him she was a runaway from Portland,
Ore. Another said she was working her way
through college.
Nebraska laws tough
Nebraska state law requires all
masseuses (women) and masseurs (men) to
be licensed by the State Board of Health.
State law also prohibits erotic massage.
Therefore all parlors in Nebraska are either
legal or soon out-of-business.
To be legally licensed in Nebraska a
massage technician must have 600 hours
or six months of supervised work at a
state approved residence school of massage
and pass a state exam. Or he or she must
complete a state approved massage course
and work for a month at a residence school
and pass the state exam. " " "
Jim Morton, district director of the
American Massage and Therapy Associ
ation and an Omaha masseur said if any of
his clients gave him the impression they are
there for erotic pleasure "I'd tell them to
hit the road."
But it has never happened, he said.
Morton, opera ter of the Brandes
Massage Studio, is a part-time masseur at
the European Health Spa in Omaha and is a
masseur in the jockey's quarters at Ak -gar-Den
during the racing season.
Morton said there are Oriental and
Turkish massage styles but that the
Swedish massage is most common.
The style is meant to relax, aid blood
and lymph circulation and tone muscles
and nerves.
Morton added that massage also relieves
emotional tension which can't be eased by
simple relaxation.
Morton's and Blue's massage styles were
very similar.
Styles similar
They both started with the feet and legs
in order to aid circulation.
They both massage' the abdomen, back,
neck, shoulders, legs, feet and chest.
After finishing the feet and legs, Morton
massages the arms and hands. Blues'
massage doesn't include arms and hands so
she goes directly to the back.
The major difference between the two
styles is the touch.
Morton's massage is vigorous whereas
Blue's is more like caressing.
Morton works every muscle loose and
Blue melts the client into semi-consciousness.
A few years ago several massage parlors
sprung up in Council Bluffs.
However, after the strengthening of "a
city ordinance regulating massage parlors
five years ago all the parlors in Council
Bluffs have either moved away or have
been shut down.
Lt. Gary Fields, vice intelligence unit,
Council Bluffs Police Department, said the
police were able to shut down several par
lors on license violations and evidence that
the masseuses were sexually stimulating
the clients.
Since the disappearance of massage
parlors in Council Bluffs, Fields said form
er parlor owners have opened businesses
that are not regulated by city ordinance
such as escort services and adult book
stores.
AH of these businesses are legal.
However, Fields stated, "If I thought
they were legitimate I wouldn't be
constantly checking them out with under
cover poLce officers."
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Photo by Jerry McBrida
Jim Morton, 59, demonstrates massage techniques that originated in Sweden 300
years ago.
By Michael Zangart
". . . . you hung on to me like I was a
crucifix. "
-Leonard Cohen
I saw Paul's ghost sitting at the bar the
other night, watching the waitress with
doleful eyes and occasionally smiling sadly
into his Scotch and water. It has been a
few years now since he has moved on, but I
still see him occasionally in the faces of
those who continually fill his space.
It is a peculiar kind of quiet desperation
that pushes people-especially men-out
into the city night" after night, following
one infatuation or another. Night after
night in the same bar or restaurant because
they have fallen in love with the waitress
maybe because she is pretty or pleasant,
mostly because she's there.
7 It is the same passion inspired by singers
and dancers. The lonely man or woman
who sits up front with their eyes riveted on
the stage, applauding wildly and fantasizing
that they, out of all the people there, really
appreciate and understand the person up
front. It is an "us and them" fantasy, and
one that must be exceptionally painful to
come down from.
It reminds me of a terrible old joke that
used to make the rounds at potato chip
parties. It was about a man who spent most
of his working life running to catch his bus
every morning. He'd pass the same tree on
his way to the bus week after week, until
one morning as he was running past it, he
stopped dead. All of a sudden, he realized
how much he loved the tree.
"I really love that tree," he said. "1
mean really." He walked up to the tree and
quickly told it that he loved it. The tree,
however, didn't respond. 'Tree, I love
you," he said. The tree never moved. He
then reached out his hand and stroked the
bark. Getting no response he backed up
and ran at the tree, wrapping his arms and
legs around it. "I love you tree!" he
screamed. But the tree never moved.
The rather sad moral to the story is,
"Only God can make a tree . . ."