Behind closed doors

Nina left home -"hrabt lill- ommi'" as she put it - when she was 17. Before she graduated to Strait Street she used to spend her free time dancing at the Café Riche, at the entrance to Vittoriosa. But when a friend called Annie from the Café Riche told Nina of the Adonises in the form of American sailors that used to frequent Strait Street, the die was cast.

Because she was not yet 21, Nina could not get a licence to work in a bar and lure men in to buy her drinks. Thus, every time the police would raid the place she would rush off the table and hide in a cellar.

"I needed a midalja - a medal disc on which a number was engraved- which is how the licence needed by women to be able to work as barmaids used to be known. Girls working in bars had to display the medal on their tops by means of a pin on the back of the metal disc.

"Many a time I was found to be underage and was taken to court for working without a midalja and fined £5. Even if you blasphemed uttering the names of God or Our Lady, the fine used to be £5."

The midalja was a brass badge similar to the plates, bearing a number engraved on them but much smaller, issued to fish sellers and horse-drawn cab owners. The badge had the letters MP - Malta Police - impressed on it.

Waiters and foreign artistes performing in Strait Street had a similar badge which they also were meant to pin on their tops while at work.

When she came to Valletta and realised how many American sailors went through Strait Street, Nina threw caution to the wind and in her own words "Iggennint warajhom" (was besotted by them). They were tall, smart and handsome and Nina soon earned calls of "cute" and "baby face".

One of her brothers was studying for the priesthood but then decided to live the life of a hermit. An older brother used to try to rein her in, ordering her to be at home at nine, Nina recalled. Because she feared her brother would beat her up if she got home late she used to be home on time... initially. Her brother, she said, did not want her to be led astray. Then, in order to free herself of the clutches of her elder brother she went to live with her elder sister.

"I worked in all the bars in Strait Street because I was a lively woman with no inhibitions, dancing on tables and luring and pulling men into the bars.

"The Americans were mad about me, buying me expensive clothes and taking me out to eat at the Britannia. Every landa then was three shillings, one shilling for the imghallem, the bar owner, and two shillings for me. "I took that share because I did not get a wage. Those girls who got a wage - about £20 a month - would share the tokens 50-50 with the owner.

"If a man gave me £5 to buy the drinks, I would tell the barmen to charge him for 10 tokens. The drink served to girls was coke diluted with water.

"I never cared for the money I earned. Tomorrow never comes, that was the spirit. I used to go to swim with the servicemen and go on rides by karozzin with them too."

There were four or five Americans who wanted to marry her but she was too young to bother: "The world was too bright a place". Aged 37, by which time she had mothered six children, she married a Maltese who died aged 50 and to whom she bore a son.

At times Nina used to make 200 tokens, which works out at about £20 a night, when the average wage for most jobs was a few pounds a week.

There were times when the girls used to take sailors to their room. For example, when two prostitutes were murdered it was partly their fault because they did not work with a pimp known in Maltese as ruffjan.

Nina once took an American to her room and he started slapping her. When she saw how aggressive he was becoming, she suggested they make coffee but while preparing coffee she rushed out naked calling for help. Enraged, the serviceman rushed out after her brandishing a wine bottle with which to hit her but she was shielded by a man she knew.

"Scares like this were not uncommon. I used to give a man, the ruffjan, £2 for him to keep a sharp ear to the door. I used to tell the pimp that if the client does not leave the room, let's say after 10 minutes, he would start banging repeatedly on the door and shout 'time up, police' so the man would pack up and leave."

Women who entertained men in their room used to charge Englishmen between £10 and £15, Americans $20 and the Maltese £5.

Few if any of the girls cared for the money they earned because most of the time they were dead drunk and in that state used to ruin their expensive dresses and lose the gold jewellery they bought regularly.

At 1 p.m. after the bars closed, Nina used to gamble the money playing snooker and playing hbub, a heads-or-tails game played with three coins called farthings. A penny consisted of 12 farthings.

The girls used to come to Strait Street from all over Malta especially from the Cottonera and Zejtun and a good number of them got married to British, Norwegian and American servicemen.

Nina has now joined the Neocatechumenal movement "having experienced Christ in her life".