Seeking 30- to 50-year-olds for a stud farm generates nothing but suspicion

Unemployment is on the rise in Nevada, but The Shady Lady Ranch is hiring.

The diminutive brothel, between Beatty and Goldfield on U.S. Highway 95 about 150 miles from Las Vegas, appears to be doing its part to offset the flaccid job market. Madam Bobbi Davis says she's prepared to start her first stud farm.

To that end, she sent me this e-mail from ShadyLadyRanch@starband.net: "The month of June The Shady Lady Ranch will start interviewing men to entertain women. We will be looking for men in their early 30s to mid-50s."

Initially, I was flattered.

Halfway to Beatty I realized she wasn't actually soliciting my application and had sent that e-mail to others. Talk about red-faced.

When I returned to the office, I called her at the ranch, which has no cows or horses but does offer three shady ladies.

Come on, Miss Bobbi, a stud farm?

Haven't we heard this one before, several times in fact, from Heidi Fleiss?

"We really want to do this," Davis says. "We've got a place we've been putting together. We should have it done in a month or so."

But what will she name it?

Calling a stud farm "The Shady Lady" could give the employees a complex. Viagara Falls sends the wrong message, and "the Poynter Institute" is already taken.

While I remain skeptical, seeing as how inviting men to "apply" in person at a brothel could be perceived as a way of drumming up business for said establishment, Davis does have plenty of experience in the pleasure racket. By her count, she's operated the Shady Lady more than 17 years. Before that she ran outcall services and massage parlors in California.

Even she admits she's taking a calculated risk with the stud farm idea. Finding the right caliber of candidate could be challenging. And there's always the question of whether enough women will be willing to drive 150 miles to pay for sex to keep the studs occupied.

"We'll start with maybe one or two guys," she says. "We'll see what kind of reaction we get, whether we get enough women interested."

This being Nevada, where brothel prostitutes approached the Legislature this year to volunteer their services -- for tax purposes, I mean -- the notion of a veteran madam expanding her business model isn't all that shocking. It barely raises an eyebrow.

If her name sounds familiar, it might be because Davis made headlines when she issued $50 fuel vouchers to customers during last year's gas crisis. The gifted marketer also fought in court and won the right to advertise her brothel. For some strange reason, Nevada law allowed ads for politicians and outcall services but prohibited ads for legal prostitution.

Now she might have to hire another lawyer to work out the kinks in the state law that technically allows male prostitution but also calls for a brothel worker to receive a regular cervical exam. I have to believe there's a way they can resolve the regulatory differences without violating the penal code.

"That may hold us up a little bit," she says. "But I don't think it will hold us up much."

Then I took a closer look at the part of the advertisement where it says she's looking for men "in their early 30s to mid-50s."

According to the experts, the male of the species reaches the peak of his sexual prowess about age, uh, well, that was so long ago. The point is, does the brothel really want to hire an employee in his mid-50s?

Confidentially, I hope The Shady Lady offers a good health plan. If women can't wait to get their hands on guys with their own AARP cards, they'd probably save money by cruising the Elks Lodge or the early bird buffets.

Frankly, I think Davis was just flattering some potential customers.

You know, it's like those baseball fantasy camps. Aging businessmen with dreams of grandeur pay a bundle to hang out with big leaguers.

Every fan of a certain age wants to be able to say he played ball with professionals and was told he swung a mean stick.

But getting paid to bat cleanup, well, that's what separated The Sultan of Swat from Wee Willie Keeler, if you catch my drift.

"We think it's something that's long overdue," the madam says.

I decided not to ask Davis whether she meant that as a double-entendre.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith/.