{{Short description|American actor, comedian and puppeteer (1939–88)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Wayland Flowers | image = Wayland Flowers and Madame.jpg | image_size = 225px | caption = Wayland Flowers and Madame from ''Madame in Manhattan'' | birth_name = Wayland Parrott Flowers Jr. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|11|26|mf=y}} | birth_place = Dawson, Georgia, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|10|11|1939|11|26|mf=y}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = Cedar Hill Cemetery | years_active = 1964–1988 | occupation = {{flatlist| * Actor * comedian * puppeteer}} | spouse = }} '''Wayland Parrott Flowers Jr.''' (November 26, 1939 – October 11, 1988) was an American actor, comedian and puppeteer.<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFD71F3FF931A25753C1A96E948260 |title=Wayland Flowers Dies; Ventriloquist Was 48 |date=October 12, 1988 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213040852/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFD71F3FF931A25753C1A96E948260 |archive-date=December 13, 2007}}</ref> Flowers was best known for the comedy act he created with his puppet Madame. His performances as "Wayland Flowers and Madame" were a major national success on stage and on screen in the 1970s and 1980s.
Flowers is frequently cited as a ventriloquist even though he made no effort to conceal that he was voicing his characters. He instead preferred to be called an "illusionist,"<ref name="NYTimes"/> because onlookers tended to focus their attention on his animated puppets, who seemed to do all the talking.
==Early life== Wayland Parrott Flowers Jr. was born November 26, 1939, in Dawson, Georgia, the second of three children.<ref name="Arts">{{cite web |url=https://live-center-for-puppetry-arts.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1989_Wayland-Flowers-Madame.pdf |title=Wayland Flowers and Madame: An Exhibition Presented by the Center for Puppetry Arts |year=1989 |publisher=Center for Puppetry Arts |access-date=September 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202145340/https://live-center-for-puppetry-arts.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1989_Wayland-Flowers-Madame.pdf |archive-date=December 2, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/ms02jamsfon5pa/page/n275/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 |title=Wayland Flowers |year=1972 |publisher=Ms. Magazine |page=275 |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref> Wayland's father, in the Army, was soon deployed in World War II and was killed in action, leaving Flowers to be raised in a devoutly religious<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/tellmeaboutyours0000mabe|title=Tell me about yourself : how to interview anyone, from your friends to famous people|first=D. L.|last=Mabery|date=June 16, 1985|publisher=Minneapolis : Lerner Publications Co.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> all-female household,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/wayland-flowers-and-madame/ |title=Wayland Flowers and Madame |date=October 10, 2013 |website=Legacy |access-date=September 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625175827/https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/wayland-flowers-and-madame/ |archive-date=June 25, 2020}}</ref> save for his younger brother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/12/obituaries/wayland-flowers-dies-ventriloquist-was-48.html|title=Wayland Flowers Dies |website=The New York Times |date=October 12, 1988 }}</ref> There was a neighborhood girl with whom he liked to play with dolls; however, this was socially unacceptable for a boy in 1940s Georgia, so he would wrap up the dolls in paper bags, bring them to her house, and they would play with them in her garage.<ref name="Maupin">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/sim_interview_1982-12_12_12|title=Interview 1982-12: Vol 12 Iss 12|date=December 16, 1982|publisher=Brant Publications, Incorporated|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
As he reached adulthood, his mother encouraged him to go to college,<ref name="Maupin"/> so he spent a year-and-a-half at Young Harris College, transferred to Rollins College,<ref name="Arts"/> and then dropped out<ref name="Maupin"/> and enlisted in the Coast Guard.<ref name="Arts"/> While stationed in Connecticut, he traveled to New York City, saw the Broadway productions of ''Gypsy'' and ''West Side Story'', and fell in love with the city.<ref name="Arts"/> He briefly returned to Atlanta, decided he was unhappy there,<ref name="Arts"/> hitchhiked to New York City with $5 in his pocket,<ref name="montrose">{{Cite web|url=https://www.queermusicheritage.com/JUN2009/110488-wayland%20flowers.jpg|title=Montrose Voice, November 4, 1988}}</ref> and began living the life of a struggling artist.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}
==Career== ===Origins of Madame=== In a 1982 interview with Armistead Maupin, Flowers remarked that he had never worked with puppets until he landed a job as a puppeteer for Bil Baird's Marionettes show at the 1964 New York World's Fair.<ref name="Maupin"/> In a program created for a memorial at the Center for Puppetry Arts, it was claimed that he had a long history of working with puppets, dating back to his early childhood.<ref name="Arts"/> Regardless, World's Fair coworker Bob Payne<ref name="BAR82">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/BAR_19820916|title=Bay Area Reporter, Volume 12, Number 37, 16 September 1982|date=September 16, 1982|publisher=Benro Enterprises, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> noticed Flowers' affection for the toys and gave him a puppet that had been created as The Wicked Witch of the West for a production of ''The Wizard of Oz''.<ref name="Maupin"/> He hung her in the closet and found her soulful eyes staring back at him each time he opened the door.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024|reason=Seems hard to document}}
One day, he was sitting in a bar when a doddering little old lady walked in with a small dog on a leash. As a joke, the bartender picked up the woman by her crotch and hoisted her in the air, upon which she screamed, "Put me down, ya ''cocksucker''!"<ref name="Maupin"/> Flowers was taken aback hearing such language from an old woman, so he struck up a conversation with her and discovered she had been a Ziegfeld girl.<ref name="Maupin"/> He suddenly got the idea to transform the witch into a character loosely patterned after this woman, although he also cited his mother and aunt for inspiring Madame's attitude.<ref name="Maupin"/> (Years after his death, Washington, D.C., gay icon, waitress, and restaurant hostess Margo MacGregor proclaimed herself as the character's inspiration.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.metroweekly.com/2007/07/universal-mother |title = Universal Mother: Saying goodbye to Margo |first = Yusef |last = Najafi |access-date = June 15, 2023 |date = July 26, 2007 |work = MetroWeekly }}</ref>) Bedecked in fabulous evening wear and "summer diamonds" ("Some are diamonds; some are not"), Madame's look was patterned after movie stars such as Gloria Swanson and Tallulah Bankhead.<ref name="made">{{cite web |url=https://metrosource.com/wayland-flowers-madame |title=This is how Wayland Flowers and Madame made the '80s so gay |last=Phinney |first=Kevin |date=May 13, 2019 |website=Metrosource |access-date=September 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250513065114/https://metrosource.com/wayland-flowers-madame |archive-date=May 13, 2025}}</ref>
When he was between jobs, Flowers began performing street theater for tips, and that's where Madame began her career.<ref name="BAR82"/> If he wanted a drink, he'd go into a bar, prop up the puppet and say, "''Buy me a fucking drink''." Someone would always oblige, and Madame would lipsync to records as Wayland drank.<ref name="BAR82"/> A Greenwich Village bar owner was amused by their antics and offered the duo $20 to sit at her piano and perform,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/BAR_19881020|title=Bay Area Reporter, Volume 18, Number 42, 20 October 1988|date=October 20, 1988|publisher=Benro Enterprises, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> so Wayland quickly concocted an act. He developed double entendres, witty comebacks, and recycled old vaudevillian jokes, which became Madame's schtick. He garnered success in the gay clubs of New York, and eventually debuted Madame Off-Broadway at the Village Gate in 1971's ''Kumquats'', billed as "the world's first erotic puppet show,"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://slleiter.blogspot.com/2020/08/294-kumquats-from-my-unpublished.html|title=THEATRE'S LEITER SIDE: 294. KUMQUATS. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975|first=Samuel L.|last=Leiter|date=August 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/bestplaysof197110000unse/page/362/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 |title=Kumquats |year=1973 |publisher=The Best Plays of 1971-1972 |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref> which also included the "notorious ejaculating Punchinello."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/wholesexcatalogu0000unse/page/242/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 |title=Sex and the Variety Off Beat |page=243 |publisher=The Whole Sex Catalogue |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref> The show played 53 performances between November 1971 and January 1972.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/theatreworld197100john/page/90/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 |title=Kumquats |year=1973 |publisher=Theatre World, 1971-72 |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref>
His success in New York led him to get booked into The Pilgrim House in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1972, where he continued to perform nearly every season until his death.<ref name="archives">{{Cite web|url=https://provincetownmagazine.com/2022/05/18/wayland-flowers-archives-recently-discovered/|title=Unpacking Madame|first=Rick|last=Hines|date=May 18, 2022|website=Provincetown Magazine}}</ref> He was initially booked as a 15-minute opening lounge act, but within a week, he had attracted massive crowds.<ref name="Arts"/> Madame had been primarily playing to gays, but Wayland found a more diverse audience in Provincetown, where they were treated like major celebrities. "This was an underground act that took root and shot up out of nowhere," Flowers remarked.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.paradisepalmslasvegas.org/2021_06_04_archive.html |title=Paradise Palms Celebrity Spotlight: Wayland Flowers |date=June 4, 2021 |website=Paradise Palms |access-date=September 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023003548/http://www.paradisepalmslasvegas.org/2021_06_04_archive.html |archive-date=October 23, 2021}}</ref>
Several of Madame's character traits were also found in another popular puppet character of the time, The Muppets' Miss Piggy. Flowers felt that Jim Henson and his team had lifted material that he had created for Madame. When asked about the similarities, Flowers as Madame, responded; "Well. (Makes a face.) I think that every pig must have her own day. She's certainly had hers. Took all my ideas and just went to market with 'em, while this little piggy stayed home."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_interview_1982-12_12_12/page/n49/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Madame: "I never take cocaine. I don't want to get that close to the mirror |publisher=Interview |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref>
Flowers created an elaborate backstory for Madame, which he committed to the page with Gary Simmons in the 1983 book ''Madame: My Misbegotten Memoirs''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/madamemymisbegot0000flow |title=Madame: My Misbegotten Memoirs |last=Flowers |first=Wayland |year=1983 |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Madame: My Misbegotten Memoirs |last=Flowers |first=Wayland |publisher=Dodd, Mead |year=1983 |isbn= 9780396082347 }}</ref> In addition to Madame, Flowers featured other puppets in his act that included Crazy Mary (an escapee from Bellevue mental hospital<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_nevada_september-october-1981_41_5/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 |title=Nevada's Ugliest Madame |publisher=Nevada |year=1981 |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref>), Jiffy (a Harlem harlot with a heart of brass), Mr. Macklehoney (a crotchety, retired vaudeville comedian), and Michael Honey<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/gwu_hatchet_19750922/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 |title=Flowers at Waaay Off Broadway: Faaar Out |last=Generous |first=Kevin |page=5 |date=September 22, 1975 |publisher=Hatchet |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref> (a horny old gay man).
===Television=== Soon after The World's Fair ended, Flowers began dabbling in puppetry on New York television, creating and performing characters on the ''Aniforms'' segment of the 1965 series ''The Surprise Show''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tvparty.com/lostny2aniform.html |title=Aniforms |website=TV Party |access-date=September 29, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218132543/http://www.tvparty.com/lostny2aniform.html |archive-date=December 18, 2012}}</ref> and ''Captain Kangaroo''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sfbaytimes.com/madame-and-wayland-tarts-and-flowers/|title=Madame and Wayland: Tarts and Flowers|date=April 7, 2022}}</ref>
Paul Lynde caught one of his performances in Provincetown and invited Flowers to come to Hollywood, where his career exploded.<ref name="kelly">{{Cite web|url=http://www.provincetownhistoryproject.com/PDF/kel_000_131-kelly-s-corner-131-madame-returns-to-provincetown.pdf|title=Kelly's Corner - Madame Returns to Provincetown}}</ref> His first major national TV gig was designing and puppeteering the Baby Smedley puppets (voiced by Mel Brooks and Marlo Thomas) for the all-star 1974 TV special ''Free to Be... You and Me'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PS3nOcLbHI|title=KABC-TV7 (1974) "Free to Be You & Me!" Original Broadcast!!!!|date=July 18, 2021|via=YouTube}}</ref> a tie-in with the successful children's album of the same name. According to various sources, he earned a special Emmy Award for his puppets.<ref name="Arts"/> That same year, Madame appeared in her first TV special for WNEW, ''Old is Somebody Else: Aging, Everybody is Doing It'', which garnered Wayland a New York Emmy Award for "Special Use of an Unusual Craft."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nyemmys.org/media/files/files/a52dcee3/nyemmyawards19.pdf|title=NY Emmy Awards 19}}</ref>
In 1975, he and Madame appeared in the sketch comedy show ''Keep on Truckin'''. Debuting as a summer series was enough to prove that the network had little faith in it, but the show was dealt a crippling blow when host Rod Serling died two weeks before the premiere. Serling's segments were removed, and the show lasted a scant four weeks on the air.
The duo soon rebounded as regulars on the 1976 series ''Andy'', a syndicated revival of ''The Andy Williams Show''.<ref name="creator" /> This cemented their success, leading to talk show appearances, a small role in the Redd Foxx movie ''Norman... Is That You?'', a long run on the game show ''Hollywood Squares'' (replacing Paul Lynde in The Center Square), a featured role on the 1977 revival of ''Laugh-In'', a recurring comedy skit on ''Solid Gold'', TV guest spots, and even regional commercials.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4_LwmMdl9Y|title=Madame for Waterbed Warehouse 1981 TV ad|date=June 30, 2010|via=YouTube}}</ref>
Feeling he could take his act further, he began developing the TV sitcom ''Madame's Place'', which debuted in 1982 and costarred Susan Tolsky, Johnny Haymer, Judy Landers, Corey Feldman and Ty Henderson.<ref name="creator" /> The show was serialized, following the day-to-day goings-on of Madame and those closest to her, and featuring celebrities, comedians, and musical acts in a show within a show that she hosted nightly from her mansion. Outside of a shot in the opening credits, Flowers only appeared on-screen once; in "''Comedy, Sex, and Pathos''," he popped up in drag as inebriated cooking show host Julia Chives.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wPkgyaOtA |title=Madame's Place - Episode 44 |date=March 15, 2020 |via=YouTube |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824232136/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wPkgyaOtA |archive-date=August 24, 2023}}</ref>
Production began in August 1982,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/sim_televisionweek_1982-08-26_1_13?q=%22Madame%27s+Place%22 Electronic Media 1982-08-26: Vol 1 Iss 13]</ref> with the cast and crew working at a breakneck pace to churn out 75 half-hour shows in 26 weeks.<ref name="montrose"/> In addition to shooting the shows on weekdays, Madame also had a regular gig on ''Solid Gold'', which they'd shoot on Friday nights.<ref name="Maupin"/> It's been alleged that Flowers developed a heavy cocaine habit during the production in an effort to keep up the pace,<ref name="fringe">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/true-stories-of-the-fringe-2479952|title=True stories of the Fringe|date=August 6, 2008|website=The Scotsman}}</ref><ref name="findadeath">{{Cite web|url=https://findadeath.com/wayland-flowers-and-madame/|title=Wayland Flowers and Madame|website=Celebrity Deaths: Findadeath}}</ref> and that he was often so blitzed that he had to be carried on and off the set of ''Solid Gold''.<ref name="IF">{{Cite web|url=https://blog.marshotelonline.com/2014/10/26/if-puppet/|title=IF: puppet – josh pincus is crying|date=October 26, 2014}}</ref> During an interview on the set of ''Madame's Place'', Armistead Maupin remarked that he'd lost a significant amount of weight.<ref name="Maupin"/> Despite its wide exposure, ''Madame's Place'' was initially considered unsuccessful and canceled after one season. However, the show went on to have a long life in daytime reruns on the USA Network.
After the failure of ''Madame's Place'', Flowers kept his ''Solid Gold'' gig temporarily, then stepped away from the Hollywood spotlight, focusing more on live venues—but Madame did eventually briefly return to ''Solid Gold'' and a revival of ''The Hollywood Squares''.
==Personal life== Flowers was shy and lived vicariously through Madame, who became his constant companion everywhere he went.<ref name="comingout">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebar.com/|title=Bay Area Reporter|website=Bay Area Reporter}}</ref>
Although he has been posthumously cited as one of the first mainstream entertainers who was openly gay,<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Anderson-Minshall |first1 = Diane |title = Madame's Back and Randy As Ever |url = http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/people/2013/03/04/madame-back-and-horny-ever |website = The Advocate |access-date = January 26, 2017 |date = March 4, 2013 }}</ref> this is untrue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/us-elvis-televisions-intimate-portrait/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22|title=US Magazine, March 19, 1990, Letters, Phil Cooper}}</ref> He was well-known for performing on the gay circuit,<ref>[https://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/Houston80s/Assorted%20Pubs/DGN/DGN-88-051184.pdf Dallas Fort Worth Gay News, Issue 88, 1985/05/11]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmABBsbivNU|title=Wayland Flowers & Madame interviewed in 1977 by Frank O'Dowd for "Emerald City TV "cable show.|date=December 21, 2022|via=YouTube}}</ref> but feared that publicly saying the words "''I am gay''" would "cost him a million dollars a year."<ref name="montrose"/> When the ''Bay Area Reporter''<nowiki/>'s Steve Warren asked about his sexuality in a 1982 interview, Flowers lashed out, asking, "What's the point anyway? Why does everyone have to have a label? I don't know what I am. I've tried everything, although I have my preferences."<ref name="BAR82"/>
In the years since his death, there have been claims of promiscuity,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://skintop.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/wayland-flowers/|title=Wayland Flowers|first=Jerry B.|last=says|date=February 2, 2012}}</ref> temperamental behavior,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/BAR_20000615/page/n45/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22+ Bay Area Reporter, Volume 30, Number 24, 15 June 2000]</ref> and a snowballing drug habit that led him to alienate friends and associates,<ref name="findadeath"/> but he lived his life outside of the spotlight, which was generally shining on his alter ego.
==Death== In September 1987, Flowers was diagnosed with HIV,<ref name="fringe"/> but he did not publicly announce his diagnosis<ref>[https://archive.org/details/BAR_19911127/page/n31/mode/2up?q=%22Wayland+Flowers%22 Bay Area Reporter, Volume 21, Number 48, 27 November 1991]</ref> and continued to perform. He eventually developed Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-related cancer. On September 2, 1988, he collapsed onstage while performing at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe. After a brief hospitalization, he returned to his hometown of Dawson, Georgia, where he visited family.<ref name="creator">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-12-mn-3319-story.html |last1=Jones |first1=Jack |title=Wayland Flowers; Creator of Risque Puppet Madame |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 29, 2025 |date=October 12, 1988 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822164508/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-12-mn-3319-story.html |archive-date=August 22, 2023}}</ref> Upon returning to Los Angeles, he moved into the Hughes House hospice for palliative care.<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Gilliam |first1 = Jerry |last2 = Braun |first2 = Stephen |title = AIDS Hospices Bonds Get Tentative OK |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-28-me-235-story.html |website = Los Angeles Times |access-date = January 26, 2017 |date = October 28, 1988 }}</ref> On October 11, 1988, Flowers died at Hughes House of complications from AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma at the age of 48.<ref>{{cite news |agency = Associated Press |title = Wayland Flowers Dies; Ventriloquist Was 48 |work = The New York Times |date = October 12, 1988 |url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFD71F3FF931A25753C1A96E948260 |access-date = December 30, 2006 }}</ref><ref>Los Angeles County death certificate number 38819045556, registered October 13, 1988, by Donald W. Long, M.D.</ref> His remains were cremated at Grand View Memorial Park & Crematory in Glendale, California, and shipped back to his hometown of Dawson, Georgia, where they are interred at Cedar Hills Cemetery.<ref name="wilson">{{cite book |last1 = Wilson |first1 = Scott |title = Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |date = 2016 |publisher = McFarland |isbn = 978-0-786-47992-4 |page = 247 |edition = 3 }}</ref> He went on to be memorialized on The AIDS Quilt, although his name was misspelled as ''Waylon'' Flowers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aidsquilt.org.nz/quilt-blocks/block-12/|title=Block 12|website=New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt}}</ref>
Following Flowers' death, the ''Star'' tabloid reported that Madame was buried with him,<ref name="Advocate 2008">{{Cite web |url = http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/theater/2008/12/23/divine-miss-m |title = The Divine Miss M. |date = December 23, 2008 |first = Lawrence |last = Ferber |website = The Advocate |access-date = November 29, 2013 }}</ref> a falsehood that has frequently been repeated. Flowers bequeathed the puppets and his estate to his friend, manager, and ultimately, his caregiver, Marlena Shell.<ref name="Advocate 2008"/>
==Madame's Revivals== Debbie Reynolds, a friend of Flowers' who did an impersonation of Madame in her nightclub act,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/makeemlaughshort0000reyn|title=Make 'em laugh : short-term memories of longtime friends|first=Debbie|last=Reynolds|date=June 16, 2015|publisher=New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> urged Marlena Shell (Wayland Flowers' last manager and the administrator of his estate) to let another puppeteer take over soon after Flowers' death, but Shell was too devastated to consider it.<ref name="Advocate 2008"/> Over a decade later, Shell caught wind of impersonators and initially tried to stop them, but ultimately decided to combat them by bringing Madame out of retirement.<ref name="Advocate 2008"/> "I think I waited too long," she remarked, "[but] if I didn't bring [Madame] back, eventually no one would know who she is."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://neon.reviewjournal.com/entertainment-columns/mike-weatherford/madame-making-return-to-vegas/ |title=Madame making return to Vegas |last=Weatherford |first=Mike |date=October 26, 2009 |website=Neon |access-date=September 29, 2025}}</ref> Shell had been so close to Wayland that she became overprotective of the character<ref name="comingout"/> and blew through a succession of performers, claiming that they were each trying "to morph Madame into what was comfortable for them,"<ref name="Advocate 2008"/> rather than staying true to Flowers' vision.
First was Thom Fountain, the puppeteer for Salem the Cat on ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'',<ref name="puppetry">[https://www.puppeteers.org/resources/Documents/Puppeteers_Fall2022_DL.pdf Puppetry Journal, Fall 2022, Interview: Joe Kovacs]</ref> who appeared with Madame on a 2003 revival of ''The Hollywood Squares''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0603270|title=Episode dated 24 November 2003|date=November 24, 2003|publisher=IMDb}}</ref> and at the 25th anniversary of the Center for Puppetry Arts<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/25595166/celebrating-25-years-center-for-puppetry-arts|title=Celebrating 25 years - Center for Puppetry Arts|website=yumpu.com}}</ref> (where one of the Madame puppets has been permanently on display<ref name="kelly"/>). Then she hired Jerry Halliday, who featured Madame in his show "''Famous Women'',"<ref name="puppetry"/> which made Shell unhappy because she perceived Madame as a solo headliner.
Next, she hired Joe Kovacs, who spent a year practicing with the puppet and even went to a vocal coach in an attempt to sound more like Flowers before concluding that years of drinking and drugging had lowered Madame's voice.<ref name="puppetry"/> Kovacs debuted the show "''It's Madame with an E!''" at The Empire Plush Room, a defunct cabaret in San Francisco's York Hotel, in November 2006.<ref name="comingout"/> The next year, Kovacs appeared with Madame on VH1's ''I Love the '70s: Volume 2'' and the live show "''A Comeback from Abroad''," which played in San Francisco and New York<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/06/27/madames-ready-for-her-risque-act/|title=Madame's ready for her risque act|first=Pat |last=Craig |date=June 27, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.spincyclenyc.com/theaterdance/060717acomebackfromabroad.php |title=Madame: a comback from abroad |website=SPIN CYCLE NYC |access-date=July 15, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313004426/http://www.spincyclenyc.com/theaterdance/060717acomebackfromabroad.php |archive-date=March 13, 2007}}</ref> before he had a falling out with Shell,<ref name="puppetry"/> who hired entertainer Rick Skye to take over. At the same time, Shell sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mark Paquette, a performer who alleged that he was the boyfriend of Flowers and was given the rights to the character.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/news/2010/10/11/will-real-madame-please-sit|title=Will the Real Madame Please Sit Up?|website=advocate.com}}</ref> Paquette countered with a $10 million trademark infringement suit against Shell<ref name="Advocate 2008"/> that was later thrown out.
After appearances on several television shows, Skye's performances of "''It's Madame with an E!''" began November 15, 2008, at Resorts Atlantic City,<ref name="Advocate 2008"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.resortsac.com/entertainment/madames_cabaret.shtml|title=Madame's Cabaret - Entertainment - Resorts Atlantic City|website=resortsac.com}}</ref> and later toured the US in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.madameandme.com/tour.htm |title = Tour Dates: "It's Madame with an E" |website = MadameandMe.com (archived) |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110224090550/http://www.madameandme.com/tour.htm |access-date = |archive-date = February 24, 2011 }}</ref> In 2013, Madame found herself on the arm of Gary Holland for a "White Carpet Commentary" in Palm Springs,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cvindependent.com/2013/03/the-old-broad-is-back-white-party-dame-madame-speaks-to-the-independent/|title=The Old Broad Is Back: White Party 'Dame' Madame Speaks to the Independent!|first=Jimmy|last=Boegle|date=March 12, 2013|website=Coachella Valley Independent}}</ref> and the live show "''Madame's Back''."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/people/2013/03/04/madame-back-and-horny-ever|title=Madame Is Back and as Horny as Ever|website=advocate.com}}</ref>
Shell made two attempts at crowdfunding, both of which were dismally unsuccessful. In 2012, she proposed the semimonthly "''Madame Show''" (AKA "''Madame for President''"), a YouTube series that was to have featured Madame on the streets of New York, in a studio and on tour. The Kickstarter campaign had a $56K goal but only attained a paltry $345 in pledges. The following year, an IndieGoGo campaign was set up to fund a national tour of "Madame's Back," which fared slightly better but still fell very short, with a $50K goal and $4,855 in pledges.<ref name="IF"/>
Several years later, Shell suffered a debilitating stroke<ref name="puppetry"/> and sold Madame's rights to Ken Horgan and his husband, Scott Bente, owners of The Pilgrim House in Provincetown,<ref name="archives"/> where Wayland and Madame found their first major taste of success. Shell also provided them boxes of Flowers' belongings that had been packed away for decades, which included lost performances on videotape, scripts, notes, puppets, and much more.<ref name="archives"/>
In 2021, Madame made her triumphant return to Provincetown on the arm of Matt W. Cody in "''Madame: ALIVE!''"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://provincetownmagazine.com/index.php/2021/09/08/madame-blossoms-again/|title=Madame Blossoms Again: The Return of a Provincetown Icon}}</ref> Audience members complained that they preferred Kovacs' interpretation of the character.<ref name="puppetry"/> The following year, Horgan pleaded with Kovacs to team up with Madame again, so Kovacs, his life partner, and their cat moved to Provincetown.<ref name="puppetry"/> A new performance of ''Madame: ALIVE!''<ref>[https://ptownie.com/events/madame-alive/ Madame: ALIVE!],</ref> was staged in July 2022, followed by ''Madame's Face-for-Radio Holiday Hootenanny'' in December.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/connecticut/article/Puppet-Madame-Returns-To-Provincetowns-Pilgrim-House-In-MADAMES-FACE-FOR-RADIO-HOLIDAY-HOOTENANNY-20221121|title=Puppet Madame Returns To Provincetown's Pilgrim House In MADAME'S FACE-FOR-RADIO HOLIDAY HOOTENANNY|first=A. A.|last=Cristi|website=BroadwayWorld.com}}</ref>
==Legacy== Flowers spent the end of his life in L.A.'s first AIDS hospice, Hughes House, and left money in his will for another to be opened, called the Wayland Flowers House.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/BAR_19881124|title=Bay Area Reporter, Volume 18, Number 47, 24 November 1988|date=November 24, 1988|publisher=Benro Enterprises, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The funds went directly to Hughes House, which was renamed<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1993/scene/people-news/mario-cecchi-gori-115697/|title=Mario Cecchi Gori|date=November 8, 1993}}</ref> and closed a few months later because its county contract was not renewed,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-24-me-515-storyhtml|title=Lack of Funding Endangers Valley's Only AIDS Hospice |website=Los Angeles Times }}</ref> although it was briefly reopened in the early '90s.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKiIqgP9VfwC&dq=%22Wayland+Flowers+House%22+%22hospice%22&pg=PA21|title=Voices That Care: Stories and Encouragements for People With AIDS/HIV and Those That Love Them|first=Neal|last=Hitchens|date=June 30, 1994|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-88230-3 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
Wayland carried numerous Madame puppets on tour with him<ref name="julien's">{{Cite web|url=https://bid.juliensauctions.com/lot-details/index/catalog/314/lot/125582/WAYLAND-FLOWERS-MADAME-PUPPET|title=WAYLAND FLOWERS MADAME PUPPET|website=bid.juliensauctions.com}}</ref> in case there was a problem or so he could do a quick costume change.<ref name="roadshow">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisals/wayland-flowers-madame-puppet-ca-1972/|title=Wayland Flowers Madame Puppet, ca. 1972|website=Antiques Roadshow | PBS}}</ref> In 2015, a puppet that had been in the care of Flowers' former stage manager sold at Julien's Auctions for $12,500.<ref name="julien's"/> An earlier puppet, which didn't have arms, was featured on a 2022 episode of ''Antiques Roadshow'', and estimated to be valued at $15-$20,000.<ref name="roadshow"/>
A third puppet was auctioned off in 1990 by Butterfield's in San Francisco,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/BAR_19900705|title=Bay Area Reporter, Volume 20, Number 27, 5 July 1990|date=July 5, 1990|publisher=Benro Enterprises, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and sold to an anonymous buyer for $11,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/BAR_19900719|title=Bay Area Reporter, Volume 20, Number 29, 19 July 1990|date=July 19, 1990|publisher=Benro Enterprises, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1991, this same puppet went on permanent display at The Museum of Modern Art<ref name="kelly"/> in a piece by artist Nayland Blake titled "Magic,"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/BAR_19910926|title=Bay Area Reporter, Volume 21, Number 39, 26 September 1991|date=September 26, 1991|publisher=Benro Enterprises, Inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> which featured Madame in an open steamer trunk surrounded by dead flowers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://matthewmarks.com/artists/nayland-blake/lightbox/works/magic-1990-91-1531|title=Magic, Nayland Blake | Matthew Marks Gallery|website=Magic, Nayland Blake | Matthew Marks Gallery}}</ref>
Flowers inspired the first name of Waylon Smithers, a fictional character on the animated TV series ''The Simpsons'', who later came out as gay.<ref>{{cite podcast|last1=Goertz|first1=Allie|last2=Prescott|first2=Julia|title=I Married Marge (with Jeff Martin)|publisher=Maximum Fun|date=August 8, 2016|time=61:28|url=http://podbay.fm/show/979023994/e/1470639600|accessdate=April 4, 2018}}</ref>
American drag queen Raja Gemini performed as Madame on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 7) on the show's ''Snatch Game'', a game inspired by the TV game show Match Game.<ref name="Newsweek 2022">{{Cite web |url = https://www.newsweek.com/rupauls-drag-race-all-stars-season-7-episode-2-recap-snatch-game-s07e02-1708572 |title = 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Season 7, Episode 2 Recap: A Game of Two Snatches |date = May 20, 2022 |first = Samuel|last = Spencer |website = NewsWeek |access-date = May 20, 2022 }}</ref>
In 2022, Julian Hooper's original screenplay ''Madame'' – based on the life of Wayland Flowers – was named a Finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship, the annual screenwriting competition of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.<ref name="Variety2022">{{cite web |last=Lang |first=Jamie |title=Academy Announces 2022 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Recipients |url=https://variety.com/2022/awards/news/academy-2022-nicholl-fellowships-in-screenwriting-recipients-1235388368/ |website=Variety |publisher=Penske Media Corporation |date=October 18, 2022 |access-date=January 13, 2026}}</ref> Selected from 5,526 scripts submitted across 85 countries, ''Madame'' advanced through multiple rounds of judging by industry professionals and Academy members before being named a finalist by the Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee.<ref name="Variety2022" />
==Filmography== {|class="wikitable" |- !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |1965|| ''Aniforms'' || || |- |1974|| ''Free to Be... You and Me'' || Baby Smedleys || TV Special |- |1974|| ''Lampoon'' || Madame||TV Special |- |1974|| ''Old Is Somebody Else: Aging, Everybody Is Doing It'' || Madame||TV Special |- |1975|| ''Keep On Truckin''' || Madame/Jiffy || 4 episodes |- |1976-1977|| ''Andy'' || Madame/Mr. Mackelhoney/Jiffy || 26 episodes |- |1976|| ''Norman... Is That You?'' || Larry Davenport/Madame || Feature Film |- |1976-1981|| ''The Hollywood Squares'' || Madame|| |- |1977|| ''The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' || Madame|| Episode: Peter Marshall |- |1977|| ''Disco Fever: 'Saturday Night Fever' Premiere Party'' ||Madame|| TV Special |- |1977|| ''The Great American Laugh Off'' || Madame|| TV Special |- |1977|| ''Laugh In'' || Madame/Jiffy/Crazy Mary|| 6 Episodes |- |1979|| ''All-Star Secrets'' || Madame || 5 episodes |- |1979|| ''The First Annual Zany Awards'' || Madame|| TV Special |- |1979|| ''Playboy's Roller Disco & Pajama Party'' || Madame/Jiffy|| TV Special |- |1980|| ''The Beatrice Arthur Special'' || Madame || TV Special |- |1980|| ''All Kindsa Stuff'' || Madame || TV Special |- |1980|| ''Don Rickles and His Wise Guys'' || Madame || TV Special |- |1980|| ''Men Who Rate a 10'' || Madame || TV Special |- |1981|| ''Madame in Manhattan'' || Madame/Jiffy/Crazy Mary|| TV Special |- |1981-1984, 1987|| ''Solid Gold'' || Madame|| |- |1982|| ''Madame's Place'' || Madame/Jiffy/Crazy Mary/Mr. Mackelhoney || Unaired Pilot |- |1982|| ''Madame's Place''|| Madame/Julia Chives || 75 episodes |- |1982|| ''Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade'' || Madame || TV Special |- |1986-1987|| ''The New Hollywood Squares'' || Madame|| |- |2007|| ''An Evening at the Backlot with Wayland and Madame: The Lost Video'' || Madame/Jiffy/Crazy Mary/Mr. Mackelhoney|| Recorded in 1977. |}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * {{IMDb name | id=0283222 | name=Wayland Flowers}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.spincyclenyc.com/theaterdance/060717acomebackfromabroad.php |title=July & August 2006 NYC Show, A Comeback From Abroad |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313004426/http://www.spincyclenyc.com/theaterdance/060717acomebackfromabroad.php |archive-date=March 13, 2007}} * [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Wayland%20Flowers%20and%20Madame Wayland Flowers and Madame] at the Internet Archive
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Wayland}} Category:1939 births Category:1988 deaths Category:20th-century American comedians Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:20th-century American male actors Category:AIDS-related deaths in California Category:American comedy writers Category:American gay actors Category:American gay comedians Category:American male comedians Category:American male film actors Category:American male stage actors Category:American male television actors Category:American puppeteers Category:LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Male actors from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Nightclub performers Category:People from Dawson, Georgia Category:Young Harris College alumni