Elizabeth Adams, known as Madam Alex and sometimes Alex Adams (1933 or 1934 – July 8, 1995) was an American

madam Madam (), or madame ( or ), is a polite and formal form of address for Woman, women in the English language, often contracted to ma'am (pronounced in American English and this way but also in British English). The term derives from the French la ...

Early life and career

Originally from Manila, with Filipino, German and Spanish ancestry, Adams said she arrived in San Francisco at the age of 17 in 1951. She had married twice by the early 1970s and by then had been divorced and widowed once. By her own account, after periods as a florist and owner of an antiques shop, she switched to becoming a

around 1971 after buying a book from a visiting English madam for $5,000, although half of the individuals listed turned out to be deceased. Adams operated a prostitution ring in Beverly Hills for more than 20 years. Under the pseudonym Alex Fleming (one of several), she sent young women to hotels in the district and on cruises charging $300 for two hours and up to $2,000 for a whole day, including for periods accompanying men to Europe and on cruises in the Caribbean. By the late 1970s, about 80 percent of Adams' clients were reported to be from the Middle East, especially from Saudi Arabia. She conducted most of her business from her bed, using the telephone for discussions with her clients and deciding on their ideal female partner for the evening. According to '' Vanity Fair'', Madam Alex had about 150 women working for her at the peak and was earning $100,000 a month taking a 40 percent cut. Adams assisted

Sydney Biddle Barrows Sydney Biddle Barrows (born January 14, 1952) is an American businesswoman and socialite who became known as an escort agency owner under the name Sheila Devin; she later became known as "The Mayflower Madam". She has since become a management co ...

, the so-called 'Mayflower madam' of Manhattan, informing Barrows of suitable clients to add to her list.

Convictions and later life

Court records indicate Adams was arrested on four occasions between 1972 and 1983, on charges of pimping and pandering, and convicted of pandering in 1974 and 1982. She was arrested in April 1988 on two counts of pandering and one count of pimping when the District Attorney had sufficient evidence; an undercover female police officer posed as a potential sex worker and provided evidence via a clandestine tape recording, as well as a testimony from one of her women. After law enforcement officers testified that Adams had provided information about homicide suspects, drug dealers and terrorists, plea-bargaining led prosecutors to agree that she should receive a probation order lasting 18 months when the case came to court in 1991. She later claimed

Heidi Fleiss Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30, 1965) is an American former madam. She ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles and is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam". Fleiss also formerly worked as a columnist and was a television ...

, for whom she had originally been a mentor, had stolen her list of clients. Fleiss said she was Adams' assistant at the time of her own arrest in 1993, but a female officer of the LAPD alleged Fleiss was Adams "number one 'girl'". A theft of jewelry from Adams' home was reported in late 1992 and partially solved in March 1993; the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

(L.A.P.D.) returned the few recovered items, along with 16 of her personal notebooks. ''Madam 90210: My Life as Madam to the Rich and Famous'', written by Adams in collaboration with

William Stadiem William Stadiem (born 1947) is an American non-fiction author who has written or ghost-written several biographies and autobiographies, mostly about the "golden age" of Hollywood, and restaurants. He also contributes to various magazines, and is a ...

, was published in 1993. Adams died at the

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

in Los Angeles, (reputedly) at the age of 60, after open heart surgery and the ending of life support. Her son, Scott, also of Los Angeles, survived her.

In popular culture

Adams was the inspiration behind the character Madam Nadja played by actress

Tracey Ullman Tracey Ullman (born Trace Ullman; 30 December 1959) is a British-American actress, singer, dancer, screenwriter, producer, and director. Despite being frequently referred to as a comedian, Ullman considers herself a character actress. Critics h ...

in the comedy series '' Tracey Takes On...''

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Elizabeth 1930s births 1995 deaths American brothel owners and madams American female criminals American prostitutes Criminals from Los Angeles