Mr. Madam – confessions of a male madam

Mr. Madam is based upon a true story, taken from several books by Kenneth aka Kate Marlowe. This one-person show is set in his study one evening where we find Kenneth mad that the world has forgotten who he was. Kenneth has been described as one of the gayest and most openly homosexual personalities of the late 50s and early 60s. He went from a 1940’s/1950’s drag performer to being a madam (for Hollywood gays), to being the author of several books and at the age of 50 began transitioning, and soon after marries a man in prison. You just cannot make this stuff up!

In July 2010 Armistead Maupin commented: “I met Kenneth Marlow in 1972 when he was in the process of becoming Kate Marlowe. He threw fundraising “The Ball to End All Balls.” with Big Band dance at which Sally Rand (then 70) performed her famous Fan Dance. I interviewed…she told me she’d grown up in a whorehouse in Winnemucca, Nevada.. true? I appropriated it for Anna Madrigal in Tales of the City.