The Five Most Infamous Madams’ Second Acts

December 12, 2012 by admin
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Infamous Madams’ Second Acts

PHOTO: Sydney Biddle Barrows, known as the Mayflower Madam, is shown in Chicago, Feb. 1, 1994.

A descendant of the first Europeans to arrive to America on the Mayflower in 1620, Sydney Biddle Barrows was dubbed the “Mayflower Madam” after her arrest hit the front pages of newspapers around the country in 1984.

Barrows, from a well-to-do Philadelphia family, had taught her young female employees how to dress better and engage wealthy men in conversation on their dates. When she was busted, lawyers, doctors, diplomats and stockbrokers peppered her list of client names.

After paying a $5,000 fine, Barrows wrote a best-selling memoir called “Mayflower Madam,” which was turned into a TV movie starring Candace Bergen. She went on to write two books on etiquette, using her moniker, the Mayflower Madam, and in 2009 released a book of business advice, “Uncensored Sales Strategies.”