Madame making return to Vegas

Those old enough to know their disco-era camp surely remember the ribald puppet. A cross between Gloria Swanson and Phyllis Diller, Madame threw old-Hollywood savoir-faire into rimshot one-liners such as “I have very little to say about sex: ‘Yes,’ ‘When?’ and ‘Where?’ ”

The alter-ego of the late Wayland Flowers had her own syndicated sitcom, “Madame’s Place,” and headlined the Sahara and Sands in the early 1980s. Flowers had a house in Las Vegas during that era.

But Madame’s career came to a sad end.

Though he spent his final months in a West Hollywood, Calif., hospice, Flowers was one of Las Vegas’ first high-profile AIDS casualties when he died in October 1988, at age 48.

His death came soon after Liberace and Rock Hudson, when AIDS carried a tinge of scandal. An early Associated Press obituary listed the cause as cancer.

It’s fitting and resonant that Madame returns to Las Vegas on Wednesday for an AIDS benefit. The show at Stage Door Theatre in the Town Square shopping center helps Aid for AIDS of Nevada.

Madame is now under the steerage of Rick Skye. He voices the character in an arrangement with Marlena Shell, who tended to Flowers in his final days and is trustee of his estate. “Wayland passed from AIDS. I can’t ignore that, nor will I,” she says.

It’s hard to think of another situation like this one. All literary creations outlive their creators, but most ventriloquist characters (though Flowers technically wasn’t a vent) aren’t handed down.

“Madame’s not really like Kermit. She’s a way of life. A way of looking at the world,” Skye says. “You need somebody who gets this humor.”

Shell polices Madame “imposters,” and eventually decided to revive the character. There was a brief association with Las Vegas performer Jerry Halliday before she aligned with Skye, who writes new material for the character.

“I think I waited too long,” Shell says. “If I didn’t bring her back, eventually no one would know who she is.”

That wouldn’t happen with Glenn Alai, who oversees the business of Penn & Teller. “When I was a kid, there were maybe 10 or 15 acts in show business that for some reason had a great appeal to me,” he says of making his parents take him to see Flowers in Atlantic City.

He saw Skye’s revival there last year and decided to bring it to Las Vegas.

Skye says people react to Madame as though she never left. “She’s the real thing and the guy next to her is the new guy,” he explains. After a couple of minutes, “You never really look at me. They really think she’s by herself. It’s kooky and crazy, but that’s the magic of theater, really.”

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.