1 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: Listen to me. This is a woman's business. When a 2 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 1: woman does it, it's fun, there's a giggle in it. 3 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: When a man's involved, he's sleazy, he's a pimp. He 4 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: may know how to keep girls in line, and he 5 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:33,879 Speaker 1: may make money, but he doesn't know what I do. 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: Alex Fleming Madam. 7 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 2: Madam Alex Hell. Yeah, she was crazy. She was out 8 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 2: of her mind. But it took a lot more than 9 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 2: just learning from someone. There's a lot more thought that 10 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 2: goes into the escort business than people realize. You have 11 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 2: to learn how to make people feel secure in dealing 12 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 2: with you. 13 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: Heidi Flace. 14 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:05,759 Speaker 3: Previously on Heidie World. Heidi Flice flunked out of high 15 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 3: school and lit the LA partying scene on fire. She 16 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 3: hooked up with Ivonne Naj, a sleezbag hungarian director turned 17 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 3: full time sportsbookie, who introduced her to LA's secret world 18 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 3: of high end prostitution. Welcome to Heidi World, Chapter three, 19 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 3: mid Century Madam Madame Alex rules LA and teaches Heidi 20 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 3: the rules of the game. Nineteen sixties, seventies, and eighties. 21 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 3: Madame Alex went by a lot of names. She was 22 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 3: variously known as Elizabeth Adams, Betty Jensen, Alex Adam, and 23 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 3: Alex Fleming. But who exactly is the woman who showed 24 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 3: Heidi the ropes of running a high class escort business. 25 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 3: Lucky for us, she wrote an autobiography called Madam nine 26 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 3: oh two one zero that fills in a lot of 27 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 3: the details. There's also a Vanity Fair story about her 28 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 3: called I'm Alex, Call Me, written in advance of her 29 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 3: nineteen eighty eight trial date. In the two decades she 30 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 3: ran her call girl business, Madame Alex didn't advertise, she 31 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 3: didn't need to. Word of mouth kept her phone ringing 32 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 3: off the hook. She called herself an antique stealer, and 33 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 3: that was the front she used for decades as she 34 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 3: ran her popular, high class call girl ring. She also 35 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 3: had a special relationship with the cops as an informant, 36 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 3: who were well aware of her and allegedly took bribes 37 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 3: in the form of sex. But she did make business 38 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 3: cards once in nineteen eighty five, with the engraved image 39 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 3: of a bird of Paradise and the copy Alex's aviary 40 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 3: Beautiful and Exotic Birds. But it wasn't the business card 41 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 3: that got her busted. It was the word of mouth. 42 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,919 Speaker 2: Madame Alex was a total blabbermouth. She loved to gossip. 43 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 2: She did not care if there was any truth to 44 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 2: her stories at all, Yet she maintained a classy persona 45 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 2: of hush hush. 46 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 3: Madame Alex knows everyone in town, including an anonymous talent 47 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 3: manager who also knows everyone in town. 48 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 4: For now, we will call him Rick. 49 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 5: One night at the Troubadour, I spotted this extraordinary girl. 50 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 5: I was standing with Hollywood's most celebrated lithario, so I 51 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 5: asked them who she was? A professional? You whispered. That 52 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 5: was my first introduction to the notion that on a 53 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 5: scale of one to ten, there were women who were fifteens, 54 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 5: a beautiful bride, witty, and oh by the way they worked. 55 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 5: Once I became aware, I saw these women everywhere, and 56 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 5: I came to learn that most of them were connected 57 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 5: to Alex Rick clients of Alex. 58 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 2: When I first met Madame Alex, I was surprised to 59 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 2: see that most of the girls working for her were 60 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 2: actually not that attractive. The girl's age range was twenty 61 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 2: eight to forty three, but Alex kept a pristine reputation 62 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 2: of style, class taste. Whatever Alex maintained this reputation by 63 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 2: getting anyone she needed in her life laid for free. 64 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 2: This included journalists, cops, lawyers, what have you, and in return, 65 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 2: these people would do anything they could to please her 66 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 2: to get the freebie. 67 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 3: Alex's exotic birds or creatures as she called them, were 68 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 3: mostly the type of girls she thought her clients wanted, 69 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 3: a type at its peak in the mid eighties, white 70 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 3: blonde and busty with a beechy tan in short, California 71 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 3: girls of the sort dominating hair metal music videos and 72 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 3: the public imagination about la in the nineteen eighties. One 73 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 3: client describes one of Alex's girls as having tawny skin 74 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 3: and an ass like two volleyballs. She had one hundred 75 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 3: and fifty girls working for her, but Alex stayed at home, 76 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,839 Speaker 3: stuffing the millions of dollars she made into the mattress 77 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 3: far from the irs. Alex's business set the model for 78 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,679 Speaker 3: Heidi in many ways. She was obsessed with her girls, 79 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 3: seeming classy and intelligent, blending in with the other young ladies, 80 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 3: lunching and shopping with rich older men in Beverly Hills, 81 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 3: always strictly on his dime, of course, Over and over, 82 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 3: the John Say was sheer disbelief that the girls didn't 83 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 3: seem like hookers. The talent impresario and the vanity fair 84 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 3: piece says he lived here for years, believing that every 85 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 3: prostitute in Los Angeles was a teenage runaway working on 86 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 3: Hollywood Boulevard before encountering Alex's flock. There's a common note 87 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 3: condescension from the Johns, a sheer disbelief that a beautiful, 88 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 3: intelligent woman would ever purposefly choose sex work. 89 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: I was born in Manila to a Spanish Filippina mother 90 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: and German father, and when I was twelve, a Japanese 91 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: soldier came into our house with his bayonet pointed at us, 92 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: ready to do us in. He locked us in and 93 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: set the house on fire. I haven't been scared by 94 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: much since then. 95 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 3: Madame Alex was born Elizabeth Adams, although even that might 96 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 3: be an alias. She grew up in the Philippines in Makati, 97 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 3: which she calls the Beverly Hills of Manila, the suburb 98 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 3: of Walled Estates and Lovely Gardens. Her father was a 99 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 3: Connecticut born German American named August Hugo Kuntz who moved 100 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 3: to the Philippines there he met Alex's mother, who belonged 101 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:57,040 Speaker 3: to a wealthy dynasty of Spanish colonialists. They produced Alex, 102 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 3: who grew up in pre war luxury in Ain, with 103 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 3: servants and nannies, attending strict Catholic schools and churches. Her 104 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 3: mother reinforced the strict Catholicism at home, terrified that her 105 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 3: daughter would discover sex. In nineteen forty one, World War 106 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 3: II arrived in Manila. Alex's father was an American loyalist, 107 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,679 Speaker 3: although his German name could have protected him had he chosen. 108 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 3: He took up with the Gorilla Resistance movement against the 109 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 3: Japanese occupation of the Philippines and was put in a 110 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 3: concentration camp. Alex's mother became obsessed with a fear that 111 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 3: the American gis would deflower her Catholic daughter and send 112 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 3: her to live with an uncle in Japan, where she 113 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 3: was promptly deflowered by an American GI. This gave Alex, 114 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 3: she says, a taste for Americans. She was back in 115 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 3: Manila at the Convent School within the year. Because of 116 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 3: the diverse nature of the Philippines, a place exploited and 117 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 3: financially striated by a long line of colonialist predators. Alex 118 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 3: grew up speaking Chinese, Tagalog, English, Spanish, and German. After 119 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 3: the war ended, Alex's parents divorced and her mother decided 120 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 3: they would move to San Francisco. On the ship that 121 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 3: headed to California via Hawaii, Alex got her first taste 122 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 3: of Hollywood when she befriended fellow passenger Howard Strickling, who 123 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 3: was the head of publicity at MGM Studios. He regaled 124 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 3: her with tales of stars like Carrie Grant. When they 125 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 3: reached San Francisco, Alex made a break for it from 126 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 3: her mom and ended up at another Catholic church in Oakland, 127 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 3: where she worked as a housekeeper for a group of priests. 128 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 4: In nineteen fifty. 129 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 3: Three, with money wired to her from her dad, she 130 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 3: moved to Los Angeles and got a job at a 131 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 3: dance studio, first as a receptionist and eventually as a 132 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 3: tango instructor. In nineteen fifty five, Alex marries an aerospace 133 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 3: physicist and has what she describes as a typical Eisenhower 134 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 3: fifty's marriage, with a big house in Los Phelis, near 135 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 3: where Cecil B. De Mill lived, and a Cadillac with 136 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 3: tail fins and two wonderful sons. According to Alex, the 137 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 3: nightlife in nineteen fifties, La had nothing on Manila. Glamorous 138 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 3: Hollywood clubs like Ciro's and the Macambo had shut down. 139 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 3: Not that she and her husband went out much. 140 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: Most nights. We stayed home with Ed Sullivan or Lawrence Wilke. 141 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: After eight years, we found we had nothing to say 142 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:24,839 Speaker 1: to each other and got divorced. 143 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 3: Her husband flees to another state with their two sons 144 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 3: and says if she doesn't agree to a divorce, he 145 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 3: will just keep them there. Keep them, says Alex, and 146 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 3: hangs up. She says she cares about her children, she 147 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 3: just hates her husband's attempt to manipulate her. Freshly divorced, 148 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 3: Alex gets a job at the flower shop in the 149 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,559 Speaker 3: Tony Ambassador Hotel, which contains one of LA's last operating 150 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 3: big band supper clubs, the Coconut Grove. Through the flower 151 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 3: arranging world, Alex enters an underground socialis scene of gay 152 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 3: men and starts going to their parties, where she meets 153 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:07,199 Speaker 3: a straight guy who becomes her second husband, an Austrian 154 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 3: businessman who wins her heart by telling her that she 155 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 3: looks like Joan Crawford. She says he has Frank Sinatra 156 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 3: blue eyes. He may also have a Frank Sinatra like 157 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 3: connection to the Italian mafia. They move to fancy Hancock 158 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 3: Park and have a son, but Alex keeps her job 159 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 3: at the Ambassador flower Shop. 160 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 4: At the flower. 161 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 3: Shop, Alex tends to famous customers like Liza Minelli, Jane Fonda, 162 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 3: and the French model and actress Capuccin. One day, Alex 163 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 3: gets a call from a woman named Arabella Carlton, whose 164 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 3: brother is one of her customers at the flower shop. 165 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 3: Arabella asks if Alex wants to buy her business, which 166 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 3: she reveals is a madaming business. Alex is absolutely shocked 167 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 3: that Arabella, a classy, refined english woman, is a madam. 168 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 3: Us isn't sure why Arabella thinks she'd want to take over, 169 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 3: but Arabella sells her on it, saying Alex's people skills 170 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 3: at the flower shop and on the phone make her 171 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 3: a natural, plus it's a great opportunity to make a 172 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,200 Speaker 3: ton of money. Alex is so flattered she says yes, 173 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,319 Speaker 3: and Arabella promises to train her. At that time, getting 174 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 3: caught madam ing a charge called pandering, could only get 175 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,599 Speaker 3: you ninety days maximum. In the Philippines, Alex says, prostitution 176 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 3: was completely out in the open, despite the Catholic culture. 177 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 3: Manila had a designated red light district for its sex workers, 178 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,680 Speaker 3: but in America there was a veneer of secrecy to 179 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 3: even street level dealings. Arabella quoted a rate of two 180 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 3: hundred dollars an hour, which Alex compared to the twenty 181 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 3: bucks an hour Filipino bar hostesses got. Back home, she 182 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:51,959 Speaker 3: shows Alex how to work the phones. 183 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: Here was this regal woman who looked like she'd be 184 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: having tea with Queen Elizabeth, saying things like how'd you 185 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: like to come over? And books. 186 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 3: With a five thousand dollars insurance check from earthquake damage 187 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 3: to her house, Alex buys the business. Her husband, who 188 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 3: again was probably in the mafia, says, now you're getting 189 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 3: your feet wet. When she tells him what she's done, 190 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 3: Alex realized very quickly that she had vastly overpaid. She'd 191 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 3: bought Arabella's client list, which it turns out consisted of 192 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,440 Speaker 3: twenty five unfamous older men with erection issues, about half 193 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 3: of whom were already dead. Arabella's stable consisted of only 194 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 3: five girls, who all had day jobs as waitresses and secretaries. 195 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 3: The tremendous financial windfall Arabella had promised seemed unlikely, so 196 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:48,080 Speaker 3: Alex took matters into her own hands to expand the business. 197 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 3: She confessed her new trade to a flower shop client 198 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 3: who ran a big construction company that built postwar homes 199 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:58,319 Speaker 3: around the US. He offered to help by providing her 200 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 3: with a list of fifty big names producers, agents, and 201 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 3: studio executives and telling her to cold call them without 202 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 3: mentioning him, asking if they needed any help entertaining friends. 203 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,199 Speaker 4: The men on the list. 204 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 3: Were all quote unquote players known to hire call girls, 205 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,079 Speaker 3: and they were always interested in seeing new talent. Furthermore, 206 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 3: it was the sixties, lots of older men wanted a 207 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 3: taste of the sexual revolution that they felt they were 208 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 3: missing out on. 209 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 4: Alex describes the culture clash. 210 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 3: By saying that these clients wanted the young, beautiful, and braless, 211 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,479 Speaker 3: sexually free girls they kept seeing on the street everywhere, 212 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,119 Speaker 3: but they wanted them in garter belts and corsets. Meanwhile, 213 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 3: the movie business was tanking after the studio excesses of 214 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 3: the sixties, while easy Rider ushered in a new era 215 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 3: of youth centric art film influenced filmmaking that none of 216 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 3: the studios were primed to understand, and yet. 217 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: The players were hornier than ever. Maybe they were so 218 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,679 Speaker 1: depressed by the business that they wanted to lose themselves 219 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: in sex. Maybe it was an eat, drink and be 220 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,199 Speaker 1: merry for tomorrow. The studio goes into chapter eleven, Attitude. 221 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: Clute had just come out with Jane Fond as a 222 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: fancy hooker. The movie had everyone talking about call girls, 223 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: and there just weren't enough of them, not the fancy 224 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: New York kind in Los Angeles where the flower children 225 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: and rock groupies were giving it away, though not to 226 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: the players on my list. 227 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 3: These are the guys who are way too old for 228 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 3: woodstock but saw hair and want to meet some young nudists. 229 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 3: So Alex goes scouting for new girls to suit the 230 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 3: new tastes. La has to be full of girls with 231 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 3: untapped potential, girls who came out West to be actresses 232 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 3: and failed to hit the mark, beautiful girls who needed 233 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 3: money fast. Alex says she wants to help the girls, 234 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 3: to rescue them. She calls it a challenge, and the 235 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 3: way she he frames his quest like Catholic missionary work 236 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 3: is probably not a coincidence. Alex recruits at a Beverly 237 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 3: Hills beauty parlor, taking note of which pretty girls are 238 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 3: not wearing wedding rings, striking up conversations, and inviting them 239 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 3: back to hers for a drink. Alex thinks her house, 240 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 3: with its antiques and paintings, denotes a certain upper class 241 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 3: lifestyle they'll want in on. I don't think it occurred 242 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 3: to her that it might look a bit suffy and 243 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 3: old fashioned to their hip, young eyes. She plays up 244 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 3: the fact that she's a housewife with young kids to 245 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 3: show them that the sex business isn't as scary as 246 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 3: they'd been taught. Naming some of her A list clients, 247 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 3: she draws the girls out into confessing they wish they 248 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 3: had more money, and then offers them a new job 249 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 3: working for her. 250 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 2: One day, Madame Alex was sitting on her bed in 251 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 2: her transparent moumou, and she said to me, you know, Heidi, 252 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 2: blue and. 253 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: White are regal colors. 254 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 3: Alex's new girls recruit other new girls for her, as 255 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 3: well as adding more Johns to the client list. Some 256 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 3: of the new Johns are celebrities, and Alex can't believe 257 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 3: that even they want to pay for sex, but she 258 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 3: comes to see that high profile men like her girls 259 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 3: because it's a way to cheat on their sometimes also 260 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 3: high profile wives with women whose job it is to 261 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 3: be discreet. A civilian affair could blow up, but pros 262 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 3: don't expect anything more and they know when to leave. 263 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 3: When Heidi World returns, Alex scouts for new talent on 264 00:16:39,880 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 3: the Sunset Strip. Welcome back to Heidi World. Alex also 265 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 3: scouts on Sunset Boulevard for hippie girls who look like 266 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 3: they go to doors shows and frequent The Source, one 267 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 3: of LA's first health food restaurants run by the Source 268 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 3: family cult and its leader father Yod. She gives the 269 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 3: hippie girls a Madam Alex makeover to make them square 270 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 3: enough that they won't scare the Johns who are of 271 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 3: the uptight suit and tie variety. Here's what a former 272 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 3: Alex girl says about Alex's styling technique. 273 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 6: I wouldn't call what Alex gives you advice. She spares 274 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 6: you nothing. She makes a list of what she wants done, 275 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 6: and she really gets into it. I mean she wants 276 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 6: you get your arms waxed. She gives you the names 277 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 6: of people you do get facials. She tells you what 278 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,440 Speaker 6: to buy Anima Marcus. She's put off by anything flashy, 279 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 6: and if you don't dress conservatively, she's got no problem 280 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 6: telling you in front of an audience you look like 281 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 6: a cheap wore. I used to wear what I wanted 282 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 6: when I went out, and then change in the car 283 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 6: into a frumpy sweater w and I went in to 284 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 6: get for the money, and she'd always go, oh, you 285 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,960 Speaker 6: look beautiful Simon former Alex girl. 286 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 3: She then backtracks on being so critical and praises some 287 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,200 Speaker 3: of Alex's advice, since working for the madam did net 288 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 3: her a sports car and a mortgage down payment. After all, 289 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 3: she still brings Madame Alex flowers and candy for Mother's Day. 290 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,719 Speaker 3: Madame Alex takes a cut of forty percent from her employees. 291 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 3: Soon she has a thriving business. By nineteen seventy two, 292 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 3: Alex is making enough bank to quit the Ambassador Flower 293 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 3: Shop and work as a madam full time. 294 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:40,159 Speaker 4: Even the oil. 295 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,479 Speaker 3: Crisis and Watergate can't put a dent in her trade. 296 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 3: Her husband keeps his nose out of the ins and 297 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 3: outs of her new side gig. And she doesn't know 298 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,360 Speaker 3: any of the particulars of his mob involved property business. 299 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 3: But Alex doesn't keep her mouth entirely shut about her 300 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,119 Speaker 3: new occupation. She has a friend who tends bar at 301 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 3: the Ambassador, who she gives kickbacks to for bringing her 302 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 3: new clients. One of the new prospective clients ends up 303 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 3: being a cop doing a sting, and Alex catches her 304 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 3: first pandering case, receiving a sixty day suspended sentence, a 305 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:18,119 Speaker 3: fifty dollars fine, and a year of unsupervised probation. A 306 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 3: week after the sentencing, Alex's second husband drops dead on 307 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 3: the same day as her father, from dual heart attacks. 308 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 3: Her marriage of eleven years is suddenly tragically over. At 309 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 3: the same time, her successful madaming business of three months 310 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 3: is on ice. With three young sons to provide for, 311 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 3: Alex makes the decision to go back to madaming. The 312 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 3: field for high end escorts is still wide open. She 313 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 3: feels confident that the big money players will come back 314 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 3: to her for more action, so she prays for her father, 315 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 3: for her husband, and that she'll never get caught again. 316 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 3: In a practical measure, she also reaches out to the 317 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 3: LAPD Vice Division, who' trusted her to establish a useful 318 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 3: alliance behind the scenes. 319 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 1: That was my big idea, not to expand the book 320 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: by aggressive marketing, but to make sure that nobody mistook 321 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: my girls for run of the mill hookers, and I 322 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: kept my roster fresh. This was not the business where 323 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 1: you peddle your ass, get exploited, and then are tasked 324 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: off ice cream clients. I never sent girls to weirdos. 325 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 3: Despite her success as a madam in two marriages, Alex 326 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 3: still has hang ups about sex that she blames on 327 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 3: growing up Catholic. She is obsessed with the idea of 328 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 3: classiness as opposed to trashiness, and pushes her very specific 329 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 3: demure refined taste in. 330 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 4: Looks on her girls. 331 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 3: After the death of her second husband, Alex starts putting 332 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:52,919 Speaker 3: on a large amount of weight, which she says she 333 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,640 Speaker 3: does to stop cat calls, which it obviously doesn't. Other 334 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 3: people say that Alex starts suffering some serious health, both 335 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:04,919 Speaker 3: issues that affect her physical appearance. What Alex looks like 336 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 3: doesn't matter to her clients, to whom she is just 337 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,840 Speaker 3: a voice on the phone. According to her book, she 338 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,919 Speaker 3: saw herself as resembling quote, a darker Marlena dietrich, and 339 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 3: her arms were always covered in scratches from her cats, 340 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,640 Speaker 3: who she fed whole fish from a market in Little Tokyo. 341 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:25,440 Speaker 3: Alex falls in love again, this time with a TV 342 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 3: network executive who happens to be married. The affair lasts 343 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 3: seven years, during which Alex is gifted hundreds of thousands 344 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,920 Speaker 3: of dollars in jewels and extravagant trips. She cries about 345 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 3: him in expensive therapy sessions, unable to break her addiction 346 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 3: to a taken man. When the therapy finally takes and 347 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 3: the long affair ends for good, Alex swears off men 348 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 3: forever in favor of the company of her cats. 349 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 4: All of her pleasure is. 350 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,359 Speaker 3: Channeled instead into madaming and watching her business take flight. 351 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 3: Every rich man in Los Angeles wants fancy call girls, 352 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 3: and Madame Alex is ready and waiting to heed their calls. 353 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 3: According to Alex, La is a hicktown when it comes 354 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 3: to high end escorting, lacking the glamour, wealth and elegance 355 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 3: of New York or Paris's escort scenes. She is nostalgic 356 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 3: for glory days. She has only heard tale of when 357 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,119 Speaker 3: La had glamorous brothels that provided the after parties for 358 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 3: those nights at supper clubs like Ciro's. She even mentions 359 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 3: a mythical brothel that appears in James Elroy's La Confidential 360 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 3: as the Fleur de Lys, with hooker's cut to look 361 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 3: like movie stars such as Greta Garbo, Geene Harlowe, and 362 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 3: Rita Hayworth. There's a rumor that Howard Hughes frequented this brothel, 363 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,680 Speaker 3: hiring the girls who looked like the actresses who had 364 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 3: rejected him. I will add that podcaster and film historian 365 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 3: Karna Longworth couldn't find any concrete evidence of this legendary 366 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 3: place's existence when she wrote her Howard Hughes book entitled 367 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 3: Deduction as the Seven Dye's Roll on Alex surveys her competition, 368 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 3: which according to her includes a few middling madams with 369 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 3: no more than twenty girls working. There are what she 370 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 3: calls cheap street hookers working on Sunset in Hollywood, and 371 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,840 Speaker 3: what she calls really scary street hookers on Western Avenue 372 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 3: in West Hollywood. There is a massage parlor and the 373 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 3: Paris Review, which is a place where you can take 374 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,680 Speaker 3: nude photos of models. Amazingly enough, the Paris Review still exists. 375 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,440 Speaker 3: It's now called Paris House and it reopened after COVID. 376 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 1: And that was it. That was the swinging seventies six 377 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: scene in Los Angeles movie Capital of the World. 378 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 3: Alex's main clients are older men longing for the past, 379 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 3: who rhapsodized to her about their glamorous glory days. She 380 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 3: sends them her sunset strip hippie girls turned Bell da Jour. 381 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 3: Everyone goes home happy. Alex gets really rich, what she 382 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 3: calls Beverly Hill rich. Then she says there are some 383 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 3: people she has to personally thank for her good fortune. 384 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 3: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Michael Eisner, Jimmy Carter, John Travolta, 385 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:16,119 Speaker 3: Donald Trump, Mike Milkin, the Ayatola Homany, Madam Claude, and 386 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 3: the Red Brigade. I know this sounds very cue and on, 387 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 3: but hold tight. She's just thanking them for kickstarting the 388 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,719 Speaker 3: economy in the late seventies and early eighties, specifically Jaws 389 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,240 Speaker 3: and Star Wars, for bringing in the blockbuster era of movies. 390 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 3: That signals the death knell for the experimental artistic output 391 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 3: of late sixties and seventies New Hollywood, as it makes 392 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 3: the big studios flush with cash again. Baby the tentpole 393 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 3: movies give executives well temp poles, and as cash becomes king, 394 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,879 Speaker 3: they are eager to spend it on Alex's girls. She 395 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 3: gives the Hollywood guys glamour girls styled to her particular 396 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 3: taste in what she calls a classic style, which means 397 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 3: what Alex thought looked expensive, creating ladies out of groupies, 398 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 3: as she puts it, and introducing them to the new 399 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 3: generation of baby moguls. She thanks Donald Trump for making 400 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 3: conspicuous consumption come back into style. She thanks Jimmy Carter twice, 401 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 3: first for creating the circumstances under which oil sheiks could 402 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 3: come to Beverly Hills and need entertainment for the night, 403 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 3: and again for the fiscal decisions that backlashed into the 404 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 3: Reagan presidency and the greed is Good eighties. She thanks 405 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 3: the Iyatola for bringing rich Iranians fleeing the nineteen seventy 406 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 3: nine revolution to Beverly Hills, helping usher in a new 407 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 3: style of ostentatious luxury in Los Angeles, and attracting a 408 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:47,360 Speaker 3: more glamorous cultural element into La that she calls admiringly eurotrash. 409 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 4: The jet set. 410 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 3: Quickly outpaces the Hollywood set as repeat customers willing to 411 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,679 Speaker 3: spend untold amounts. The rates she'd been charging three hundred 412 00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 3: dollars an hour, one thousand dollars for the night, two 413 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 3: thousand dollars a night for trips seem insultingly low to 414 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 3: her highest rollers, so she raises them to what the 415 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 3: market will bear. Alex calls her operation the Nieman Marcus 416 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 3: of sex. The high rollers attract other high rollers, and 417 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 3: none of it attracts the attention of the cops because 418 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 3: the lapdr. 419 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:19,399 Speaker 4: In Alex's pocket. 420 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,199 Speaker 3: She thrives in the new era of studio millionaires and 421 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 3: other rich men who have to spend their endless money 422 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 3: on something besides big ticket items like luxury cars and homes. 423 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 3: In the late seventies and early eighties, she scouts for 424 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 3: new talent at Ma Maison, the hip restaurant with the 425 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 3: unlisted number that launched celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. She becomes 426 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 3: friendly with some of the other major American Madams, like 427 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:46,720 Speaker 3: Sydney Biddle Barrows, who runs a New York escort service 428 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 3: called Cachet. They share cross coastal referrals until Biddle is 429 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 3: busted in nineteen eighty four and dubbed the Mayflower Madam 430 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 3: because she is descended from Mayflower Pilgrims. Biddle Barrows claim 431 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 3: the coastal difference between John's is that men in New 432 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 3: York just want to talk and men in LA. 433 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 4: Just care about looks. 434 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 3: For the record, I don't think this is true at all, 435 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 3: because rich people are equally vapid everywhere. Plus think about 436 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 3: all the rich New Yorkers exiled in LA who just 437 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 3: want to talk to hot girls. Back to Alex, at 438 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,119 Speaker 3: one point, eighty percent of Alex's clients are rich guys 439 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,199 Speaker 3: coming to Los Angeles from the Middle East, so she 440 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 3: starts recruiting differently to fit the taste of her new clientele, 441 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 3: who prefer brunettes. 442 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 4: Alex's girls get. 443 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 3: Passports and start traveling internationally for work. Some of them 444 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,200 Speaker 3: complain back to Alex that the Johns who hired them 445 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,479 Speaker 3: just ignore them while they talk and play cards at 446 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 3: parties for hours, only engaging in a fast round of 447 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 3: sex at the very end of the night. Alex doesn't care. 448 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 3: They're just paying for time. The Middle Eastern playboys are 449 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 3: her dream clients. They love to spend money, and they 450 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:01,399 Speaker 3: love Alex, who loves catering to them. One client requests 451 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:04,880 Speaker 3: four girls he saw on an aerobic show. Alex calls 452 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 3: a TV executive friend and gets the proper contacts, offering 453 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 3: the girls twenty five thousand dollars each, which would be 454 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,920 Speaker 3: about eighty one thousand dollars now for a single night. 455 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 3: Everyone says yes. Meanwhile, the globalization of the madaming trade 456 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 3: is going both ways, eventually affecting Alex's business. 457 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: In La. 458 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,640 Speaker 3: Madame Claude is a Parisian madam with a world renowned 459 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,880 Speaker 3: escorting business. She operates out of the Ritz and her 460 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,880 Speaker 3: girls are multi lingual international beauties, countesses and models. 461 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 4: Claude's girls have two years. 462 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 3: Of cultural training for their vocation, and many of Alex's 463 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 3: clients also see Madame Claude. In nineteen eighty, Madame Claude 464 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 3: moves her business to La and Alex is sure she 465 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 3: is screwed, but she quickly prevails in popularity over the 466 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 3: new wares. She compares it to the Beverly Hills Jewish 467 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 3: Deli Nate Now's remaining more popular than the New York 468 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 3: transplanted Stage and Carnegie Dullies when they arrived out West. 469 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 3: She also compares beating Madame Claude to the Lakers beating 470 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 3: the Celtics. 471 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 6: She's constantly trying to fix you up and marry you off. 472 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 6: She introduced me to my boyfriend. Marry your boyfriend. She 473 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 6: tells the girls it's better than going to prison. When 474 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 6: you go out with her, she'll value a present. She's 475 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 6: incredibly generous that way, and she'll always tell you to 476 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,960 Speaker 6: save money and getell. It's frustrating to her when girls 477 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 6: call it the end of a month and say they 478 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 6: need rent money. She wants to see. 479 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: You do well. 480 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 3: Madame Claude lasted two years in La before she packed 481 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 3: up La suitcase and moved back to France. According to Alex, 482 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 3: it wasn't that. 483 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: The men here had anything against getting blowjobs in French 484 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: or getting it on with countesses. But La is a 485 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: peculiar tone, a tough tone, and you'd have to sell 486 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: La sex, and La not snobby Parasex, but fun sonny 487 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: beachy La Sex. 488 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 3: When Heidi World returns, Madam Alex's business meets the greatest 489 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:39,960 Speaker 3: good eighties Welcome back to Heidie World, So Madam Alex's 490 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,880 Speaker 3: business grows to even higher heights in the early eighties. 491 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 3: She says her clients at the peak are heads, heads 492 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:51,480 Speaker 3: of state, heads of corporations, heads of universities, heads of studios, 493 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,480 Speaker 3: heads of record companies. She invests in real estate, buying 494 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 3: a mansion in the Malibu Hills and having parties there 495 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 3: for her customers. In the early eighties, the AIDS crisis begins. 496 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 3: Alex worries it will hurt her business in puritanical sex 497 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 3: obsessed America. She starts insisting on condoms for all clients 498 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 3: and regular AIDS tests for her employees. She claims this 499 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 3: made people even more likely to use her business, as 500 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 3: the risks associated with picking up a stranger had changed drastically, 501 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 3: and Alex's girls were a familiar, safer choice. The party continues, 502 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 3: Alex says, now wrapped in latex, heavy winter rains lead 503 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 3: to mud slides on the Pacific Coast Highway that render 504 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 3: her Malibu pleasure Palace inaccessible to even the richest mortals. 505 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 3: So Alex moves her center of operations to a bel 506 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 3: Air mansion she calls Kasa Pussy. Here she entertains her 507 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 3: crowd of big money John's, she claims as much with 508 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,960 Speaker 3: food and repartee as sex. She tells of a producer 509 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 3: bringing over an actress for Tea to introduce her to 510 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,680 Speaker 3: some of Alex's girls for an upcoming job where she 511 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 3: was playing a prostitute in the late eighties, Alex catches 512 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 3: another charge and is thrust unwillingly into the public eye. 513 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 3: One of her girls is dating a creep who snitches 514 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 3: to some cops about his girlfriend's occupation, and her boss, 515 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 3: the LAPD, who already know about Alex, still set up 516 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 3: a staying operation, sending an undercover detective who's an attractive 517 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 3: woman to ask Alex about picking up some work. Alex 518 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 3: is open about her trade and invites the woman to 519 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 3: come work for her, which allows the detective to accumulate 520 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 3: enough evidence that by April of nineteen eighty eight, the 521 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,960 Speaker 3: district attorney is charging Alex with two counts of pandering 522 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,480 Speaker 3: and one count of pimping. By this point, Alex is 523 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 3: fifty six years old with several health conditions, and she 524 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 3: is scared by the prospect of doing time. She threatens 525 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 3: to go public about her special relationship with law enforcement, 526 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 3: which involves the LAPD turning a blind eye to Alex's 527 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 3: business operation. In exchange for her services as an informant, 528 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 3: and perhaps even some party favors for policemen from Alex's girls. 529 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 3: Then the Johns start freaking out, worried that their names 530 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 3: will come out in the wash of information. Alex's clients 531 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 3: reportedly include bold print names of all kinds movie stars, producers, 532 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 3: and politicians, as well as an international cast of wealthy 533 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 3: businessman in chiks. With her cover already blown and her 534 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 3: phone no longer ringing off the hook with business, Alex 535 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 3: decides to speak candidly with Vanity Fair reporter Jesse Kornblooth. 536 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 3: Alex had moved from bel Air to a place in 537 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 3: West Hollywood, where she poured it over her collection of 538 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 3: fancy antiques. Corn Blooth gets a good look at Alex's 539 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 3: chamber of secrets and describes it less glamorously than Alex does, 540 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 3: comparing it to a dollhouse. He takes in the living 541 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 3: room's de corps, the blue and white chintz couches, fancy 542 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 3: china crystal vases, and Dolly lithographs, juxtaposed with a kitchy, 543 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 3: moonlit winter night painting. The maid leads him down the 544 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 3: hall past the twelve perfectly clean litter boxes, that belong 545 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 3: to Alex's twelve Persian cats. The bedroom is also blue 546 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 3: and white, with French doors and lush, flowering indoor plants, 547 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 3: Alex's own take on Macombo nightclub style Old Hollywood chic. 548 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 3: Alex is waiting for him on the bed, feeding Ecuadorian 549 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:29,799 Speaker 3: shrimp from the Little Tokyo Fish Market to her favorite cat, Georgie. 550 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,239 Speaker 3: She wears a kaftan over her large frame and is 551 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 3: holding cork from the bed where she normally spends her 552 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 3: days and nights on the phone with clients. Her hair 553 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 3: is black, cropped and thinning, but her gaze is still intense. 554 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 3: Cornbluth compares her to Edith Peoff, Gertrude Stein, and Colette, 555 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 3: a symbol of an old, vanished Bohemian world. According to Alex, 556 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,279 Speaker 3: she modernized the idea of running a prostitution business like 557 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,759 Speaker 3: a studio stable of stars. The emphasis was on the 558 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 3: idea i that Alex's girls were better than any other 559 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:06,399 Speaker 3: call girls you could hire, which she accomplished by successfully 560 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 3: creating a glamorous mystique around them, a brand of elitism 561 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:15,279 Speaker 3: and exclusivity that was reflected in the High Prices. Soon enough, 562 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:19,120 Speaker 3: former Alex girl Heidi Flice will adapt this technique and 563 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,240 Speaker 3: modernize it again for the end of the twentieth century. 564 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 3: The clientele being served are men who conflate price with quality. 565 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,440 Speaker 3: The more it costs, the better they believe it to be. 566 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 3: It has a yuppie placebo effect, which was mutually beneficial 567 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 3: for the Johns, who wanted to pay a lot for 568 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,320 Speaker 3: what they believed to be the top shelf of sex, 569 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,640 Speaker 3: and Alex and her girls, who wanted to get paid 570 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:42,720 Speaker 3: a lot for the sex. 571 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: This is to help you pay for what your parents 572 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,880 Speaker 1: couldn't provide. It's an honorable way station A lot of 573 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:51,759 Speaker 1: stars did this. 574 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 3: According to the Johns, Alex could also be sort of 575 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,319 Speaker 3: a flake. She put all of her energy into the makeovers, 576 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:05,360 Speaker 3: breast augmentations, new clothes, and haircuts. She talked up the 577 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 3: newest girls to clients, but when it came to setting 578 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,719 Speaker 3: a date for a date, she could disappear. However, one 579 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 3: anonymous client of Alex's admits that when the girl. 580 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,399 Speaker 4: Did show up, she'd be the best, So. 581 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,359 Speaker 3: Maybe even keeping the Johns waiting was a tactic, if 582 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:25,120 Speaker 3: not necessarily on purpose. Alex's signature piece of advice to 583 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 3: the girls wash that beaver like white man Man, I'm 584 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,280 Speaker 3: Alex says she only fell in love one more time 585 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 3: with a chic that she never slept with. She visited 586 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,359 Speaker 3: him in Europe, but never consummated the relationship. Believing he'd 587 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 3: be disappointed. He introduced her to all of his friends 588 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 3: who met her friends. Alex said the girls never had 589 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 3: any issues abroad, but there were stories of girls getting 590 00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 3: stuck at customs with wads of cash, and one room 591 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 3: m about a girl who never came back from her 592 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 3: trip to Saudi Arabia. Alex sees herself ultimately as an 593 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 3: arranger of relationships. There are plenty of men who want 594 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 3: a beautiful wife or girlfriend but don't want to put 595 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 3: in the work to find and court her. In her eyes, 596 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 3: Alex simplifies the process by providing eligible young bachelorettes who 597 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:24,239 Speaker 3: are looking for symbiotic relationships that will propel them up 598 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:28,479 Speaker 3: into the upper classes. In Alex's view, she simply made 599 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,319 Speaker 3: the best of a crooked world where rich men hold 600 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,840 Speaker 3: all the cards. Everything was consensual, just under the table 601 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 3: by necessity. 602 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: It's not like the arresting officer painted it. What happens 603 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: to these girls afterward, Well, I'll tell you they get 604 00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:49,719 Speaker 1: married to people he wishes he knew. 605 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,680 Speaker 3: Obviously, the LAPD hates to see a girl boss winning. 606 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 3: What Alex was doing was illegal, but not unethical, and 607 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:02,240 Speaker 3: why was it illegal anywhay? Alex's own view of sex 608 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,400 Speaker 3: was simple, if misogynistic. 609 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,960 Speaker 1: A man screwing around doesn't mean anything. He just likes 610 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: to get it off in a new hole once in 611 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,799 Speaker 1: a while. Women shouldn't feel bad when their men go 612 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 1: to hookers. The men don't remember who they are. 613 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:22,960 Speaker 3: She claims to have gotten over her jealousy by letting 614 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 3: one boyfriend date her employees, a madam's version of if 615 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 3: you're going to do it, do it at home. Alex's 616 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 3: internalized sexism and leftover Catholic guilt had her believe that 617 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:38,840 Speaker 3: men are sexual creatures women emotional for someone in the 618 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:39,759 Speaker 3: oldest profession. 619 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 4: Alex is very old school. 620 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,439 Speaker 1: Wives have one real reason for resentment. Their husbands don't 621 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: take care of them. Women aren't cheats by nature, but 622 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: they have to be cheats or in their view, whores, 623 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,399 Speaker 1: because their husbands neglect them. That's why I always ask 624 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,759 Speaker 1: my clients did you do your homework? Because you're more 625 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,040 Speaker 1: likely to get your wife to understand your cheating if 626 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:04,160 Speaker 1: you do her first. 627 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 3: The woman who sends Alex to trial is a twenty 628 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,959 Speaker 3: one year old undercover policewoman who goes by the name 629 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,439 Speaker 3: Renee Berwick. She was introduced to Alex in nineteen eighty 630 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:18,759 Speaker 3: eight as a potential girl and got invited to the 631 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,200 Speaker 3: madam's house for tea. In the Big Pitch, Renee said 632 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 3: she was very interested, so Alex asked to see her breasts. 633 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:29,400 Speaker 3: Renee nervously unbuttoned her shirt, trying not to reveal the 634 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 3: wire she was wearing underneath, but Alex demanded bra removal. 635 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:35,959 Speaker 3: She needed to see the goods if she was going 636 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 3: to invest, so she could determine if they needed work. 637 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,399 Speaker 3: The wire was almost certainly clipped to the undercover cops bra, 638 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,880 Speaker 3: so she demurred. Out of feigned modesty, she departed and 639 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,799 Speaker 3: helped build the case against Alex. The big question is 640 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 3: why did the cops suddenly drop a dime on the 641 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,359 Speaker 3: madam after she enjoyed a special relationship with them for years. Unbothered, 642 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 3: she was arrested a few times and charged, that time 643 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:04,279 Speaker 3: in the seventies, but presumably in the interim since then. 644 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,320 Speaker 3: In this late eighties case, she'd collected as much dirt 645 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,359 Speaker 3: on the Los Angeles Police Department as they had on her. 646 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 3: A Detective Mike Brambles from the Organized Crime Intelligence Division 647 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:19,480 Speaker 3: admitted to knowing Alex for nine years. In court, he'd 648 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,160 Speaker 3: declined to speak about his relationship with Alex, citing Section 649 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:27,160 Speaker 3: ten forty of the California Evidence Code. Alex said she 650 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,240 Speaker 3: and Detective Mike Bramble still talked even after that. Nobody 651 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 3: is sure what prompted the cops to come for her again. 652 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:37,680 Speaker 3: Maybe some aspect of their special relationship soured. Maybe they 653 00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:41,560 Speaker 3: got itchy about what she knew about them. Faced with 654 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,120 Speaker 3: the end of her business, Madame Alex rhapsodized about what 655 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:48,720 Speaker 3: other careers she might have to try. She was interested 656 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 3: in opening a health spot in Yelm, Washington, home of 657 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 3: the religious cult Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. Or maybe she'd 658 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,640 Speaker 3: start a catering business in La harnessing her old school 659 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,480 Speaker 3: flower shop skills that had also served her so well 660 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:07,400 Speaker 3: as a madam. Detectives testified that Elizabeth Adams had provided 661 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:12,360 Speaker 3: important information on murder suspects, drug dealers, and terrorists, and 662 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,360 Speaker 3: the prosecutors agreed to a nineteen ninety one plea bargain 663 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:20,040 Speaker 3: in which she received eighteen months probation. While Alex is 664 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:23,480 Speaker 3: caught up in the sticky case, someone else steps up 665 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:27,040 Speaker 3: to become a high end madam. One of her best 666 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:31,920 Speaker 3: and favorite girls, a young ambitious woman named Heidie Flie. 667 00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:37,880 Speaker 2: This so called person, Heidi, whatever did make her a madam? 668 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 4: Nothing? 669 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:41,680 Speaker 2: Nothing did until that one year, and it was just 670 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:47,280 Speaker 2: out of rage and out of anchor at Alex Elizabeth Adams. 671 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,320 Speaker 3: Why does Heidi turn on her formerly beloved mentor and 672 00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:58,880 Speaker 3: madam Because when her friend Wendy Tar was killed, Madame 673 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,040 Speaker 3: Alex accused Hide and her friends of descending like locusts 674 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,320 Speaker 3: on the dead girl's apartment to divvy up her luxury 675 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:10,239 Speaker 3: goods like dresses from Eliyah amongst themselves. Heidi found this 676 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 3: accusation so disgusting she decided to humiliate Madame Alex by 677 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 3: becoming her. 678 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:20,800 Speaker 2: She said, I robbed the apartment before the body was cold, 679 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,280 Speaker 2: and I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? 680 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:28,680 Speaker 2: That fucking freak, that fat pig freak. I went fucking crazy. 681 00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 3: Heidi and Alex's relationship was clearly very close before it soured. 682 00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:39,800 Speaker 3: Madame Alex sent Heidi a book called the Perfumed Garden, 683 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:44,719 Speaker 3: a fifteenth century Arabic sex manual, and inscribed. 684 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:48,919 Speaker 1: It to my little love. I'm sure I am more 685 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:53,240 Speaker 1: exciting than your Hungarian fucker, xoxo Alex. 686 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:58,640 Speaker 2: This one day, Madame Alex yelled at a girl she 687 00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:04,319 Speaker 2: was like you ro ripple in a pond compared to 688 00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 2: my Heidi. 689 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:14,040 Speaker 3: But Heidi also studied Alex, carefully learning her trade. Whatever 690 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,160 Speaker 3: distaste she had for Alex's brusque style and pretentious airs 691 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:20,879 Speaker 3: was tempered with a genuine fondness. 692 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:27,920 Speaker 2: Alex was both charming and very cruel. Alex trusted no one, 693 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 2: not even me. I mean I never lied, stole, or 694 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,799 Speaker 2: cheated her out of anything, and deep down she knew this. 695 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 4: That's why we were close. 696 00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:52,799 Speaker 3: Next time on Heidi World, with Madame Alex out of 697 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:55,759 Speaker 3: the game, Heidi gets access to her little black book 698 00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:58,520 Speaker 3: of high roller clients and starts her own high end 699 00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:03,640 Speaker 3: escorting business with a cool nineteen nineties edge. Quickly, everyone 700 00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:06,680 Speaker 3: in Los Angeles and all around the world wants to 701 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:16,840 Speaker 3: party with Heide's girls.