APPRAISER
Dave, I feel like we're thrown back into the 1980s in an episode of "Madame's Place," the sitcom that, you know, Wayland Flowers created.
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
Um, you brought something really cool today. Why don't you tell me about it?
GUEST
Well, when Wayland Flowers was first starting out, one of his first jobs was in Provincetown at the Pilgrim House, and, um, my friend Dana found out that, uh, it was Wayland Flowers' birthday. So he threw a surprise birthday party. So Wayland Flowers gave Dana one of his Madames. He, he, I don't know how many he had, but he had enough so that he never had to do a costume change. He did a puppet change, because each one had a different costume on. This was one of the original ones, because she doesn't have any hands. The later ones, she has hands, and he has sticks in each of his hands, so he could give her a lot more animation.
APPRAISER
And how did you get it?
GUEST
Well, Dana is a longtime friend of mine, and I kept eyeing her at his house and I said, "Boy, Dana, I sure would like to have that Madame." He said, "Well, I'll leave it to you in my will." So several years went by, and, and finally, I says, "Dana, do I have to wait for you to die so I can get Madame?" He said, "Oh, for cry..." Well... So he gave it to me. He's 88, and he still lives in Provincetown.
APPRAISER
That's a great story, and we're looking at a piece of TV history.
GUEST
Yes.
APPRAISER
Um, I think a lot of people may not realize how many ventriloquists and ventriloquists' dummies, so to speak...
GUEST
Yup.
APPRAISER
...were so famous in TV.
GUEST
Except that Wayland Flowers wasn't a ventriloquist.
APPRAISER
No.
GUEST
He mouthed all the words, but the camera was always on her and the spotlight was on her, so you didn't see him.
APPRAISER
Correct, and, and one of his famous things was having Madame say, "He's no ventriloquist, and I'm no dummy."
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
That was, he was known for saying that.
GUEST
Well, she didn't say exactly that, but...
APPRAISER
Well, I'll leave out the expletives.
GUEST
Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER
His shows...
GUEST
She was quite a dirty-mouth girl.
APPRAISER
Oh, yeah, the shows that he did onstage, not on TV...
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
...were quite spicy, quite racy.
GUEST
They were, very spicy, yeah, yeah, they were.
APPRAISER
X-rated. Yeah, but he was a pretty impressive guy. He was one of the early actors who came out as openly gay, which was a big breakthrough.
GUEST
Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER
And he did incorporate that into a lot of his humor...
GUEST
Yup.
APPRAISER
...as he went through his, his, his career.
GUEST
Yeah, he did.
APPRAISER
And he made the puppets himself.
GUEST
Yup.
APPRAISER
Madame, I'm saying, is probably gonna be circa 1970s. And I'm sure you're interested in finding out a value on Madame?
GUEST
Yeah, I mean, she has a lot of value to me, but I don't know.
APPRAISER
Correct, correct. So I have found records for two of them that have come to auction. Uh, one of his originals in the mid-'90s sold at a major auction house in New York City for around $4,500.
GUEST
Really?
APPRAISER
But that's 20-some-odd years ago.
GUEST
Wow.
APPRAISER
or more, actually. Um, and another one sold fairly recently at an auction house on the West Coast for $12,500.
GUEST
Holy Moses.
APPRAISER
Uh, yeah, and, and, and quite honestly, the way the market's going now, with people just striving to buy back their childhood, and looking to buy iconic pieces of memorabilia...
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
...at auction, I would probably estimate it somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000.
GUEST
(laughs): Holy Moses!
APPRAISER
So it's a nice gift.
GUEST
Madame!
APPRAISER
You had a good eye.
GUEST
You're quite the girl. (chuckles)
APPRAISER
Yes, she is.
GUEST
Just walking in here, so many people came up and, and, uh, introduced themself to Madame!
APPRAISER
That's Madame, yeah, they recognize her.
GUEST
Yeah. Isn't that something?
APPRAISER
For sure.
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