Polly Adler - Bordello Owner

Bordello Owner

She opened her first bordello in 1920, under the protection of mobster Dutch Schultz and a friend of mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. One building in which she plied her trade was The Majestic at 215 West 75th Street, designed by architects Schwartz and Gross and completed in 1924 with hidden stairways and secret doorways. Her brothel there boasted such patrons as George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Milton Berle, John Garfield, New York City mayor Jimmy Walker, and mobster Dutch Schultz. It has been theorized that the New York State Supreme Court justice Joseph Force Crater, missing since Aug. 6, 1930, died in Polly Adler's brothel.

Adler was a shrewd businesswoman with a mind for marketing. She determined that gaining publicity would be to her advantage, and she cultivated newspaper coverage by dressing flamboyantly, making grand appearances at nightclubs, and drawing attention to her beautiful employees. She also made large bribes to city and law enforcement officials to keep her business open.

In the early 1930s, Adler was a star witness of the Seabury Commission investigations and spent a few months in hiding in Florida to avoid testifying. She refused to give up any mob names to the Seabury Commission when apprehended by the police. She survived by providing half of her income to her underworld safety net, and closed her business. She retired in 1944.

Adler attended college at age 50, and wrote a bestselling book, ghosted by Virginia Faulkner, A House Is Not a Home (1953), allowing her to live off the proceeds. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1962. A House Is Not a Home was made into a movie two years later, starring Shelley Winters as Adler. Her notoriety led her to be included in Cleveland Amory's 1959 Celebrity Register.

Adler is the subject of a forthcoming biography by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Debby Applegate.