Polly Adler

Pearl "Polly" Adler (April 16, 1900  July 11, 1962) was a Russian-born madam (owner-manager of a brothel) of Jewish descent. Adler was born in Ivanava (nowadays Belarus).

 Biography 
She opened her first bordello in 1920, under the protection of mobster Dutch Schultz and a friend of mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. One building she used was The Majestic at 215 West 75th Street, designed by architects Schwartz and Gross and completed in 1924 with hidden stairways and secret doorways. Jacobs, Lisa. "Majestic Towers’ Dirty Little Secret", 215 West 75 Street building newsletter, Winter 2002 Her brothel there boasted such patrons as Robert Benchley, New York City mayor Jimmy Walker, and Dutch Schultz. Dorothy Parker Society, "Polly Adler's Brothel" , Dorothy Parker Society 

A House is Not a Home was a 1953 book of Polly Adler's life that was ghosted (written anonymously) by Virginia Faulkner. The 1989 Perry Mason TV-movie Musical Murder revolved around a faux-musical based on Adler.

 References 

Category:1900 births
Category:1962 deaths
Category:American sex industry businesspeople
Category:Belarusian Jews
Category:Brothel owners and madams
Category:Jewish American criminals
Category:Jewish American writers
Category:Jewish sex industry people
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States