Adler, Polly

Adler, (Pearl) Polly

(1900–62) madam; born in Avanovo, Russia. Emigrating at age 12, she worked in factories, and in 1920 opened a house of prostitution in New York City. Her clients included politicians, gangsters, and vice squad police, and this was said to be the reason she survived so long. Subpoenaed by the Seabury Commission in 1930, she refused to testify. She closed down in 1943 and moved to Los Angeles. She later graduated from college and wrote A House is Not a Home (1953).