[2][3] His father soon shipped off to World War II and was killed, leaving him to be raised in a devoutly religious[4] all-female household,[5] save for his younger brother.

[2] He briefly returned to Atlanta, decided he was unhappy there,[2] hitchhiked to New York City with $5 in his pocket,[8] and began living the life of a struggling artist.

[7] In a program created for a memorial at the Center for Puppetry Arts, it was claimed that he had a long history of working with puppets, dating back to his early childhood.

[2] Regardless, World's Fair coworker Bob Payne[9] noticed Flowers' affection for the toys and gave him a puppet that had been created as The Wicked Witch of the West for a production of The Wizard of Oz.

[7] He suddenly got the idea to transform the witch into a character loosely patterned after this woman, although he also cited his mother and aunt for inspiring Madame's attitude.

[7] (Years after his death, Washington, D.C., gay icon, waitress, and restaurant hostess Margo MacGregor proclaimed herself as the character's inspiration.

[9] A Greenwich Village bar owner was amused by their antics and offered the duo $20 to sit at her piano and perform,[11] so Wayland quickly concocted an act.

He garnered success in the gay clubs of New York, and eventually debuted Madame Off-Broadway at the Village Gate in 1971's Kumquats, billed as "the world's first erotic puppet show,"[12][13] which also included the "notorious ejaculating Punchinello.

[18][19] In addition to Madame, Flowers featured other puppets in his act that included Crazy Mary (an escapee from Bellevue mental hospital[20]), Jiffy (a Harlem harlot with a heart of brass), Mr. Macklehoney (a crotchety, retired vaudeville comedian), and Michael Honey[21] (a horny old gay man).

Soon after The World's Fair ended, Flowers began dabbling in puppetry on New York television, creating and performing characters on the Aniforms segment of the 1965 series The Surprise Show[22] and Captain Kangaroo.

Debuting as a summer series was enough to prove that the network had little faith in it, but the show was dealt a crippling blow when host Rod Serling died two weeks before the premiere.

This cemented their success, leading to talk show appearances, a small role in the Redd Foxx movie Norman... Is That You?, a long run on the game show Hollywood Squares (replacing Paul Lynde in The Center Square), a featured role on the 1977 revival of Laugh-In, a recurring comedy skit on Solid Gold, TV guest spots, and even regional commercials.

[27] Feeling he could take his act further, he began developing the TV sitcom Madame's Place, which debuted in 1982 and costarred Susan Tolsky, Johnny Haymer, Judy Landers, Corey Feldman and Ty Henderson.

Outside of a shot in the opening credits, Flowers only appeared on-screen once; in "Comedy, Sex, and Pathos," he popped up in drag as inebriated cooking show host Julia Chives.

[7] It's been alleged that Flowers developed a heavy cocaine habit during the production in an effort to keep up the pace,[30][31] and that he was often so blitzed that he had to be carried on and off the set of Solid Gold.

"[9] In the years since his death, there have been claims of promiscuity,[38] temperamental behavior,[39] and a snowballing drug habit that led him to alienate friends and associates,[31] but he lived his life outside of the spotlight, which was generally shining on his alter ego.

[43][44] His remains were cremated at Grand View Memorial Park & Crematory in Glendale, California, and shipped back to his hometown of Dawson, Georgia, where they were interred at Cedar Hills Cemetery.

[47] Over a decade later, Shell caught wind of impersonators and initially tried to stop them, but ultimately decided to combat them by bringing Madame out of retirement.

"[49] Shell had been so close to Wayland that she became overprotective of the character[33] and blew through a succession of performers, claiming that they were each trying "to morph Madame into what was comfortable for them,"[47] rather than staying true to Flowers' vision.

[33] The next year, Kovacs appeared with Madame on VH1's I Love the '70s: Volume 2 and the live show "A Comeback from Abroad," which played in San Francisco and New York[53][54] before he had a falling out with Shell,[50] who hired entertainer Rick Skye to take over.

[60] The following year, an IndieGoGo campaign was set up to fund a national tour of "Madame's Back," which fared slightly better but still fell very short, with a $50K goal and $4,855 in pledges.

Shell also provided them boxes of Flowers' belongings that had been packed away for decades, which included lost performances on videotape, scripts, notes, puppets, and much more.

[71] In 1991, this same puppet went on permanent display at The Museum of Modern Art[24] in a piece by artist Nayland Blake titled "Magic,"[72] which featured Madame in an open steamer trunk surrounded by dead flowers.