'Happiness is You'...reflects the real Madams...

One of the lastest characters in my movie 'Flame', performed by Dominique M. is a contemporary madam. But as many of us know prostitution is 'the oldest profession' around, and behind it there must have been some tough people to keep it running...

Madam Dora DuFran - The Black Hills' Leading Madam Though the vast majority of the many "sporting girls” who worked in Deadwood remain nameless, others were more notable, such as Madame Dora DuFran. An immediate success once she arrived in Deadwood, she continued to build her business until she soon had "branch” houses in Sturgis, Rapid City, and Belle Fourche. Born in England, Dora eventually immigrated to Nebraska with her parents. A good-looking girl in her youth, she arrived in Rapid City going by the name of Amy Helen Dorothy Bolshow and began to work as a dancehall girl. However, by the time the gold rush was on in Deadwood, she had obviously "promoted" herself to a full-scale madam.   Sometime after moving to Deadwood, she married a man named Joseph DuFran, a personable gentleman gambler, who not only wasn't bothered by her profession, but helped her to grow her business.

In her early days in Deadwood, she became a friend and occasional employer to Calamity Jane, who sometimes worked as a prostitute. She was also said to have had a "heart of gold," often providing nursing services to those that needed it and helping the poverty stricken. One of Dora’s most popular houses called "Diddlin’ Dora’s,” was in Belle Fourche on Fifth Avenue.  However, the street was so lined with saloons, with brothels on the second stories, it was more commonly referred to as "Saloon Street” by the many cowboys who frequented its businesses.   Diddlin’ Dora’s advertised itself as "Three D’s – Dining, Drinking and Dancing – a place where you can bring your mother.”  And though the cowboys frequented the popular place, most just wanted to "get down to business,” with at least one man remarking, "I wouldn’t want my mother to know I had ever been there.” By the turn of the century, Dora was still going strong when a worn out Calamity Jane returned to the Black Hills for the last time in 1903.  In the final stages of raging alcoholism and carrying her pathetically few belongings in a dilapidated old suitcase, she found refuge at Madam DuFran’s brothel in Belle Fourche.  For the next few months, Jane earned her keep by cooking and doing the laundry for Dora’s brothel girls before she died on August 2, 1903. In 1909, Dora's husband Joseph died at the age of 47 and was buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery. Afterwards, Dora returned to Rapid City, where she set up another brothel that was wildly popular, especially during the Prohibition years, as it also served as a speakeasy.   One often repeated story of those prosperous times was when a flood stranded a number of Rapid City businessmen at Dora's brothel.  When their wives heard the shocking news, they reportedly confronted their husbands with a host of weaponry including rolling pins and umbrellas once the water had receded and the men were able to escape. Dora DuFran died of heart failure at the age of 60 on August 5, 1934, she was buried at Mount Moriah next to her husband and a beloved pet parrot who had preceded her in death. Her obituary in the Black Hills Pioneer mourned the passing of "a noted social worker.”  Her grave is marked by four urns that feature grinning imps, symbolizing the four brothels that she had owned.  This writing comes from a very informative website, http://www.legendsofamerica.com/