Madam Millie

Millie’s life started out “normal”. Her parents named her Willette Angela Fantetti, but up until her biography was published, only three or four people knew her real name. She was born February 28, 1906, in Kentucky. Willette better known as Millie lived in a normal family with her mother, father and older sister. Millie’s “normal” family life was short lived. Her parents passed away when she was the tender age of six. Millie and her sister were left alone and were then put in foster care. Millie went through a series of different homes. Social workers moved Millie from home to home usually because she ran away. In the times Millie was on her own, she learned how to fend for herself. She learned how to work to survive.

Millie and here sister had finally found a foster home they were comfortable in when her sister became ill wi

Millie died just before Christmas in 1993, at the age of eighty-seven. She left this world as a legendary figure. According the to Mark Evans the author Millie’s biography her funeral record did not state a cause of death and her occupation was listed as a homemaker. The author states this about the preceding discovery “That she was—in many multiples of dimensions”.

Millie moved to Carrizozo, New Mexico where Billie’s house was located. When Millie went to work for Billie she was only sixteen but when Billie asked her about her age she told her she was eighteen. If Billie had known the truth, she would not be able to work for her. Billie taught Millie the rules of the house and a few other things as well, such as how to check men for venereal diseases. She also taught Millie how to be polite to customers while making money at the same time. Billie also took Millie for a medical exam before she began working for her just to make sure she was healthy and disease free.

Mildred was a natural entrepreneur. When still in her late twenties, she was running six houses: three in Silver City, one in Deming, one in Lordsburg, one in Laramie, Wyoming. At different times, her assets included: a ranch, parking lot, taxi stand, bars, restaurants and various minor houses. The center of her domain, however, remained in her houses on Hudson Street in Silver City. Millie usually hired housekeepers to keep her houses in order of course she could not be in several places at once. The housekeepers of course were not housekeepers in the sense that most people know them, in other words they were not there to sweep and mop they were there to run the business.

Millie’s girls never handled the money, she set things up this way as measure to prevent them from being beaten and robbed. Mildred collected board and a percentage of the earnings from the girls but she was always fair and her girls trusted her. In Millie’s biography, she recounts a story about one of the girls that came to work for her. A new prostitute named Birdie came to work in new high heel shoes. Newcomers were usually assigned the furthest room from the reception area. That night Birdie made house history by turning 97 tricks. The following morning Millie asked her, "Aren't you tired honey?" to which Birdie replied "No, not exactly, but my feet sure do hurt".

Millie went back to Silver City and bought what would later become the famous houses on Hudson Street. She had, had extensive training on how to run a whorehouse profitably, she was ready to roll, and she ran a tight ship. According to studies, most women who become madams have been prostitutes themselves at one time or another; this was also true for Millie. She had put in her time as a prostitute and now it was her turn to run things.

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