For years when I met people, they would ask me if I was related to Steve Madden, the shoe guy, or the football guru and game creator John Madden.
No, but I did meet big John at the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach, CA. At the time I was representing Bing’s wife, Kathryn, whose book, “My Life with Bing,” I was promoting throughout the U.S. and Canada. Whenever John and I shook hands, his made mine feel like a Lilliputian.
Although I launched my PR firm TransMedia Group in Manhattan, I’m no relation to Owney Madden either, a leading underworld figure there nicknamed “The Killer,” who was involved in organized crime during the Prohibition. Owney ran the Cotton Club in NYC and was a boxing promoter in the 1930s.
My dad, William J. Madden, was a “killer” too, a lady killer, when he played his violin nightly and combed his hair through Dr. Ellis Wave Set before appearing at the once elegant Traymore Hotel or conducted his Festival Orchestra on Garden Pier in Atlantic City where I grew up.
Ah the world’s playground, where saltwater air brought out a lady’s charms and made me passionately pursue them up and down the famous boardwalk.
So why don’t people ever ask me if I’m related to Bill Madden, the magician and concert violinist who started out in the violin section of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and wound up in Carnegie Hall.
Or better yet to Don Madden, my artist brother whose full-page cartoons had graced every issue of Playboy Magazine for 50 straight years like the ones at the beginning and conclusion of this nostalgic piece. In those years Playboy’s circulation would soar to over 7 million copies.
Dad’s Melodious Concerts
Yes, I happily grew up in that enchanting romantic birthplace of the Miss America contest and cotton candy not far from those high-rent Monopoly blue properties, Boardwalk and Park Place.
I remember well those concerts my dad would conduct on Garden Pier concluding with an upbeat rendition of Leroy Anderson’s sprightly “Sleigh Ride,” at the end of which I’d toss a handful of white stuff up into the air that looked like snow showering down on the musicians on a warm summer night.
And fondly I remember my brother Don who sadly passed away two years ago at the admirable age of 96. Both he and I were born in the same month, October, which prompted me to rerun this story, a part of which debuted in October 2021.
Yes, art flowed from our family. Our dad was once also called the world’s greatest gypsy violinist by non-other than the King of Romania one night in Sam Maceo’s nightclub in Galveston, TX. I was way below the drinking age back then living in Texas on the gulf coast with him and my mom at the swanky Buccaneer Hotel.
In post-World War II Texas, Maceo’s was the nightclub that stood far above the Maddening crowd offering the finest musicians like my dad, the hottest entertainers, and the ritziest clientele enjoying the state’s ultimate upscale gambling exclusively there as it was illegal everywhere else in the Lone Star State.
A Swanky Nightspot
Oh yes, The Balinese Room on Galveston Island, where my dad played, was the swankiest spot on the Gulf Coast, the jewel in the crown of Sam and Rosario Maceo‘s Galveston-based empire.
The Maceo brothers were Italian-immigrant barbers turned bootleggers, who ended up as gambling-club owners. Their immense holdings on Galveston Island and their influence helped Galveston weather the depression far better than most cities across America.
If my dad isn’t impressive enough, consider my brother Don’s artful achievements as he was one of the world’s greatest cartoonists, a master at drawing the most colorful and funniest cartoons. Classics! He was one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s favorites.
And me?
I’m a PR guy and promoter who rose to the rank of #2 at NBC as Vice President, assistant to the then CEO and TV wunderkind Fred Silverman. When Fred and I were together at ABC, Fred brought to sparkling life some of the most successful TV comedy series ever presented, from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley to Three’s Company and Mork & Mindy that made an overnight comedy star out of Robin Williams.
But right now, I’m promoting a stellar crop of Maddens whose talent deserves even wider recognition and broader acclaim.
So next time someone meets me hopefully they’ll ask “Are you by any chance related to the great concert violinist and orchestra conductor Bill Madden or the wonderful Playboy Magazine cartoonist Don Madden? And I’ll proudly yell “YES! Happily, I sure am!”
I didn’t want October to end without this salute to my talented family, including my inventive son Andrew Madden whose talents are alarming, for that’s what he does, installs alarms and communications systems.
Andrew’s birthday is in October too, but unlike his virtuoso grandfather, he doesn’t fiddle around or b_llsh__ like his PR dad. With alarms he’ll disarm to prevent harm with no strings attached.
Meanwhile, may those concerts and cartoons keep memories vivid and ever flourishing of the Maddens who truly matte
And speaking of memories, I have to say goodbye to a dear friend who died yesterday, film star Elke Sommer. Besides all the great movies in which she had co-starring roles, I’ll always be grateful to her for starring in Shop Around the World with Elke Sommer, a TV series I created, produced and directed and filmed in her home country Germany. May the beautiful Elke be appearing in a deserving new role in heaven. She was so wonderful to know, to work with and represent. Truly!
Besides an inveterate blogger, Tom Madden is an author of countless published articles and six books, starting with Spin Man. He is the founder and CEO of TransMedia Group, an award-winning public relations firm serving clients worldwide since 1981.
The PR firm has conducted remarkably successful media campaigns and performed herculean crisis management missions for America’s largest companies and organizations. His daughter Adrienne Mazzone is the PR firm’s president.
