madame

“Clearly I have been away too long. But madame, you surely do look familiar. . . .”

“I am pleased to be properly introduced to you, madame. Though I must say, this is all rather unexpected.”

Mr. Cole had at first tried out a number of stage names, from Sally Stanford, after the San Francisco madame who later became the mayor of Sausalito, to just plain Walter.

“As soon as I started talking with recruiters, I was told, ‘Understand, madame: At 59 you’ll only be working for a few years,’” she recalled.

When Bass finished taking her oath of office, Harris said “madame mayor,” drawing loud cheers from the audience in the Microsoft Theater as people leaped to their feet.