Madonna’s stink with Bay City: fact or fiction?

Madonna’s 1987 interview with Jane Pauly upset residents in Bay City when she referred to her hometown as a “smelly little town.” The media outrage over Madonna’s comment continued for over 30 years, but historian Gary Johnson is making it his mission to end the rumors once and for all by sharing the truths behind Madonna’s family and professional history in relation to Bay City through an event called “The Madonna Controversy.”

“I have great affection for Bay City,” said Madonna in the Pauly interview, but Johnson says this was ignored and instead, her words were taken out of context when she was referring to a Dow Chemical plant near her Grandmother’s home, which was the cause for the smell.

Over 100 people gathered at the Bay City Historical Museum on Saturday, Feb. 8, to watch hit music videos from the 1980s, such as “Like a Prayer” and “Papa Don’t Preach.” They also viewed photos of Madonna playing on Smith St. in Bay City as a child, as well as her at Rochester Adams High School where she was a cheerleader and straight-A student, but somehow this was nearly forgotten as the rumors intensified over the years.

According to Johnson, an article with the headline “That’s cold, Madonna” appeared in the Bay City Times without a byline and suggested Madonna rejected the key to the city. Former Bay City Mayor, Tim Sullivan, stated Madonna wasn’t a model citizen to represent Bay City because of the nude photographs in Playboy and Penthouse magazines at the time. He said the photos had a “chilling effect.”

Political candidate Patrick Ryon argued with Sullivan publicly and said he would personally invite Madonna to Bay City and give her the key himself. Johnson said the photos of Madonna weren’t pornography, but were taken when she was 18-years-old and posed for an art class to make money while living in New York. Because Madonna signed a standard model release, the photographer could sell them to anyone.

After efforts to bring Madonna back to Bay City failed, such as letters sent by council members and phone calls made to her personal assistant, Johnson suggests a different approach.

“Bay City needs to make some kind of a move. First of all, not because we want her here, or to give a free concert, but because of respect,” said Johnson.

Residents claim Madonna maintained a close relationship and would visit with her grandmother, Elsie Mae Fortin, in Essexville years after fame. When Madonna’s mother, Madonna Louise Fortin Ciccone passed away in 1963 from breast cancer, her five brothers and sisters went to live with Fortin.

Fortin passed away at 99-years-old in 2011, and media outlets said Madonna didn’t attend the funeral service, but photographs of Madonna and her children in Bay City were taken by a friend of her grandmother.

Meeting Madonna for the first time, Nelson Brown said, “She was just like you or I. She shook my hand and was very polite.”

Signs welcoming visitors to Bay City stating “Birthplace of Madonna” or naming a street after her or her mother will be some of the suggestions addressed by Johnson and city council members.12