By DON STINE
Well-known psychic fortune teller Madam Marie, a fixture on the Asbury Park boardwalk for almost 70 years, died Fri., June 27. She was in her 90s.
Madison Marquette, the company redeveloping the Asbury Park boardwalk, lowered the flag at the oceanfronts Convention Hall to half-staff after hearing about Madam Maries death over the weekend. The flag will remain at half-staff for the rest of the week.
We lowered the flag out of respect for Madam Marie upon learning about her death. She was an important part of the boardwalk here and her business was an iconic structure that became synonymous with Asbury Park itself, said the companys marketing director Courtney Johnson.
 Coaster Photos: Madame Marie died Friday. Her business still remains on the Asbury Park boardwalk. |
Madam Marie, whose real name was Marie Castello, is immortalized in the lyrics of Bruce Springsteens 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).
In a statement issued by Springsteen yesterday he said he often stopped to talk to Madame Marie as she sat on her folding chair outside the Temple of Knowledge.
I’d sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach and watch as she led the day trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future. She always told me mine looked pretty good—she was right. The world has lost enough mystery as it is—we need our fortune tellers. We send our condolences out to her family who’ve carried on her tradition. Over here on E Street, we will miss her, Springsteens statement said.
In the song he writes: Did you here the cops finally busted Madam Marie for tellin fortunes better than they do… – an event Madam Marie apparently agreed, to a degree, actually happened although it was long before Springsteen was on the scene.
Madam Maries small booth at Fourth Avenue and the boardwalk, painted in an occult motif with a large staring eye on one side and with a dark-blue ceiling glowing with stars and moons, has been an Asbury Park attraction for decades, especially among Springsteen fans.
Opening her business in 1932 with her mother, Madam Marie operated at other locations in the city but was permanently located on the boardwalk by the 1940s.
The small building, also known as The Temple of Knowledge, contained a reading room and a closet with secret potions, tarot cards, and Madam Maries crystal ball.
Madam Marie gave readings on the boardwalk for almost 70 years. She took a seven-year break in 1997 but returned in the summer of 2004 to give weekend readings in the booth once again.
Madam Marie also gave readings for winners of a contest sponsored by the Merchants Guild of Asbury Park and held at Antic Hay Books, Mattison Avenue, the day Springsteen released The Rising at the boardwalk in 2002.
Winners received a meet-and-greet with Madam Marie and had their fortunes told.
Local historian Helen Pike, author of Asbury Parks Glory Days (Rutgers University Press), attended the Antic Hay Books event and pressed Madam Marie about the famous line from the Springsteen song and if it were true.
She was very reluctant to respond until I told her I had read an article in The Sun about it, Pike said.
The Sun was a local daily newspaper started by Walter Reade in the 1940s to compete with the Asbury Park Press.
The article said that Madam Marie and her mother were busted for telling fortunes. I later researched it and learned that there was then a law in New Jersey prohibiting fortune telling, Pike said.
Pike said Madam Marie eventually did say that they received a ticket from the local police, which she added was not an uncommon experience for some business owners on the boardwalk at that time.
Yes, it happened that she was busted for telling fortunes because there was a law on the books. But these laws were eventually changed so that fortune telling became an entertainment- not a crime, Pike said.
Pike said it was not uncommon for police to raid various boardwalk businesses, including arcades for games of chance, in the 1940s and that the raids were often triggered by Protestant religious fervor, particularly from neighboring Ocean Grove.
Madam Marie and her mother didnt go to jail or anything. They paid the ticket and that was it,she said.
Pike said she is saddened to hear of Madam Maries death.
Its too bad that she is gone. She is the icon that really gave the Asbury Park boardwalk its singular look and I hope the family carries on the tradition. We can all sometimes use a little Madam Marie on our side, Pike said.
Former Asbury Park Councilwoman Kate Mellina said she won a contest while she was on the governing body to get a free reading from Madam Marie.
I had this free reading so I asked her about the future of the Asbury Park boardwalk, since that was our top issue at the time, and she promised that it was going to be a success this time. I just forgot to ask her about my future, she said.
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