Mary Ambrose Smith Birdsall

  General Notes:

The 1928 Veiled Prophet Ball iullustrates the seriousness with which the event was regarded as an instrument of social control. For the fiftieth anniversary celebration records list "no queen," as Mary Ambrose Smith had secretly married Dr. Thomas Birdsall days earlier, violating the rule that the Queen of Love and Beauty must be a "maiden." In a 1979 interview with the St. Louis Times </w/index.php?title=St._Louis_Times&action=edit&redlink=1>, Smith recalled how the Veiled Prophet "gave her travelling money and told her to 'begone, don't register at any large hotels, and don't use your real name.' ... Smith was 'made to feel she disgraced her family. None of her friends stuck by her (she was told she could not visit their houses), she was never invited to another VP ball, her picture was removed from the collection of queens' portraits at the Missouri Historical Society </wiki/Missouri_Historical_Society>, and her name was deleted from the Social Register </wiki/Social_Register>.'"

Only years later in a 1979 interview with the St. louis Times did Smith talk about the difficult experience. She was sent away by the Veiled Prophet, who gave her traveling money and told her to begone, don't register any large hotels and don't use your real name. In fact, when she passed over the Mississippi River leaving St. Louis, Smith even reclined the seat of her car in order to avoid being seen by reporters who, she claimed, were looking for her everywhere. I felt like a hunted criminal. she said, I was just shattered.

Mary married Dr. Thomas Birdsall. (Dr. Thomas Birdsall was born in 1899.)