• • Dominic Felix Amici was born on 31 May 1908 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.• • In an interview, Don Ameche recalled: "The Mae West episode? I almost got thrown off the air for life because of that skit."
• • Close to Christmas — — on 12 December 1937 — — Mae West appeared in two separate sketches on ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's radio show, The Chase & Sanborn Hour, that shocked both the listening audience and NBC executives. Since Mae was promoting her latest film, the studio felt that this popular weekly program would give her free exposure - - and Edgar Bergen [1903-1978] had attracted his own substantial fan base. Gowned and bejeweled, Mae appeared as herself, flirting very heavily with Charlie McCarthy, Bergen's dummy, utilizing her usual brand of sexy wit and risqué sexual references.
Even more outrageous was a sketch earlier in the show, written by Arch Oboler, that starred Mae West and Don Ameche as Adam and Eve in the Garden Of Eden. The conversation between the two was considered so bawdy, bordering on blasphemous, that she was banned from being featured, or even mentioned, on the NBC network. She did not appear on radio for many years.
• • Script writer Arch Obler suffered no consequences, however.
• • Tall (5' 11"), dashing Don Ameche was a versatile and popular film actor in the 1930s and 1940s, usually cast as a debonair, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master-of-ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV.
• • During the 1980s, his career enjoyed a comeback when he played an aging millionaire who mentors Eddie Murphy in Trading Places [1983] and a rejuvenated oldster in Cocoon [1985] who can break-dance.
• • Don Ameche died [6 December 1993 in Scottsdale, Arizona] of prostate cancer at age 85.
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West co-stars • • Don Ameche • • Edgar Bergen • • 1937 • •
NYC
Mae West.
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