Mae West: Yogini

MAE WEST was involved with yoga in 1940, observes this recent article in Columbia Journalism Review. Here is a brief excerpt.

• • The thirties saw the rise of the influence of gossip columnists, many of whom had started their careers just a few years earlier with the tabloids. Walter Winchell and Hedda Hopper were two of the best known of the pack. Gossips wrote six days a week in many cases, so they relied to an inordinate degree on movie stars’ predilections, which began to involve yoga.
• • In 1938, Cole Porter was back in the hospital, a year after his legs were crushed in a riding accident. He was studying yoga, reported Leonard Lyons in The Washington Post, “to attain complete control of his system.” Lyons had previously outed Greta Garbo as a lonely yogini; Maureen O’Sullivan was mentioned by the beauty columnist Ida Jean Kain in one of her “Your Figure, Madame,” columns titled "Yoga Exercises Finding Favor With Women in America."
• • And guess what? Mae West was one of those women, according to Sheilah Graham in her “Hollywood Today” column of January 30, 1940.
• • During the war years, Southern California became the undisputed locus of alternative culture, and Hollywood its epicenter. Yoga was by this time, if not totally American, then a harmless pastime for the citizens of California. During World War II, it was reported that “nerves are unpatriotic,” according to the author and actress Cornelia Otis Skinner, who told a health columnist that she had tried yoga and calisthenics to cure her wartime nervousness. ...
Source: "Fear of Yoga" By Robert Love [C.J.R., November - December 2006]
Source: © 2006 Columbia Journalism Review - - http://www.cjr.org
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1938 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: 15 Minutes

FIFTEEN MINUTES Magazine came up to see Mae! New York City's Fire Patrol was on stand-by the evening of August 17th, 2006.

Reason: they heard that vixenish vocalist MARNIE BAUMER was in Greenwich Village, doing her "Mae West Medley" at the ANNUAL MAE WEST GALA. Well, things got really hot when the boa-toting beauty took the floor to treat the crowd to "My Old Flame," "A Guy What Takes His Time," and "Frankie and Johnny."
• • George, the muscle-bound bodyguard who accompanies Texas Guinan everywhere, swore that the blonde Baumer's performance was not unlike a three-alarm-blaze. (Hey, sucker! Where were YOU on August 17th, huh?)

• • Party guests at Village Restaurant, happily feasting on a Roaring 20s menu specially prepared by chef Stephen Lyle, also were enjoying the exhibition "ONSTAGE OUTLAWS: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Era."
• • Veteran reporter Jules Peimer covered the ANNUAL MAE WEST GALA for 15 Minutes Magazine. This is his coverage.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Annual Mae West Gala media coverage • • August 2006 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Confidential

Born on February 10, 1912 in either Mexico or Arizona, Albert "Chalky" Wright turned pro in the ring two weeks after his 16th birthday, scoring a four-round win over Nilo Balles. He spent the early part of his boxing career in Southern California. Standing 5' 6 1/2", Wright fought best at 126 pounds.
• • As the 1930s drew to a close, Chalky's best-known bouts were losses to the likes of Henry Armstrong and Lew Feldman. Any championship aspirations amounted to nothing more than lip service. However, Lady Luck appeared in the form of a new employer — none other than Hollywood movie queen Mae West, for whom Chalky became a chauffeur, turning his back on the topsy-turvy world of boxing in favor of a steady paycheck.
• • Boxing historian Hank Kaplan explained: "Mae West liked having characters around, especially those in the prizefight game, and Chalky was an interesting fellow."
• • Chalky Wright had another quality that Mae West prized: loyalty. When the screen siren was robbed of a large sum of cash and jewelry, Wright became part of a decoy operation, driving around police officers Jack South (who hid on the floor) and Harry Dean (who dressed in drag to appear like the movie star) in an effort to nab the robbers and retrieve West's merchandise.
• • Such devotion did not go unreciprocated. Mae West helped to revive his career. In order for his family to meet their financial obligations, West hired Chalky's brother to take over the chauffeur's position. She then engaged promoter Morrie Cohen to line up a series of bouts that helped take Wright into contention.
• • It wasn't until he began fighting on the East Coast in 1938 that the boxing world took notice of Wright. He packed considerable power for a 126-pounder. By 1941, Wright was ranked among the top featherweights in the world and secured a title fight by decisioning future champion Sal Bartolo. On September 11, 1941, nearly 14 years after he turned pro, Wright knocked out Joey Archibald in the 11th round to win the world featherweight title. Less than a month after winning the title, Wright engaged in two tough non-title fights, losing to top contender Jose Peralta and decisioning former champ Leo Rodak.
• • In 1948, Chalky Wright finally retired, a veteran of 201 bouts in a career that spanned 20 years.
• • Amid speculation that Mae West and Wright were lovers, Hollywood Research (an information-gathering service for Hollywood Confidential publishers) was preparing an expose for their November 1955 edition. Hollywood Confidential Magazine sought a pay-off from Mae West. When Mae refused to give in to their blackmail, the magazine ran a tell-all, trumpeting on their sleazy front cover that Mae West had an "Open Door Policy" when it came to dark-skinned males.
• • In November 1955, readers who purchased this notorious scandal-sheet learned that Mae West had showered the fighter with pricey gifts, bought a house for his mother, and bankrolled his divorce.
• • In 1957, the State of California got into a courtroom tussle with Hollywood Confidential over these attempts at extortion. The trial began in early August 1957 and involved many high-profile names in addition to Mae West - - like Desi Arnaz [married to Lucille Ball] and Clark Gable.
• • Mae West avoided testifying by supplying sworn depositions that denied she had a romance with Chalky Wright. On 12 August 1957, just before he was to testify, Chalky Wright [age 45] died suddenly in Los Angeles in the bathtub of his mother's house. Mae West insisted that her friend had been murdered.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West's chauffeur • • Chalky Wright in 1941 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: The Other Walker

"The Night Mayor" of Gotham - - Jimmy Walker - - was a Mae West fan who attended all of her premieres. Another Walker, newsman Stanley Walker, also came up to see Mae West on many occasions. He saw her productions onstage, and he sat at her elbow several times backstage and at the night spots she frequented.
• • As a writer for the old New York Herald Tribune in the 1920s and 1930s, Stanley Walker chronicled the city in words the way Weegee did with a Graflex. Published in November 1935 to great acclaim, The Night Club Era is Walker's portrait of the wicked city during Prohibition and how the banning of liquor gave rise to a new social setting in which, legal or not, booze flowed uninhibited and gangsters rubbed shoulders with socialites and legitimate businessmen, all unified with the single intent of having a high time with a highball.
• • Written in the aftermath of Prohibition, Stanley Walker's bestseller The Night Club Era is a lively and idiosyncratic account of the people and places that defined New York's night life during the era of "the great American madness."
• • Walker includes coverage of the leading headline-makers and shakers such as the darling of Broadway MAE WEST, queen of bubbly Texas Guinan, along with the most infamous murderers and millionaires, gangsters, bartenders, celebrities of the stage, screen, and society, and a host of other colorful characters who populated the city's diverse night clubs, from El Fey to the Cotton Club.
• • Mae West was a repeater attender at the Cotton Club (owned by her lover Owney Madden) and at the El Fey, the temporary headquarters of her pal, the hostess Texas Guinan (a business partner of Larry Fay).
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1925 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Cary Grant

Though he made a few films before hooking up with MAE WEST, Cary Grant was still an unknown in 1932. Seeking a debonair male lead, the actress spotted him at Paramount Pictures, and told her producers, "If he can talk, I'll take him."

• • Archibald Alexander Leach [18 January 1904 – 29 November 1986] - - better known by his screen name, Cary Grant - - was an English film actor. With his distinctive Mid-Atlantic accent, he was perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man: tall, dark, handsome, witty, and charming. He was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
• • After the huge popularity their first films achieved - - "She Done Him Wrong" and "I'm No Angel" - - the pair was promoted on this Players Cigarettes tobacco card in 1934.
• • Cary Grant died in November 1986 at age 82.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Tobacco Card: Mae West with Cary Grant • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Love-Line

To know her was to love her, close associates have said.

• • Exploring her life has provided endless fodder for biographers.
• • To watch her films - - containing material penned for Mae West by Mae West - - is to appreciate her comic timing, her understanding of visual artistry, and also her perfectionism.
• • To hear other actresses whine about personal problems, abortions, drug dependency, suicide attempts, and their medical history is to understand how Mae West kept her audience care-free, unwilling to burden them with updates on her diabetes, the deterioration of her vision, or the ups and downs of her financial stability. Thank you Mae for making us laugh - - not sigh.
• • MAE WEST: 17 August 1893 - - 22 November 1980.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West with her brother and sister • • 1930 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West, Endlessly

She started life in Brooklyn, New York on 17 August 1893. "I was born on a cool night in a hot month," said Mae West, "so I knew I could expect anything."
• • On 22 November 1980, she departed from this life - - but never from our hearts.
• • She is often quoted and frequently impersonated.
• • She has always been misunderstood by most people.
• • MAE WEST often wrote her own work; she popularized African-American music; she clowned about sex; she never apologized for her size.
• • Endlessly, she is our one-of-a-kind MAE WEST.
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• • Photo: Mae West • • early 1930s • •
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Mae West: John Mack Brown

Born on 1 September 1904 in Alabama, Johnny Mack Brown died in the month of November - - on 14 November 1974 - - in Los Angeles of a cardiac condition.

MAE WEST fans became acquainted with the six-foot-one actor when he played the role of Brooks Claybourne in "Belle of the Nineties" [1934].
• • An All-American halfback while attending the University of Alabama, Johnny Mack Brown would choose the silver screen over the green grass of the football field when he graduated. Signed to a contract with MGM in 1926, Brown debuted in Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) with William Haines in a film about - baseball. This was followed by The Bugle Call (1927), which starred the fading Jackie Coogan.
• • In 1928 he would appear in the last Norma Shearer silent film, A Lady of Chance (1928). After that, he would work with MAE WEST, Greta Garbo, Marion Davies, and Mary Pickford.
• • His muscular good looks would only carry Brown so far in films, however, and by 1930 he had yet to find his place. At MGM Clark Gable was taking the roles that Brown was up for, so he went into a western for director King Vidor, Billy the Kid (1930). While Vidor did not want him for the part to begin with, the picture was successful; however, Brown's career at MGM would soon end. By 1933 he would still be making westerns, but they would be for low-rung studios like Mascot.
• • More westerns at even lower-rung Supreme Pictures followed, as well as serials like Wild West Days (1937) at Universal.
• • Johnny Mack Brown died at age 70 [in November 1974].
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• • Photo: Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Endurance

On 4 May 1938 The New York Journal American labelled Mae West a box-office poisonality. But the actress's reputation recovered and endured. The poet Emily Wortis Leider described MAE WEST's status as a cultural icon in her book BECOMING MAE WEST [NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997]. Here is an excerpt.
• • It could be argued that by the time MAE WEST and Paramount Pictures parted company her career had been damaged beyond repair. But by another reckoning she had no reason to worry. Her status as a cultural icon had become so securely ensconced by the late thirties that it remained invulnerable, safe in a place where no Joseph Breen or William Randolph Hearst could dislodge it.
• • From the movies she had already made, the world knew what she looked like, how she walked and talked. Many could quote at least one of her signature lines. . . .
• • Source for this text: Becoming Mae West by Emily Wortis Leider
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Mae West
• • Illustration: Mae West • • sketched by Mark Summers • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Retirement

Edith Head designed many memorable gowns - - eye candy for the silver screen. An announcement from Hollywood on 28 November 1960 heralded the retirement of a "collection of the best known clothes in the world . . . now heading for its final public appearance." This "million dollar collection" included gowns created for MAE WEST.
• • "I'm only managing to hold them together with emergency sewing now," said Edith Head (in mid-November 1960). A diminutive but dynamic brunette who is twice as busy as most Hollywood producers, Head added, "This will be about their last time out."
• • A score of Paramount Pictures costumes have been sentimentally preserved because they contributed to movie history.
• • These beauties included Mae West's emerald-green, jewel-embroidered come-up-and-see-me-sometime gown from "She Done Him Wrong," Texas Guinan and Clara Bow outfits, and Ginger Rigers' mink dress from "Lady in the Dark" . . .
• • To have seen these dresses in full color during their heyday - - after viewing them in a black and white film - - must have been a startling contrast.
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• • Photo: Mae West's gown • • created in 1932, retired 1960 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Coronet

Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, this playhouse was originally named for the great nineteenth-century tragedian Edwin Forrest; the Forrest Theatre [230 West 49th Street] was officially opened in November: 24 November 1925. This Broadway mainstage had 1075 seats.

• • It was rechristened the Coronet Theatre and reopened in December 1945. A few years later, this playhouse hosted the revival of Mae West's enormously successful Bowery classic. "Diamond Lil" met her public at the Coronet beginning on 5 February 1949. Mae West wrote the play and starred in it. Without Mae as the central dame, "Diamond Lil" would have been like Hamlet without the Dane.
• • It was a curious twist when the Coronet became the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in the month of November [19 November 1959].
• • Fascinated by the dramatist Eugene O'Neill, Mae West made sure she saw his plays.
• • Eugene O'Neill was born in New York, NY [16 October 1888] and introduced to the theatre world via the Provincetown Playhouse during the 1920s.
• • Though Mae found O'Neill's outlook depressing, she was well aware of his enormous popularity. His characters fueled a few of Mae's well-crafted spoofs. In 1922 Mae prepared a send-up of "The Hairy Ape"; yelling in the style of O'Neill's tragic hero Yank Smith, the comedienne rehearsed a song "Eugene O'Neill, You Put a Curse on Broadway," which contained this bit: "She don me doit! Lemme up! I'll show her who's an ape!"
• • The Pulitzer-winning "Beyond the Horizon" [published in 1920] was O'Neill's first important play. Eugene O'Neill, age 65, died in Boston, Mass. in November: 27 November 1953.
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Mae West
• • Illustration: Mae West performed at the Coronet Theatre • • built in 1925 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Seamen

MAE WEST's famously buxom figure was the inspiration for another "Mae" - - a personal flotation device.

• • Used during World War II by the Allies, the Type B-4 life preserver (an inflatable lifejacket) was known among military men as a "Mae West."
• • Since November 11th is Veteran's Day, this is an ideal time to reflect on Mae West's relationship with the Navy.
• • During 1917-1918 wartime, Broadway's Casino Theatre used to stage free Sunday concerts for military men. Mae West was often on the bill, performing gratis, fetchingly attired in a middy blouse and a jaunty sailor hat.

• • In March 1926, Mae West's play "Sex" - - whose plot turns on Margy LaMont, a prostitute who has an English naval officer for a boyfriend - - was in rehearsal. Prior to its Broadway run, the play had out-of-town try-outs in Connecticut; the maritime men on shore leave snapped up the tickets and became a most appreciative audience for these previews. "I'll never forget my debt to the Navy," Mae used to say.
• • In 1927, during Mae West's obscenity trial at Jefferson Market Court House in New York, police detectives took the witness stand and described a suggestive dance that Mae West did onstage during her play. The judge asked if the actress's midriff was bare during this "cooch" number in "Sex," and if the audience could see her belly button. This important testimony was cross-examined - - at great length - - by the lawyers. The detective said that he was too far back in Daly's Theatre to swear that it was Mae West's belly button, however, he saw something in her pelvic area that moved to the left and to the right, an admission which caused an uproar among the spectators. Mae West had to stuff a handkerchief in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud, too.
• • Covering the trial for a newspaper, a reporter poked fun at the detective in his article. "Clearly," he concluded, "no navel displays are permitted on Broadway."
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Mae West
• • Illustrations: Mae West • • Tijuana Bible • • during the 20th century • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: James Abbe

Shooting stars must have agreed with James Abbe because he lived to be 91.

• • Born in Maine on 17 July 1883, this budding shutterbug was raised in Newport News, Virginia where he received his first camera at age 15 in 1898. It was a $1 box Brownie. And he had the most extraordinary beginner's luck.
• • His first news photo was a picture of the battleship Maine as she sailed for Havana in 1898. When the ship sank during this voyage, his photo - - the most current shot taken - - was published around the world, making the teenager's name famous overnight.
• • When Abbe moved to Manhattan he set up a studio in the Hotel des Artistes. However, he preferred to take pictures on location. Especially when he made studies of actors and actresses, he preferred to take their picture at the theatre when they were in costume. Abbe photographed all the well-known vaudevillians and leading lights of Broadway.
• • In 1916, he did a series on Mae West in some of her costumes at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, where she was doing an act with her sister Beverly. Though he took other photos of Mae West, this seems to be the first portrait he snapped.
• • During November, James Abbe is being remembered. After a long, productive career, he died in San Francisco, California on 13 November 1973.
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• • Photo: Mae West • • photographed by James Abbe • • 1916 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: "Sometime"

The Shimmy: MAE WEST staked her claim on this ferocious frenzy of a dance, which she had first noticed in Chicago. In 1918, she sang "Everybody Shimmies Now" and posed for this song sheet. At the Shubert Theatre, Mae added the Shimmy to her act in "Sometime" [1918]. She also sang the song: "What Do You Have to Do to Get It."
• • Question: Do you think Mae West's pose on this song sheet in 1918 looks similar to Eva Tanguay's pose five years earlier in 1913?
• • Playing opposite Ed Wynn in Arthur Hammerstein's "Sometime," with music by Rudolf Friml, Mae West performed the shimmy for an appreciative Broadway audience. In the shimmy, there was hardly any movement of the feet, but continuous movement of the shoulders, torso and pelvis.
• • This show opened at the Shubert Theatre on 4 October 1918. The musical closed in June 1919, after running for 283 performances.
• • Picture Mae West sometime in 1918, a 25-year-old brunette sizzling onstage. A reviewer who covered her performance at the Shubert Theatre described Mae West as a "tasty tornado."
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Eva Tanguay • • 1913 and 1918 • •
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Mae West.

Defending Mae West

In February 1927, the first police raid of MAE WEST's play "Sex" led to an expensive trial, box office losses, and jail time for her and others. After the second police raid in October 1928, Mae West knew she was really in trouble. A top-notch dragon-slayer was required.

• • Attorney Nathan Burkan was hired for the "Pleasure Man" court case.
• • Politically well-connected, Nathan Burkan was born in New York City on 6 November 1878 and educated at the City University of New York and New York University's Law School. He became known as a specialist in theatrical matters. Many of his clients were composers and lyricists, members of ASCAP — — like the light opera composer Victor Herbert — — who relied on his expertise regarding copyright disputes.
• • Nathan Burkan was a savvy cross-examiner. Celebrities who counted on his legal muscle included Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, Mrs. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, etc. He represented the United Artists (then a new motion picture outfit), The New York Morning Telegraph, and other companies.
• • A frequent presence in Jefferson Market Court House on Sixth Avenue, where he did his best for the Mayor of New York Jimmy Walker as well as the embattled estate of gangster Arnold Rothstein, Nathan Burkan was 51 years old when the "Pleasure Man" case was brought to trial. He won acquittal for his client Mae West.
• • Alas, his legal fees bankrupted Mae West, already devastated after a $200,000 loss of advance ticket sales for her play after a raid at the Biltmore Theatre.
• • He died quite suddenly, after a brief illness, on 7 June 1936. Burkan was 57.
• • Nathan Burkan is being remembered during the week of his birthday: November 8th.
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West with her lawyer • • Nathan Burkan • • 1930 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: The Apollo

Atlantic City, NJ has been in the news lately, a seaside showplace where MAE WEST performed for hundreds of salt-water-taffy-devotees and pleasure-seekers at the Apollo Theatre in 1931.

• • A recent news item prepared by The Associated Press lamented that the New Jersey shore resort will soon be revamped: "big changes are under way in Atlantic City, whose streets gave the Monopoly board spaces their names."
• • According to this article: "The Miss America pageant and the fabulous old boardwalk hotels are already gone. Now the list of vanishing Atlantic City icons includes the Steel Pier (where visitors were entertained by top-name singers and movie stars), and a historic airfield that gave the world the term airport. . . . As the new Atlantic City competed for the entertainment dollar with Las Vegas and other gambling hubs, a lot of what made the old city special for so many people has disappeared. . . . Last month [October 2006], the Steel Pier shut down for good. It will be torn down in a few months to make way for a mix of stores, restaurants and dwelling units across from the Trump Taj Mahal casino, which owns the nine-acre property. . . ."

• • The Steel Pier (which opened in 1898) hosted performances from big band leaders (Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey), and movie stars (Bob Hope, Charlie Chaplin). Vaudevillians Abbott & Costello honed their "Who's On First?" routine there. Fred Astaire, MAE WEST, Ricky Nelson, and The Three Stooges all packed 'em in at the pier. . . . Curiously, the Steel Pier burned [- steel burns? -] in a 1982 fire, and then reopened as a kiddie-ride midway atop a concrete foundation in 1993. . . .
• • When MAE WEST brought her play "The Constant Sinner" to Atlantic City in August 1931, the crowds lined up for tickets, noted The New York Times: "With two rows of standees and chairs in the aisles for extra celebrants, last Monday night saw Mae West run through her latest daisy chain, The Constant Sinner, at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City. . ." [NY Times 30 August 1931].
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Apollo Theatre • • August 1931 • •
• • "The Constant Sinner" cast featured Walter Petrie (as Wayne Baldwin) • •
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Mae West.