Mae West: January 1929

Beset by legal voodoo, MAE WEST was in pain and in great need of glad tidings during January 1929.
• • The usually healthy, resilient, durable actress had begun to experience fierce abdominal agony, perhaps from stress. The infamous raid at the Biltmore Theatre occurred in October 1928, when the police shut down Mae's play "Pleasure Man" and the district attorney was threatening her with another jail term.
• • Seized by the talons of legal eagles, Mae was rescued and got a jolt of good news from her savvy attorney Nathan Burkan. Burkan had convinced a judge to allow Mae to continue touring in "Diamond Lil."
• • Adding more relief to Mae's life was the fact that the Shuberts had just bought out Mark Linder, who had staked a claim on "Diamond Lil" because he suggested the locale.
• • On 20 January 1929 Mae brought "Diamond Lil" to Chicago, where it made its midwest debut to a packed house. For most of the 16-week engagement, the play attracted a large audience in the Windy City.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Illustration: Mae West • • Theatre Magazine's artist Irving Hoffman • • 1928 • •
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Mae West: London Bridged

Come up and see Mae West in London at "Surreal Things."
• • While many exhibitions have explored Surrealism as a movement in literature and the fine arts, the current installation in London claims to be the first to examine its impact on architecture, design, and the decorative arts.
• • Now on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum, "Surreal Things" offers a new approach to the subject, focusing on the creation of surrealist objects, whether unique works of art or examples of modern design.
• • From the sensuality of Dali's Mae West Lips sofa to Schiaparelli's disturbing Tear dress, Surrealism provoked artists to produce some extraordinary objects.
• • This exhibition presents many rarely seen works for the first time. Info: www.vam.ac.uk/
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • to come • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: January 1945

After a successful run of 191 performances on Broadway, Mae West's extravagant production of "Catherine Was Great" took its final bow at the Royale Theatre on 13 January 1945. The play had made its NYC debut at the Shubert Theatre on 2 August 1944, then transferred to the Royale on October 2nd.
• • In the cast were Gene Barry [born 1919], Charles Martin, Gregory Orloff, Joel Ashley, Rae Bourbon, et al. This cast photo shows a regal looking 51-year-old Mae West playing the Empress of Russia.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • "Catherine Was Great" cast • • 1944-1945 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Herman Bing

Born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, Germany, Herman Bing [30 March 1889 - 9 January 1947] was a character actor who played the German tourist Fritz Krausmeyer who buys the Brooklyn Bridge from Peaches O'Day - - MAE WEST - - in "Every Day's a Holiday."
• • In January, this film debuted: 14 January 1938.
• • It was the first Mae West film that failed to make money.
• • Herman Bing, a character actor active mainly in 1930s and 1940s Hollywood, was not unknown to burlesque his own Deutsch accent.
• • On January 9th, 1947, depressed at not being hired for film work, Bing committed suicide in Los Angeles, California.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • "Every Day's a Holiday" • • 1938 • •
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Mae West: Rhymes with Itch

Mae West's quotes have turned up in a new book published in the United Kingdom.
• • The northern quarter of London, England is home base for best-selling author Kate Figes, whose latest release is The Big Fat Bitch Book in which she heartily embraces the positive, hilarious side of bitchery. This tome is laced with humorous extracts from novels - - everything from Jane Austen to Mary McCarthy - - and pithy quotes delivered both on and off the silver screen.
• • Many witticisms date from the Golden Age of Hollywood divas, when strong, mouthy women such as MAE WEST, Bette Davis, and Katharine Hepburn ruled the box office. "If we had film stars like Mae West, who had those kinds of scripts and lines - - well, those 1930s actresses are the greats, for me.
• • "Clever bitching is an extreme female sport. It's thrilling and takes us to places we feel we shouldn't go," says Kate Figes.
• • The Big Fat Bitch Book is published by Virago.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • "blue" • • 1933 • •
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Mae West: Aunt Jemima

Imagine how MAE WEST must have felt in January 1921 when she was one of many vaudeville acts booked in Manhattan on a program headlined by Aunt Jemima?
• • Located on Broadway and West 47th Street, the Central Theatre welcomed Mae on their bill on January 8th and 9th, 1921 when she appeared with the Avon Comedy 4, Joe Browning, etc.
• • On January 22nd and 23rd, 1921, Mae was re-booked at the Central. On this occasion, Aunt Jemima received top billing and was clearly meant to be the draw.
• • Previously, Mae West had appeared in vaudeville when the star attraction had been either Houdini, Sophie Tucker, Savoy & Brennan, or Italian accordionist Guido Deiro. And Mae had also followed acts such as "Dan the drunk dog" during her early career on the boards.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • to come • • 1921 • •
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Mae West: January 1926

In January 1926, MAE WEST - - determined to succeed on stage after over a dozen years of mostly negative reviews and stinging hand-slaps by Variety's columnists - - brought Sex to Poli's Theatre in Bridgeport, Connecticut for a try-out. She had written the melodrama under the pseudonym Jane Mast.
• • Her mother's gangster friends funnelled in the money for the show. Sex was the story of a prostitute's revenge upon a society mother who sent her to jail . Almost instantly, the 32-year-old wannabe had her first financially flush hit, although every critic in New York savaged the production.
• • Tuned into this lucky strike at the box office, soon the producers involved in the 1926-27 theatrical season filled the playhouses with more Sex-like "dirt shows" than the legitimate stage had seen before.
• • "There were sporadic agitations, mostly in the press," recalled Burns Mantle in his annual Best Plays volume, provoking New York's District Attorney and even Governor Al Smith to clamor for an end to the spreading smut on Broadway.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West • • Lyons Wickland • • 1926 • •
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Mae West: Jeff Morrow

With a birthname of "Irving" and a pronounced forehead, the native New Yorker who was born in January and became actor Jeff Morrow [13 January 1907 - 26 December 1993] was bound to play the heavy. MAE WEST cast him as the convict Chick Clark when she revived "Diamond Lil" on Broadway. When the show opened on 5 February 1949, Morrow made his theatrical debut.
• • During the 1950s, Jeff Morrow stayed on the boards, playing in several successful shows on The Gay White Way including "The Lady from the Sea" and "Billy Budd." In the mid-1950s he segued into film acting. He appeared in 'B' westerns and sci-fi films as a no-nonsense leader and screen hero, usually paired with a busty beauty.
• • In addition to co-starring opposite MAE WEST, Jeff Morrow was paired onscreen with Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Cornell, Luise Rainer, and Barbara Lawrence.
• • He died in California at age 86.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West • • 1932 • •
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Mae West: Hy & Harry

What WON'T be sold on Ebay?
• • The former pianist for MAE WEST, entertainer Harry Richman [10 August 1895 – 3 November 1972] had written a letter on April 18, 1962 to sydicated columnist Hy Gardner [1908-1989]. In it, Richman described his Friars Roast in Hollywood. Though this was intended to be a men-only party, in fact MAE WEST was invited.
• • Harry Richman wrote: "What a night; I'm still shook up over it. Here at a stag great night all of a sudden they bring in MAE WEST and I damn near went through the floor. Being 69, Mae looked 35. And when we had a picture taken of me kissing her, Mae said, 'Take your arm and hold me lower at the waist, Harry. You are hiding my best part which took me all these years to preserve!' ..."
• • Richman gushed about his chats with Bob Hope, George Jessel, and other Friars in his lengthy missive. Unpublished in 1962, this bit of memorabilia is being sold this week by one of Hy Gardner's heirs.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West • • 1932 • •
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Mae West: W.C. Fields

Mmm, that birthday is coming up fast, my little chickadee!
• • William Claude Dukenfield was the birth name of actor W.C. Fields [29 January 1880 - - 25 December 1946]. Born in Darby, Pennsylvania at the end of January, the vaudevillian toured the country and began making "flickers" in 1915. That year the comedian made his first silent: "His Lordship's Dilemma."
• • Like MAE WEST, Fields wrote several of his own screenplays. He appeared in over three dozen movies. Near the end of his career, he collaborated with his co-star Mae West on the script of "My Little Chickadee" [1940]. Fields took the role of Cuthbert J. Twillie. Mae West played Flower Belle Lee. Edward F. Cline directed.
• • After years of immoderate drinking, W.C. Fields died on Christmas Day 1946 in Pasadena, California of a stomach hemorrhage.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Drawing: Mae West • • 1940 poster • •
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Mae West on Useppa

MAE WEST stayed in the best places, for instance, on the remote hide-away Useppa.
• • In the early years of the 20th Century, the waters around Useppa and Gasparilla Islands became world famous for tarpon fishing, attracting many wealthy sportsmen. Publisher and land-owner Barron Gift Collier, whose name is commemorated in Florida's Collier County, built a vacation estate here. Collier's guests included MAE WEST, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Gloria Swanson, the Rockefellers, and Zane Grey.
• • His home is now the Collier Inn, which sits atop the island's highest point (37 feet above sea level) — — also the highest in south Florida.
• • American advertising entrepreneur Barron Gift Collier [23 March 1873 — 13 March 1939] became the largest landowner and developer in the State of Florida (as well as the owner of a steamship line, a telephone company, a chain of hotels, bus lines, several banks, and newspapers). By age twenty-six, he was worth a million dollars.
• • In 1911, Barron Collier and his wife Juliet vacationed in Fort Myers, Florida and fell in love with the area. For the sum of $100,000 they bought nearby Useppa Island. The island was reputed to be the place where Jose Gaspar, the Spanish pirate had held one of his favorite female captives — — Useppa — —a century earlier.
• • Island cottages, rooms, and suites at the Collier Inn can be rented. Info: 888-735-6335. It could be very interesting to sleep on the same island where Mae stayed during the 1930s.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • to come • •
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Mae West: Captain Cummings

In January it's time to remember the British actor that MAE WEST brought to fame when she chose him for the role of Captain Cummings (a.k.a. "The Hawk") in the film verion of Mae's play Diamond Lil. On the Broadway stage, Curtis Cooksey [1891 - 1962] had taken the same part.
• • Born on 18 January 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, , Cary Grant died in the United States after a long successful career on 29 November 1986 (in Davenport, Iowa). Here they are, in their glory days, in a scene from She Done Him Wrong, a Paramount Pictures hit.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West • • Cary Grant • • 1933 film • •
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Mae West: Bling Binge

"MAE WEST, in diamonds, arrived," read one headline long ago. Mae would tell reporters, "Men and jewels are my hobby.”
• • Perhaps one of the best parts of reviving her hit play "Diamond Lil" on Broadway [which opened on 5 February 1949] at the Coronet Theatre (230 West 49th Street, New York, NY) was sitting down with Harry in January of 1949.
• • The program credits jeweler Harry Winston for supplying the Ali Baba's cave worth of glitter for this show. Mae West's adornments included: “Seven part waist decoration, $500,000; necklace, $100,000; three bracelets, $200,000; 46-carat emerald-cut diamond ring, $300,000;30-carat oval-cut diamond ring, $75,000…” The bling was returned each night to the vault - - and brought back to the Coronet Theatre, heavily guarded, in time for each performance. Better than this was never seen on the Bowery during the 1890s.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1918 • •
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Mae West: Black & White

A saucy starlet was MAE WEST.
• • Inspired by black dance trends - - like The Shimmy - - and always seeking out new music by black composers, Mae West could have conducted her own class for "Black History Month" and it would have been fascinating. One of the best books available is Mae West: An Icon in Black and White by scholar Jill Watts.
• • The promotional copy described the book this way:
• • Exploring West's penchant for contradiction and her carefully perpetuated paradoxes, Watts convincingly argues that Mae West borrowed heavily from African American culture, music, dance and humor, creating a subversive voice for herself by which she artfully challenged society and its assumptions regarding race, class and gender. Viewing West as a trickster, Watts demonstrates that by appropriating for her character the black tradition of double-speak and "signifying," West also may have hinted at her own African-American ancestry [!] and the phenomenon of a black woman passing for white. This absolutely fascinating study is the first comprehensive, interpretive account of Mae West's life and work. It reveals a beloved icon as a radically subversive artist consciously creating her own complex image. ...
• • Oxford University Press published this worthwhile study in the year 2001.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1918 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Red-Hot Influence

In January it's time to remember a singer and comedienne who was a big influence on MAE WEST, though she never admitted it.
• • Sophie Tucker [13 January 1884 — 9 February 1966] was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first third of the 20th century. Almost ten years older than Mae and not as controversial when she launched her career, Sophie Tucker had an ethnic appeal which upped her forward momentum and she was, in fact, a much bigger draw in vaudeville than the Brooklyn bombshell.
• • Born Sophia Kalish to a Jewish family in czarist Russia, she emigrated as an infant and her parents settled in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family changed its name to Abuza and opened a restaurant. Little Sophie sang for tips in this eatery. In 1903, the nineteen-year-old was briefly married to Louis Tuck — — then decided Tucker was a nice stage-name.
• • LIKE Mae West, Sophie Tucker did the circuit, playing piano and singing in vaudeville houses in blackface. In Sophie's case, she claimed that theatre managers told her she was "too fat and ugly" to be accepted by an audience in any other context.
• • LIKE Mae, Sophie Tucker made a name for herself in a [then popular] style known as a "Coon-Shouting" — — in other words, performing minstrel and black-influenced songs. Also, as Mae West did, Tucker hired some of the best black singers of the day to teach her how to do the blues properly; she also hired black composers to write songs for her act.
• • UNLIKE Mae, Sophie Tucker even sang songs that acknowledged her heft, such as "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love." Never apologizing for her size, Mae would never do a song like that.
• • On December 28th, 1919, Sophie Tucker was the big headliner, with her Kings of Syncopation, at the 44th Street Theatre (near Broadway). Vaudevillians on the same bill that night were Ames & Winthrop, Riggs & Witchie, and a 26-year-old brunette named MAE WEST.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Sophie Tucker • • 1917 • •
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Mae West: Wesley Ruggles

Born in Los Angeles was Hollywood director Wesley Ruggles [11 June 1889 — 8 January 1972] who worked once with MAE WEST. A younger brother of actor Charles Ruggles, Wesley directed one of Mae's most successful films "I'm No Angel" (1933).
• • In 1915, he began his career as an actor, appearing in several silent films — — a few with Charlie Chaplin. In 1917, he turned director, making more than fifty insignificant and forgettable films before he won acclaim with "Cimarron" [1931] and the financially flush and critically astounding blockbuster starring Mae West the following year. "I'm No Angel" raked in even more profits than "She Done Him Wrong" — — and keep in mind that this was during the height of the Depression.
• • Wesley's brother, actor Charles Ruggles had one of the longest careers in Hollywood, lasting more than 60 years and encompassing more than 100 films.
• • Wesley Ruggles died in Santa Monica, California during the month of January — — on 8 January 1972.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West • • in 1933 • •
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Mae West: Von Tilzer

His life ended In January so it is time to reflect on American songwriter Harry Von Tilzer [8 July 1872 — 10 January 1946] who helped launch MAE WEST's career. One of his popular novelty songs — — "Mariutch Make-a the Hootch a-ma-Cooch in Coney Island" — — was performed by "Baby Mae" when her parents entered their daughter in amateur contests. Her performance of this Italian dialect number often won a prize.
• • Von Tilzer was born in Detroit under the name Harry Gummbinsky (which he shortened to Harry Gumm before later taking the "Von Tilzer" monicker under which he became famous). At age 14 he joined a traveling circus, where he took his new name. He began playing piano and calliope while creating new tunes and incidental music for shows. After writing many songs, performed by well-known vocalists, Harry Von Tilzer achieved wealth and fame.
• • Harry's niece Frances Gumm went on to fame as the renamed Judy Garland.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • song sheet • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Come Hither

Discussing double-dealing and dirty tricks recently, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin dragged in two Hollywood icons — — MAE WEST and Greta Garbo — — to make his point.
• • Sorkin wrote: "FACED with a hostile takeover bid from US Airways, the chief executive of Delta Air Lines, Gerald Grinstein, has played the role of Greta Garbo, publicly insisting for the past two months that his company wanted to be alone. Behind the scenes, however, his act has been much more Mae West, as his company made come-hither phone calls to rival Northwest Airlines to discuss a possible deal. . .."
• • Source: The New York Times
• • Byline: Andrew Ross Sorkin
• • Published: 14 January 2007
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: Mae West • • none • •
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