Mae West: April Jewels

In April 1954 and April 1956, Mae West returned to Manhattan to perform at the Latin Quarter.
• • Impresario Lou Walters [1896-1977] had produced shows for The Ziegfeld Follies, and wanted a regular "French style" cabaret of his own. • • On 1 April 1942, Lou Walters opened The Latin Quarter [at 200 West 48th Street, New York -- zipcode 10036]. It was housed in the two-story structure where The Cotton Club had been [September 1936 - April 1940].
• • In his on-going column "Tips on Tables" night-life reporter Robert W. Dana reviewed "The Mae West Revue"; his critique appeared in the newspaper on 30 April 1956. Here is an excerpt from Dana's coverage.
• • • • Mae West's Show Grows • • • •
• • The old belief that everything should be bigger and better, a thought most forcefully pronounced by Hollywood trailers, can be applied with forthright honesty to Mae West, who has returned to the Latin Quarter, where she scored heavily in the fall [sic] of 1954.
• • Instead of changing her act, Miss West embellished it. Most noteworthy, I think, is the addition of some song-and-dance men whose soft-shoe capers and grace provide a fair contrast to the muscle boys who are the background for her boudoir comedy. They rock and they roll and Miss West demonstrates that her vocal chords are as roving as her come- hither eyes.
• • . . . Packaged in regal white robes, [the bodybuilders] march first toward the audience then turn to Miss West and throw back their robes. Her expression of approval regales the customers. One of the muscle specimens is Mickey Hargitay, Mr. Universe. ...
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1954 • •
NYC
Mae West.