• • Alas, the building is dark and for sale but, oh, those glory days half-a-century ago. During the early 1950s, Rhode Island's Theatre-by-the-Sea was seeing stars for nearly a decade.
• • Run by two theatre-loving New York attorneys - - Harold Schiff and Donald Wolin - - these Santa-Claus-producers had bucks and their rustic playhouse in Matunuck was a hobby, which they indulged until 1957.
• • The summer of 1951, the first season for the NYC-based producers, the line-up included John Garfield, Rathbone, Constance Bennett, John Barrymore, Veronica Lake, and Eve Arden. Seating was increased from 300 to 500.
• • Shortly after, Mae West arrived in South County in three limos: one for her and two for her luggage. Mae West, reportedly, did such terrific business. Discovering that all her performances were sold out, she agreed to do two extra shows.
• • And also during the 1950s, when a young, but successful Marlon Brando appeared in Arms and the Man in 1953, he turned down the $5,000 a week that Tallulah Bankhead had been receiving and instead worked for the minimum union wage [then $65]. During that season, top ticket prices were about $3.50.
• • The 1950s at this Matunuck theater were the years of the Big Ones. The big names in their playbills included Judy Holliday, Groucho Marx, Basil Rathbone, Eva Gabor, Jayne Mansfield, Jackie Gleason, and others who performed on that stage as part of their straw-hat tours.
• • A former publicist said that many actors were miserable, surly, and demanded the star treatment. Mae West did not. He said she was "the nicest actress I ever met."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.
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