Monday, December 21, 2009

Mae West: December Dollars

It was December 1935, the height of the Great Depression, and newspapers began posting the annual earnings of Americans — — such as MAE WEST — — who had earned over $15,000. Only about 18,000 Americans had a salary that topped $15,000 during the mid-1930s. Publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst received half-a-million that year. Mae was right behind her nemesis with salary checks totaling $339,166.65 during the same period.
• • Obviously, Hollywood's talented and unstoppable doll was bringing in top dollars at a time when breadlines and soup kitchens were a common sight across this nation. However, "Hundreds of corporation officials were revealed as making as much salary in one year as most men dream of accumulating in a lifetime of work," noted
The New York Times, quoting figures furnished by the U.S. Treasury Department. "Salaries of $100,000 and more were not rare."
• • Financially speaking, Mae West outpaced her movieland peers. Dozens of salaries are memorialized in this lengthy year-end report. Here are a few.
• • Bing Crosby, actor
— — $104,449 — — in addition to $88,499 he earned as a crooner from Crosby Productions, Inc.
• • W.C. Fields, actor
— — $155,083.
• • Marlene Dietrich, actress
— — $145,000.
• • Charlie Chaplin, actor
— — $143,000.
• • William LeBaron, producer
— — $114,711.
• • Adolph Zukor, Paramount Pictures Distributing Co.
— — $52,193.
• • Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse
— — $51,500.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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