When MAE WEST was working in burlesque in the mid-1920s, she used a big powder puff and shook her talcum all over the men in the first row. A 30-year-old Boston native, whose stage name is Dizzy Von Damn, channels the vivacious Brooklyn bombshell in her act: Uncommon Burlesque. Naturally, you want to know more, yes?
• • Kelli Skye Fadroski writes: The lights dim, the music slows down a beat and a spotlight beams brightly on the night’s hostess, Dizzy Von Damn, dolled up this particular evening in tribute to one of her favorite Hollywood sex symbols, Mae West. A commanding presence, Von Damn is quick-witted and above all confident as she and her entourage of seasoned performers fearlessly takes to the small stage at the Commonwealth Lounge in downtown Fullerton, entertaining with skits as humorous as they are saucy.
• • Kelli Skye Fadroski adds: This is Uncommon Burlesque, a traveling production from Von Damn that appears . . . in Fullerton and . . . in Newport Beach. Working with a rotating group of ladies at each location, Von Damn has built up a strong network of budding burlesque stars from as nearby as Los Angeles to as far away as New Zealand. ...
• • Source: "Uncommon Burlesque spices up O.C. nightlife" written by Kelli Skye Fadroski for The Orange County Register; posted on 30 March 2011.
• • 31 March 1912 • •
• • The end of March signaled the beginning of excitement down at "The Corner" [Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street]. The New York Times announced on 31 March 1912 that "Mae West and Her Boys" would take the stage at Hammerstein's Victoria.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Stephen Battaglio introduces his TV Biz column like this: Mae West once said, "All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else." Several TV networks couldn't agree more. ...
• • Source: "The Biz: Second-chance Successes" written by Stephen Battaglio, TV Guide; posted on 30 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1885th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1926 • •
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Mae West.
When MAE WEST was launching her stage career, she emphasized her dancing ability and physical exuberance. Like the newcomer George Raft, variety artist Mae became known for fast footwork. At the Shubert Theatre, a young soldier in the audience named Leonard Hall noted that she was a "slender, beautiful ball of fire who performed as a specialty dancer in high kicks, cartwheels, and fast taps. She was a tasty tornado." Those fancy steps were the result of years of studying with Ned Wayburn, whose birthdate is at the end of March.
• • Born in Pennsylvania, Ned Wayburn [30 March 1874 — 2 September 1942] was a choreographer. His promotional campaigns pictured some of his most successful dance pupils — — and though Mae was not featured on those testimonials, Ned taught her to dance and cast her in several shows, adding heft to her resume and stage career.
• • Tira Titillates on TV • • 
• • Paramount Pictures was too terrified to show Mae's hip movements. Her gyrations are merely suggested in the opening segment of "I'm No Angel," when she appears in an outrageous kootchy-kootchy harem costume and is introduced as "Tira the incomparable," the gal who realized you didn't need feet in order to shimmy.
• • In his column "Notable TV Screenings," Ken Hanke writes: Depending on your stamina — or your DVR or DVD recorder hard-drive capacity — you could easily start at 11:15 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30, on TCM and just keep watching till about 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 31, without hitting a single clunker. It starts with Wesley Ruggles’s Mae West film "I’m No Angel" (1933). This is Mae’s second starring film — and her second with Cary Grant. It’s also perhaps her most elaborate film and definitely one of her best and most pre-code racy vehicles. Nothing quite matches Mae singing “They Call Me Sister Honky Tonk” and then surveying her leering audience and saying, “Suckers,” though telling Louise Beavers, “Beulah, peel me a grape,” ain’t bad. This is followed by Ernst Lubitsch’s "Trouble in Paradise" (1932) ....
• • Source: "Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler March 30 — April 5" written by Ken Hanke for Mountain Express; posted on 29 March 2011.
• • 30 March 1927 • •
• • By 30 March 1927, twelve male jurors had been selected for Mae West's "Sex" trial set for Jefferson Market Court on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Sportswriter Patrick Kennedy jokes: Coach Evan Robinson, who is to over-confidence what Mae West is to chastity, would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned. His edginess stems from the club's sudden lack of grit and no-guff approach, both large, loud factors in the Game 3 defeat in Oakville. ...
• • Source: Sports Page: "Voyageurs desperate for victory" written by Patrick Kennedy, The Whig-Standard, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; posted on 24 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1884th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in her 1933 costume as Tira • •
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Mae West.
It was 1912 when MAE WEST got her first major vaudeville break: a spot on the bill at Hammerstein's Victoria in mid-May. At last the scintillating singing comedienne could demonstrate that she was in a league with the top-tiered headliners often billed at "The Corner" such as Eva Tanguay, Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, Nora Bayes, and other notables. 
• • Mae was close to her 19th birthday when she was invited back by Hammerstein for a weeklong booking that began on 6 August 1912. She shared the stagebill with several acts — — including Fields and Carroll.
• • Mae West heard Fields and Carroll perform their jaunty rag "On the Mississippi" — — about 99 years ago on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. Then "Mae West and Her Boys" sang a few rags and played the bones, minstrel style. Variety slammed their routine, suggesting she return to burlesque since she lacked the refinement necessary for top-drawer vaudeville. Instead Mae once again became a solo act, purchased new material, and kept on trouping.
• • Half of the team was Arthur Fields [born on 6 August 1888] who hailed from Philadelphia, where he started out in life as Abe Finkelstein — — and who toured for years with Harry Carroll. Arthur Fields was just 11 years old when he turned pro, booking singing engagements in Utica, New York and then branching out to Coney Island. Around 1908 the ambitious baritone toured with Guy Brother's Minstrel Show, and helped assemble a vaudeville novelty "Weston, Fields, and Carroll." Four years later, the partnership had been paired down to Fields and Carroll. Arthur Fields had his first hit as a songwriter with "On the Mississippi" (1912); he had composed this ragtime music with Harry Carroll, but Ballard MacDonald supplied the lyrics.
• • When his wife's health necessitated a move from New York to Florida, the couple relocated to the sunbelt and settled in Hollywood in 1946. The tireless entertainer snagged his own radio gig over WKAT, Miami: "The Arthur Fields Program. "
• • Sadly, in March 1953, he had a stroke and went under the care of the Littlefield Convalescent Home in Largo, Florida. Most unfortunately, the institution had a fire, which ended his life at the end of March — — on 29 March 1953. He was 64 years old.
• • 29 March 1936 • •
• • "Has Mae West Done Herself Wrong?" was the intriguing headline teasing readers of the Atlanta Journal Magazine on 29 March 1936. The byline went to Frank Daniel. Congressional hearings being conducted in February and March 1936 by the U.S. Senate were peppered with the name of Mae West, whose new motion picture "Klondike Annie" caused a lot of concern on Capitol Hill. Ramona Curry has written well-researched articles on this topic of how censorship tightened its noose around Mae's neck.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • UK reporter Gavanndra Hodge writes: Georgia May Jagger loves Mae West films and the deep-fried food of her mother's Southern homeland, and likes reading rock biographies. At the moment it is the Patti Smith memoir "Just Kids," which details the New York punk's doomed friendship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. ...
• • Source: Article: "Georgia May Jagger on her rock 'n' roll life" written by Gavanndra Hodge for The London Evening Standard; posted on 25 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1883rd blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1912 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST adored the music of W.C. Handy, and chose to sing his blues numbers in her Broadway hit "Sex" [1926 — 1927] as well as in "Belle of the Nineties" [1934].
• • Mae West's biographer Jill Watts wrote: during the jazz era the playwright "became a familiar figure at the Gaiety Theater Building and the offices of African-American composers, including the father of the blues, W.C. Handy" — — who died in late March on March 28th.
• • Born in Alabama, William Christopher Handy [16 November 1873 — 28 March 1958] was a blues composer, musician, and music publisher. "The Memphis Blues" is a song described by its composer, W.C. Handy, as a "Southern Rag." It was self-published by Handy in September, 1912 and has been recorded by many artists over the years. He also wrote "The Saint Louis Blues" and published it in September 1914.
• • A Police Witness Testifies against Mae West • • • • In March 1927, police witnesses were questioned at Jefferson Market Court about Mae's indecent exposure, i.e., moving her navel, for instance, while she performed "St. Louis Blues" as Margy LaMont in "Sex." 
• • According to the book "Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show" written by DePaul University professor Rachel Shteir: Mae West attracted police attention that same year [1927] when her shimmy resembled a prostitute's strut a little too closely in her play "Sex," a comedy-drama about the underworld. Unlike many similar plays on Broadway that year, Sex was set in Connecticut, not the tropics. ... But of all the things West did to outrage, the most outrageous was her encore shimmy to W. C. Handy's “St. Louis Blues." The New York Daily Mirror observed that West, who herself had toured in the Mutual circuit burlesque from 1922 to 1925, "seems to enjoy undressing" [this section extracted from NY: Oxford University Press, "Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show" by Rachel Shteir, 2004].
• • This court trial is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets."• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • David Bret's biography claims Elizabeth Taylor 'was the most controversial Hollywood icon since Mae West,' and contains revelations about the late actress' mother, who it is alleged had lesbian affairs and romances with directors to win her daughter parts. There are also allegations surrounding Taylor's ex-husband Richard Burton's 'bisexuality' and the millions the former actress blew on houses, diamonds and yachts. ...
• • Source: Article: "Publishers in a frenzy to release Liz Taylor memoirs" written by anonymous for rediff.com; posted on 25 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1882nd blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • as Margy LaMont in Sex, 1926 • •
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No one could say he "done her wrong" — — including MAE WEST. 
• • Born in Bluff, Utah in the month of March — — on 27 March 1902 — — Charles Bryant Lang, Jr., A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. Early in his career Lang worked with the Akeley camera, a gyroscope-mounted "pancake" camera designed by Carl Akeley for outdoor action shots. During the silent era, he worked under his father, the photographic technician Charles Bryant Lang, Sr., at the small Realart Studio. Then he was hired by Paramount Pictures for "Tom Sawyer" [1930] when he was 28. Lang remained with them for over two decades [1929 — 1952], where he contributed to the studio's well-earned reputation for visual style, though he would occasionally attach himself to other motion picture productions. Lang excelled in the use of chiaroscuro, light and shade, and was adept at creating the right mood for every genre and style, and he was also an innovator in the use of long tracking shots.
• • Lang worked behind the camera on "She Done Him Wrong," starring Mae West.
• • Female stars appreciated Lang's expertise. Like his colleague Karl Struss, Charles Lang took the time to photograph an actress to her best advantage, using subdued lighting and diffusion techniques.
• • One of the outstanding cinematographers of Hollywood's Golden Age, Lang received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 1991 for a career that involved him in more than 100 feature films.
• • Charles Lang died of pneumonia at St. John's Medical Center in Santa Monica, California on 3 April 1998. He was 96.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • You can almost hear Mae West saying, “Come up and see me sometime,” when visiting the Paramount Country Club in New City. ...
• • Source: Article: "New name, facelift for former Adolph Zukor farm" written by Kathy Kahn for Westfair Online; posted on 25 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1881st blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • being filmed by Charles Lang in 1932 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST was occasionally booked on the prestigious Keith circuit by Benjamin Franklin Keith [26 January 1846 — 26 March 1914], a vaudeville theatre owner. 
• • Born in Hillsboro Bridge, New Hampshire, Benjamin Franklin Keith joined the circus and eventually found his way to Bunnell's Museum in New York City when he was in his early twenties. After a number of experiences in the evolving entertainment industry, he hooked up in 1885 with Edward Franklin Albee II (who was selling circus tickets). Together they founded and ran the Boston Bijou Theatre, which opened in July 1885.
• • In the 1890s, Albee and Keith opened the Union Square Theatre in New York City, where Mae performed on 29 December 1912. She was also booked into several other houses controlled by B.F. Keith.
• • In late March — — on 26 March 1914 — — the little loved founder of the Keith circuit died in Florida, his 28-year-old bride nearby, perhaps already designing her stylish, well-cushioned widowhood.
• • Photo: since she had a "rough baritone" voice as a child, Mae West often played male roles. Here she is, at age 15, when she starred in "Little Lord Fauntleroy" onstage in 1908.• • Mae West in South Florida • •
• • In early April, Sondra Steinhauer will offer a talk about Mae West as part of a mid-week women's event. Ms. Steinhauer, a former instructor at NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology, had been a lingerie designer for 35 years.
• • "It is a women's conference for women, by women to women. Mae West was an amazing dedicated woman and the blonde voluptuous sex symbol before Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, and Madonna," said Sondra Steinhauer. "I did research through several sources and found she was born in 1893. God put Mae West in my brain and I'm going to deliver a fun, light and airy lecture that includes information on her writing in plays, producing them, and starring in them." ...
• • WHAT: The Women's Conference: Three Days of Lecturers for Women, By Women, Lunch and Fun! (Men Welcome, Too!) — — from April 6th — 8th, 2011.
• • WHERE: Temple Torah, 8600 S. Jog Road, Boynton Beach, Florida; T. 877-354-1077.
• • Tell them you heard about it on the Mae West Blog.• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Recapping the tempest-in-a-TV-teacup, David Hiltbrand reviews the outcome of "Dancing with the Stars" this week: ‘DWTS’ wisely saved Kirstie Alley for last, because they know most people tuned in to see her on the dance floor. She’s fashioned a second career as a self-mocking plus-sized woman. She’s like a manic Mae West. While she was better than expected last night, she also vamped too much. The girl can’t help it. ...
• • Source: Article: "‘DWTS’ debut: Who soared; who stiffed" written by David Hiltbrand for The Philadelphia Inquirer; posted on 22 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1880th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • as little Lord Fauntleroy in 1908 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST worked with a huge cast in her history play "Catherine Was Great," which was on Broadway from 1944 — 1945, produced by Mike Todd, who died in March on 22 March 1958. Frank Baxter, then 22, took the role of Vanya.
• • Born in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania in the month of March — — on 25 March 1922 — — Frank Baxter was a stage actor who launched a career in television. In 1949 he was seen in Kraft Theatre's TV production of "Autumn Fire." The character actor went on to featured bits in "Peyton Place," "The FBI," and other popular series. His last time on the small screen seems to have been in 1980 when he played a funeral director on "B.A.D. Cats."
• • Frank Baxter died at age 87 on 17 October 2009 in Broomall, Pennsylvania.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Recapping the glorious career of the much-married movie star Liz Taylor, Leonard Greene reports on this amusing personal glimpse: Before you could say, "Action," Eddie Fisher left Debbie Reynolds on the divorce dump heap and was headed to the altar with Elizabeth Taylor. Sympathy for the widowed, 26-year-old Taylor soon turned to scorn, with critics calling the temptress a harlot and a home wrecker. Taylor fired back with a line better suited for Mae West. "What do you expect me to do?" Taylor said. "Sleep alone?" ...
• • Source: Article: "Serial seductress walked the aisle eight times — — without regret" written by Leonard Greene for The New York Post; posted on 24 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1879th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • as Empress Catherine in 1944 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST was featured on "Mr. Ed" along with the program's familiar TV couple Wilbur and Carol Post, played by Alan Young and Connie Hines. Connie was 30 yeas old when she auditioned for the role in 1961. Afterwards, she hung around at a California gas station, because there was no phone in her apartment, awaiting her agent's call.
• • Born in Dedham, Massachusetts in the month of March — — on 24 March 1931 — — she was trained for the demands of show business by her family. She told interviewers that she caught the acting bug when she appeared on stage in "Life with Father," playing the role of Mary, with her father in the title role.
• • When Connie Hines died on Friday, 18 December 2009 at her home in Beverly Hills, her on-screen husband Alan Young told the Los Angeles Times, "I lost a great friend. She was always joyous." She was 79 and the cause of death was from complications of heart problems.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • It seems that the motion picture “Dinah East” [90 mins., 1970] is about to be remastered and released. 
Andy Warhol protege Ultra Violet is in the cast. Gene Nash wrote the script and directed.
• • Movie reviewer Amos Lassen writes: There are dramatic elements and the movie rises above the usual exploitation schlock we once had. It has the look of docudrama is it relates to the life of Dinah East, an actress, who is discovered to be male after his (her) death. I have also learned that the reason that this movie has not been seen for a very long time is because Mae West instituted legal action against it shortly after it was released because of the rumors that she was actually a man. “Dinah East” is a movie that was way ahead of its time. It is a wonderful look at what Hollywood was in those days. Jeremy Stockwell is Dinah East and he portrays her with warmth and dignity. ...
• • Source: Article: "Dinah East" written by Amos Lassen for his new site reviewsbyamoslassen.com; posted on 23 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1878th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • "Dinah East" 1970 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST said, "Beulah, peel me a grape!" in 1933 while playing Tira in "I'm No Angel," a smash hit for Paramount Pictures. Since she was cast for the role of Beulah Thorndyke, Gertrude Howard would be forever linked to this spontaneous exclamation not in the script.
• • As many Mae-mavens know, the screen queen's pet monkey Boogie appeared with her in "I'm No Angel." Boogie would not eat grapes unless they were peeled. When the director asked the movie star to ad lib a line — — to round out a shot with Tira and her maids — — his request prompted Mae West's utterance, "Beulah, peel me a grape."
• • "Peel me a grape" by Dave Frishberg • •• • "Peel me a grape" lives on in pop culture, inspiring clever people such as the Minnesota musician Dave Frishberg who was born in St. Paul in the month of March — — on 23 March 1933.
• • During an interview in 1996 with Phillip D. Atteberry for The Mississippi Rag, jazz pianist, vocalist, and composer Dave Frishberg said that his first published song was "Peel Me a Grape" (1962). According to Mr. Atteberry's article, Frishberg revealed this: "I worked for a short time with Dick Haymes and Fran Jeffries on the hotel circuit," continued Frishberg. "Dick asked me to write something for Fran Jeffried — — a cute, sexy piece. (Dick knew that I had been dabbling with composition.) So I came up with ‘Peel Me a Grape.’ She never performed it, but some of my friends liked it, so I submitted it to Frank Loesser’s office, and he published it. ...
• • Happy Birthday to Dave Frishberg who is 77 years old today.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Born on 5 May 1943 in Sheffield, England, Michael Palin, CBE FRGS is a British comedian, actor, writer, and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.
• • For editor Graydon Carter, Michael Palin writes: Apart from that, the world’s your oyster. As Mae West said: “Keep a diary and it’ll keep you.” Stalin loved that. ...
• • Source: Article: "A Dogged Diarist’s Dos and Don’ts of Diary Writing" written by Michael Palin for Vanity Fair Magazine, April 2011 issue; posted on 23 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1877th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 on the set with Boogie • •
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Mae West.
"MAE WEST, Hildegarde, Charlie Chaplin, Bill Hart, George M. Cohan, Joe E. Lewis, Jackie Gleason, Abbott & Costello, Judy Garland, Betty Hutton, and Olsen & Johnson were all top earners," writes Joe Laurie, Jr. in Vaudeville: From the Honky-tonks to The Palace [NY: Henry Holt, 1953]. 
• • Though the Brooklyn bombshell was demanding $500 a week by 1922, her pianist Harry Richman noted she did not always get it — — and she preferred to make do with her phone being turned off rather than back down and accept a little less for a booking. And like her friend Texas Guinan, Mae did not always pay her bills. For example, The New York Times and Variety both printed courtroom coverage when Tommy Gray sued Mae for not paying his fee of $146 for special material.
• • Thomas J. Gray • •
• • Mae was named for her paternal grandmother Mary Jane Copley, who was born in Ireland. And her familiarity with Irish dialects gave the variety artist a tremendous advantage in vaudeville, where she was often cast as an Irish maid — — and sang Irish novelties such as Tommy Gray's comical song "They Are Irish," to which Mae added a few more choruses, each in a different Irish accent.
• • The "Bard of Broadway" was born in New York City, Mae's hometown in the month of March — — on 22 March 1888.
• • Talented and prolific, Thomas J. Gray was a lyricist and an author who had attended Holy Cross School and was a charter member of ASCAP (1914). He served overseas during World War I, and later wrote scripts for silent movies, songs for Broadway and London revues, plus special material for Mae West, Bert Williams, Blossom Seeley, Frank Tinney, Savoy & Brennan, Trixie Friganza, and many others. His column "Gray Matters" ran in Variety and his byline appeared in the New York Dramatic Mirror as well. His chief musical collaborators included Fred Fisher and Ray Walker.
• • Booked at Hammerstein's Victoria in September 1912, Mae performed jokes and songs that she commissioned from Tommy: "Isn't She a Brazen Thing?", "It's an Awful Easy Way to Make a Living," "The International Rag Song," and "Good Night, Nurse."
• • In 1913, Variety raved: "Thanks to Tommy Gray and her own comedic ability, Miss West looks set as a big-time feature."
• • Bronchitis cut short his brilliant career. Tommy died on 30 November 1924. He was 36 years old.
• • Though Mae often did not pay his bills until a judge intervened, and she was taken to court more than once by Tommy, she attended his funeral at St. Malachy's in midtown, a standing-room-only affair.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • From New Delhi, India, Sunaina Kumar writes: MAE WEST knew what she was talking about when she said too much of a good thing can be taxing. That in a nutshell is the story of Indian kitsch. It started as a camp, underground movement that appropriated everyday Indian symbols like nimbu mirchi, auto, kaali peeli, and cutting chai, coloured them in multi-hued nostalgia and put them on bags, cushions and coasters. Either you got it or you didn’t. ...
• • Source: Article: "Horn. Not ok. Please" written by Sunaina Kumar for Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 10; posted on 12 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1876th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1912 • •
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Mae West.
In 1911 MAE WEST's high-stepping antics got her fired from "Vera Violetta" when she brazenly tried to trump the star, French diva Gaby Deslys. However, she did enjoy rehearsing the big-budget musical with the charismatic Hebrew comedian Barney Bernard, who was cast as Morris Cohen. The actor had worked with Ned Wayburn (Mae's dancing teacher) and honed his craft in vaudeville.
• • Born in Rochester, New York on 17 August 1877, Barney Bernard had been on Broadway since 1907. He was cast (as Mr. Wiseheimer) in the "Ziegfeld Follies of 1908" as well as in other high profile shows. Fame found him during the wildly successful run of "Potash and Perlmutter" [1913]. In this new play launched on 16 August 1913, he originated the role of Abe Potash and kept audiences coming back for two years until September 1915. He reprised the role on film as well. Producer Samuel Goldwyn had first become familiar with Montague Glass' "Potash and Perlmutter" series of stories when he was a glove salesman. In 1923, he decided to make a film of the play; it was so popular that he filmed sequels as well.
• • The beloved star of stage and screen was 46 years old when he caught pneumonia. Barney Bernard died in Manhattan in the month of March — — on 21 March 1924 and he was buried in Washington Cemetery on Bay Parkway in Brooklyn, NY.
• • Mae West's "Sextette" on DVD • • 
• • According to Eric Cotenas of Cineventures: On 19 April 2011, Scorpion Releasing will release two oddball pick-ups from, respectively, Crown International and Cinerama Releasing: starring the "Sin-Sational" Mae West (based on her own play) and . . . . In Sextette, Marlo Manners (Mae West) has just wed her sixth husband, but her attempts to consumate the marriage are disrupted by two ex-husbands, fans, reporters, an Olympic wrestling team, her agent, and more in this campy musical comedy. SEXTETTE also features Timothy Dalton (THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), Ringo Starr (CANDY), George Hamilton (LOVE AT FIRST BITE), Tony Curtis (SOME LIKE IT HOT), Alice Cooper (MONSTER DOG), Dom Deluise (HAUNTED HONEYMOON), and Regis Philbin. ...
• • Source: Written by Eric Cotenas for his web site cineventures.blogspot.com
• • Happy Birthday, Timothy Dalton • •
• • Mae West's co-star and screen husband in "Sextette," Timothy Dalton was born in March — — on 21 March 1946. We wish the tall, dark, handsome, and very personable senior citizen the best returns of the day.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Pennsylvania history teacher William Kashatus writes: Edie Adams [1927 — 2008] began working regularly in television with Ernie Kovacs [1919 — 1962], who was outrageously funny. The show, which was live and unrehearsed, was groundbreaking in the new medium of television. Edie developed an exceptional talent for impressions, imitating celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Mae West and Zsa Zsa Gabor. The duo performed such hilarious skits as "Ernie in Kovacsland" (1951) and "Kovacs on the Korner" (1952). But the show was short-lived, being too progressive for mainstream audiences. Kovacs and Adams married on Sept. 12, 1954 and became a popular couple in the Hollywood social circuit in the late 1950s. ...
• • Source: Article: "Kingston's Edie Adams made smoking sexy and fashionable in the '50s and '60s" written by William Kashatus for The Citizens Voice in Wilkes-Barre, PA; posted on Sunday, 20 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1875th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1978 • •
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MAE WEST was often featured on the cover. Many collectors own this March 1934 issue of Radio Stars Magazine. The program guides were mixed in with gossipy tidbits about notable radio headliners and ads in this popular 100 page publication with a wide circulation.
• • The cover line asks: Can Mae West Beat the Radio Jinx?• • Edited in New York City and published by Dell, during the 1930s Radio Stars Magazine was the largest circulation of any radio magazine. Many covers featured glamourous portraits done by the artist F. Earl Christy.
• • Though many newsstand magazines died off during the Great Depression, Dell's fan magazine series kept flourishing, especially Modern Screen. Radio Stars seems to have been printed from 1931 — 1938, offering front page covers of Rudy Vallee, Gracie Allen, Eddie Cantor, Annette Henshaw, Bing Crosby, Alice Faye, Tyrone Power, Lily Pons, Gladys Swartout, Robert Taylor, Virginia Verrill, and others.• • Mae West [1939 — 2009] from Georgia • •
• • Actress Mae West was an animal lover — — and so was her namesake in the peachtree state, Mae West who was born on 2 May 1939.
• • in her honor, Douglas County Humane Society offers a new program, “Mae West’s Fix ‘Em Free” that will make free pet spaying and neutering available to qualified applicants in Georgia.
• • The program is named for Mae West, a long-time Douglas County animal welfare activist and former Humane Society president, who died in 2009.
• • The offer will continue until May 2, which would have been Mae West’s 72nd birthday. Douglas County residents can phone: 678-838-9123.
• • Source: The Times-Georgian
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Arch Oboler [7 December 1909 — 19 March 1987] was a scriptwriter, novelist, producer, and director who was active in films, TV, and radio, and penned the infamous "Garden of Eden" radio broadcast skit for Mae West.
• • Dick Wolfsie writes: I'm excited to know I have some famous relatives, such as Arch Oboler, who was an American playwright in the 1940s and 1950s. Uncle Arch once penned a TV episode detailing the horror of a giant, undulating chicken heart. He also wrote for Mae West and Edgar Bergen. My cousin Ed told me there is no evidence that any other family member ever became a good writer. Hmmm. So if your name is Pemberton, Oboler, Fishoff, Mankin, Rappaport or Zisser, we may be related. ...
• • Source: Column: "Family ties not strong enough to bind" written by Dick Wolfsie for The Shelby News; posted on Saturday, 19 March 2011
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • March 1934 cover • •
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MAE WEST's motion picture, with a working title of "It Ain't No Sin," began production in March — — on 19 March 1934. In the script, Ruby Carter, the American beauty queen of the night club-sporting world set, shifts her operations from St. Louis to New Orleans. 
• • From "Belle of the Ninetes" • •
• • • • Ace Lamont: Great town, St. Louis. You were born here?
• • • • Ruby Carter: Yes.
• • • • Ace Lamont: What part?
• • • • Ruby Carter: Why, all of me.
• • According to the venerable Hollywood publicist A.C. Lyles, attached for decades to Paramount Pictures, some press agents, who were assigned to promote Mae West’s next picture "It Ain't No Sin," bought 50 parrots and had the macaws trained to utter the film’s title. The intention was to ship one parrot to every notable movie columnist across the world. The entertainment editor, presumably, would unwrap the cage and immediately hear the parrot plug the film. Unfortunately, one month before the publicity department prepared to give the trained featherweights a send-off, Paramount's front office cabled that they were changing the title of the 1934 movie to "Belle of the Nineties," thanks to Will Hays. Today most movie reviewers would merely get a thing without feathers — — an email announcement.
• • We have an amusing interview with Arthur Mayer, the actual bird trainer, and will post it on another occasion.
• • Mae West: No More "Sex" • •
• • Mae West's play "Sex" closed during the month of March — — on 19 March 1927. As the noisy and contentious obscenity trial was in progress at Jefferson Market Courthouse, Jim Timony informed the press that the Broadway star was "exhausted." The blockbuster hit opened in April 1926 at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, according to Catholic teachings. Twin Cities reporter Tom Webb writes: Minnesota is home to the nation's largest all-you-can-eat buffet company, Buffets Inc., along with scores of restaurants that evidently agree with actress Mae West: too much of a good thing can be wonderful. Alas, nutritionists don't buy it. "We have data that when more (food) is there, people will eat more than they need," said Julie Miller Jones, a retired nutrition professor at the St. Catherine University in St. Paul. ...
• • Source: "Minnesota's food producers fed the nation, and the nation got fat" written by Tom Webb for Pioneer Press; posted on 18 March 2010
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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MAE WEST's play "Sex" closed during the month of March 1927. 
The obscenity trial was in progress at Jefferson Market Courthouse and the producers explained that the Broadway star was "exhausted." The blockbuster hit opened in April 1926 at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre.
• • Mae West: Pipe Dream in Munich • •
• • In March 2011, an article appeared on the unique fiber architecture and mandrel-less filament winding process that would make an “impossible” rotational paraboloid sculpture possible in carbon composites.
• • Source: "Case Study" written by Donna Dawson for the publication High-Performance Composites; March 2011
• • Mae West's Chauffeur, Ray Wallace, Commits Suicide in Car • • 
• • Depressed, the 44-year-old African-American World War 2 veteran had promised to kill himself, recalled Mae West about her former personal chauffeur. Ray Charles Wallace eased out of his vale of tears inside the actress's Cadillac, inhaling toxic exhaust fumes as he huddled under a quilt. At the time he was on a farm near Patoka, Indiana.• • Source: Jet Magazine, 3 March 1955 issue
• • Princess She-Who-Mountains-in-Front • •
• • Away from what she calls "the linen battlefields," Mae became a vaudeville headliner, a star in Broadway musicals and in her own lubricious dramas — Sex, Diamond Lil, and The Constant Sinner. In a dozen Hollywood films, Mae triumphed on both sides of the Atlantic. During the war, her shape was saluted by R.A.F. pilots, who called their inflatable life jackets "Mae Wests." U.S. Indians, naturally with the dedicated help of publicity men, made Mae a member of the Lakota tribe as Princess She-Who-Mountains-in-Front. ..
• • Source: Time Magazine, 1959
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Anthony Quinn, talking about his career and life, confided on "The Johnny Carson Show" that the three most amazing women he had ever met were Mae West, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Laurette Taylor. [In 1936, Quinn made the leap into the acting profession. That year he had a role onstage in "Clean Beds" with Mae West, a play that she financed and produced. His part was a take-off of John Barrymore, then an aging actor fading from the limelight.]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1926 • •
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MAE WEST starred in the motion picture "Go West Young Man" [1936].
• • Film editing was done by Ray Curtiss who was born on 17 February 1896 in California. Ray Curtiss died at age 69 in Los Angeles in the month of March — — on 17 March 1965.
• • Happy St. Patrick's Day • • • • An Interview with Steve Rossi — Part Two • •
• • Interviewer Kliph Nesteroff writes: I understand that your first major show business gig was in a Mae West revue. 
• • Steve Rossi replies: Yes, I did that in 1953. I had just turned twenty-one. I had been playing the lead in several operettas in university; Desert Song, Oklahoma... I got signed to the Civic Light Opera Company by Edwin Lester, who was the head of that in Los Angeles. Mae West saw me in "Vagabond King" at the Carthay Circle. She came backstage with her manager. They told me they wanted me to play a straight man and singing role in her new show Muscle Men. She had ten muscle men in the show and then she had Charlie O'Karn as director and choreographer of the show. She didn't like his ideas, so she fired him and asked me to help her put the show together (laughs). Which I did. In fact, I wrote the opening song for her and it was a huge hit. It was called "Everyone Knows It's a Man's World." I directed the number and we had ten guys on pedestals. You'd step on a pedal and it would turn them around. They were just wearing G-strings and they were all greased up behind a screen. Before she came down the staircase, this was at The Sahara Hotel, she'd walk down... there was no introduction, just her walking down in the spotlight. She walks down to the front to a little raised area in front of the orchestra. ...
• • Continue reading Kliph's interview and find out what else Steve Rossi says about Mae West: http://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-steve-rossi-part-two.html
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • City Historian Mark Simonson writes from Oneonta, NY: The Molinari's menu had no date but appears to be of post-Prohibition vintage. Molinari's was once found on South Main Street. The most expensive item on the menu was a "Porterhouse Steak" for 75 cents. One half of the inside menu is food, the other half lists adult beverages. The "Bonded Whiskey Highball" and "Brandy Egg Nogg" were the most expensive drinks, at 45 cents. I chuckled at cocktails called "Boop-Oop-a-Doop" for 25 cents and a "Mae West" at 35 cents. One has to wonder what was in a "Molinari's Special," at 35 cents. ...
• • Source: Column "Interesting mail from Croatia, Florida, Otego and Cooperstown" written by Mark Simonson — The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY; posted on 12 March 2011
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Richard DuBois, 1953 • •
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When MAE WEST was working in burlesque in the mid-1920s, she used a big powder puff and shook her talcum all over the men in the first row. A 30-year-old Boston native, whose stage name is Dizzy Von Damn, channels the vivacious Brooklyn bombshell in her act: Uncommon Burlesque. Naturally, you want to know more, yes?
