Mae West: Quake Aid in 1933

MAE WEST was in one motion picture with handsome Lloyd Bridges, who was 30 at the time. He was cast as Andy Walker in "The Heat's On" [aka "Tropicana" 1943] and Mae's character was Fay Lawrence.
• • Born in San Leandro, California on 15 January 1913, Lloyd Bridges died during the month of March — — on 10 March 1998 — — of natural causes at age 85.
• • Best known as Mike Nelson, the manly frogman who made a splash on TV's undersea adventure series "Sea Hunt" [1958 — 1961], Bridges had been briefly blacklisted for political activism during the Joe McCarthy era. He is also the father of the actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges.
• • At age 85, Lloyd Bridges died of natural causes in Los Angeles.
• • Mae West in March 1933 • •
• • " . . . The incredible Mae West went all-out for the Red Cross in spearheading the benefit. ....
• • Howard Bryan Bonham Jr. was editing the unpublished memoirs of his late father, Howard Bonham Sr., when he came across the following account of the Long Beach, California earthquake of 1933. The late Mr. Bonham had been a cousin of Will Rogers.
• • Drawing from his vivid first-hand source, Howard Bryan Bonham Jr. writes: In March following the earthquake, we staged a fund raiser for the victims. The incredible Mae West went all-out for the Red Cross in spearheading the benefit. She was enjoying her greatest popularity.
• • I had called on Will Rogers earlier. He was Mr. Dependable. However, he explained that of all the communities in the United States, Hollywood was undoubtedly the only one where he could not draw a crowd.
• • He explained that he was mayor of neighboring Beverly Hills and also a familiar figure on Sunset Boulevard. There he was part of the scenery and as common as an old shoe, he said.
• • I told Mae West that Will Rogers recommended her to the skies. She loved adoration, especially from such a luminary as my Cousin Will. She accepted and rounded up twenty stars as well as a band, all gratis, and the house was packed. During intermission, pretty usherettes passed the hat. Nearly $30,000 in 1933 dollars was raised or pledged.
• • Later I called to thank her. “Don’t mention it,” she said. “Call on me again sometime.”
• • By the time I got back to St. Louis, I could swear she said, “Why . . . say, big boy, come up and see me sometime.”
• • [Source: Article: "Will Rogers and Mae West Pitch In to Help Long Beach Quake Victims" written by Howard Bryan Bonham and first posted in May 2010.]
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Actress Sally Struthers told a Kansas City reporter: "When I (played Mama Morton) last year in Maine, what came out of my mouth and what I stuck with was that I felt she was very saucy and sexy, and I started playing her like Mae West. And it seems to work. Hopefully they’ll let me continue that here.” . . . [ Source: Article: "Sally Struthers is Mama Morton at Union Station" written by Robert Trussell for The Kansas City Star; posted on 9 March 2011.]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
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