Monday, May 23, 2011

Mae West: Jimmy McHugh

Apparently always "in the mood," MAE WEST sang "I'm in the Mood for Love" — — and it was featured on the LP Fabulous Mae West [released in September 1955]. The song had been published twenty years earlier in 1935.
• • Born in Boston on 10 July 1894, James Francis McHugh was a prolific songwriter who was doing his best work from the 1920s through the 1950s. McHugh composed over 270 songs and his hits were recorded by Mae West as well as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Dinah Washington, June Christy, Peggy Lee, Deanna Durbin, and Ella Fitzgerald.
• • Composer Jimmy McHugh collaborated with lyricist Dorothy Fields on "I'm in the Mood for Love," which enjoyed great popularity and is still being sung today.
• • Jimmy McHugh died during the month of May — — on 23 May 1969 — — at age 74 in Beverly Hills, California.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Reflecting upon her courtroom troubles due to the two homosexual plays she was prosecuted for, Mae West told a West Coast reporter: "I was ten years ahead of my time. Some day I'm going to produce those plays again . . . We make things that exist too important by whispering about 'em, rather than bringin' 'em right out into the open. We talk around a subject and make it something it isn't . . ." [Source: Movie Classic, 1934].
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Surveying the best album covers, such as The Beatles classic — — ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' — — Ben Gilbert writes: Has there ever been a more artfully considered cover than The Beatles' landmark sleeve? Featuring more than 70 famous people, Peter Blake's collage left out Adolf Hitler, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jesus Christ and had to seek permission from all those featured. Mae West initially refused, asking: "What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?" She relented when the band sent her a personal request.
• • Source: Article: "Greatest album covers" written by Ben Gilbert for New UK Music; posted on Friday, 20 May 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004.
You are reading the 1939th 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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