Frustrated with the legal machinery that caught her up in its gears, MAE WEST was happy to lampoon a courtroom trial in "I'm No Angel" [1933]. Bob the attorney was played by Irving Pichel.• • Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the month of June — — on 24 June 1891 — — Pichel graduated from Harvard. The ambitious six-footer was a close friend of playwright George S. Kaufman, and this gave him the idea to go to Los Angeles and study at the Pasadena Playhouse. Often cast as an ethnic character villain (such as Fagin in "Oliver Twist" in 1933) in the pre-Code talkies, Pichel also did a number of voice-overs and then branched out into full-time directing for Twentieth Century-Fox. He directed two actors to Oscar nominations. As an actor, he was seen in 70 motion pictures between 1930 — 1953. Pichel died suddenly in 1954, only a week after completing his last film as a director, "Day of Triumph" [1954]. A fatal heart attack ended his life in Hollywood on 13 July 1954. He was 63.
• • • • Cast for "I'm No Angel" • • • •
• • Tira . . . Mae West
• • Jack Clayton . . . Cary Grant
• • Bill Barton . . . Edward Arnold
• • Slick . . . Ralf Harolde
• • Barker . . . Russel Hopton
• • Alicia Hatton . . . Gertrude Michael
• • Kirk . . . Kent Taylor
• • Thelma . . . Dorothy Peterson
• • Benny Pinkowitz . . . Gregory Ratoff
• • Beulah Thorndyke . . . Gertrude Howard
• • The Chump . . . William B. Davidson
• • Bob, the Attorney . . . Irving Pichel
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Annual Mae West Tribute 2011 • •
• • "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill"
• •
Mae West's birthday is August 17th. An upcoming Mae West event that is open to the public will be held on Sunday afternoon, 14 August 2011. The title of this illustrated historical theme walk is "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill." This walking tour starts on West Ninth Street near Sixth Avenue at the restaurant that inspired Mae's play "The Drag" and ends on LaGuardia Place and West Third by the Eugene O'Neill and Al Hirschfeld exhibition on view at the Kimmel Center. Further details and the fee will be announced shortly.• • Faced with the realities of a shrinking vaudeville circuit in 1922 and lacking opportunities in upcoming Broadway productions, Mae West began to write stage plays for herself with the help of an experienced female collaborator. It's obvious that she was following the career of Eugene O'Neill, and mocking him in the number "Eugene O'Neill, You've Put a Curse on Broadway" (part of the program for "The Ginger Box Review").
• • "The Hairy Ape" is an expressionist play by Eugene O'Neill (1922), and this was the drama being parodied in Mae's song. "Lemme up! I'll show ya who's an ape!" Imagine it, if you will.
• • O'Neill's involvement with the Provincetown Players began in mid-1916. Four years later, his first published play, "Beyond the Horizon," opened on Broadway in 1920 to great acclaim, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. O'Neill also received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his writing.
• • Illustration: Eugene O'Neill is shown at the Greenwich Village speakeasy The Golden Swan, a.k.a. The Hell-Hole, once located on West Fourth Street and Sixth Avenue under the din of the el. O’Neill, who often had to be fished out of the Golden Swan for rehearsals at the nearby Provincetown Playhouse, set The Iceman Cometh there.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A sojourn in Switzerland reminds one travel writer of Mae West. Richard Bangs writes: Legend holds that the Mönch ("Monk") peak is protecting the Jungfrau ("Virgin") from the nearby Eiger ("Ogre"). But to me, here at this viewpoint, it looks to be the other way around. "It is a good name, Jungfrau — — Virgin. Nothing could be whiter; nothing could be purer; nothing could be saintlier of aspect," wrote Mark Twain on his 1891 visit. But when I read this uncharacteristically sincere sentiment, all I can think of is Mae West's line: "I used to be Snow White, but I drifted." ...
• • Source: Article: "Here Be Dragons: Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland" written by Richard Bangs for The Huffington Post; published on 23 June 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1971st 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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