Mae West: Dennis O'Keefe

MAE WEST made a splash in "Night after Night" [1932]. Bit parts player Dennis O'Keefe was seen briefly as Maudie Triplett storms through Joe Anton's speakeasy. He was cast as a drunk asleep at a table. You might recall him as the courtroom reporter in "I'm No Angel," as well.
• • His birthname was Edward Vance Flanagan when he started out in life in Fort Madison, Iowa in the month of March — — on 30 March 1908. He was born in the business, accompanying his vaudevillian parents, "Flanagan and Edwards, the Rollicking Twosome," in their act. While enrolled in college, Bud Flanagan tried his hand at writing screenplays. After he started to be hired as an extra, he signaled his Irish heritage in a new stage name, Dennis O'Keefe.
• • Between 1930 — 1966, he was seen in 259 projects on the silver screen and on TV. The tall, genial, outdoorsy character actor transitioned from walk-on bits to Hollywood B movies.
• • Until the mid-1960s, Dennis O'Keefe kept busy with guest-starring roles in Kraft Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Lux Video Theatre, Screen Directors Playhouse, all produced on the small screen. Lung cancer claimed him. He died in Santa Monica on 31 August 1968. He was 60.
• • Ned Wayburn [30 March 1874 — 2 September 1942] • •
• • Born in Pennsylvania at the end of March — — on 30 March 1874 — — Ned Wayburn was a choreographer and a producer. 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.
• • On Wednesday, 30 March 1927 • •
• • By Wednesday, 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. Mae hired four attorneys to represent her. Her defense team was headed by Harold Spielberg, Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal's former associate. Trial coverage appeared in the N.Y. Herald Tribune, The N.Y. Times, Variety, and elsewhere.
• • On Tuesday, 30 March 2010 • •
• • On Tuesday, 30 March 2010, Urban Art & Antiques wrote this: One of the great surprises of the auction came in the form of a Paramount 1933 Style A one sheet for the pre-Code classic "She Done Him Wrong," one of Mae West’s most famous films, based on a play the famous vamp wrote herself. West’s performance as Lady Lou remains, to this day, a virtuoso accomplishment of wit and innuendo that garnered the film an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, as well as devotion from fans more than 75 years after its release. The poster, which came into the auction with a $7,000 estimate rapidly outpaced that prediction and, with several determined bidders, rose to nearly three times that amount to finally find a new home at $19,120.
• • Heritage Auctions held this movie poster sale in 2010.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • In an interview with Parade in 1929, Mae West said: "Many of our famous lawyers, doctors, bankers, and judges are homo-sexualists."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about television networks mentioned Mae West.
• • Stephen Battaglio introduced 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 2254th 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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