Mae West: Vanity Cover

Did you spot MAE WEST on the cover of Vanity Fair's April 2012 issue? Actress Julia Roberts is pictured on the front. At neck level there is this quote by Mae: "I used to be Snow White, but I drifted." Very nice indeed to discover it.
• • Joel Ashley [7 April 1919 — 7 April 2000] • •
• • Actor Joel Ashley must have caught Mae's eye during auditions because the 25-year-old was cast for two roles in "Catherine Was Great" — — Corporal Joe and Prince Potemkin.
• • Born in Atlanta, Georgia in the month of April — — on 7 April 1919 — — Joel Ashley married an actress in June 1942. His bride Margalo Francis Wilson had followed in her father's footsteps; Francis Wilson was the founding president of Actor’s Equity. His family recalled that he was known to quote Shakespeare at the drop of a hat. On Broadway, he starred as Abe Lincoln in both "Prologue to Glory" and "War President," a dead-end flop that closed after two performances [April 24 — 25, 1944]. Recovering nicely from that stinker, he soon started rehearsals for "Catherine Was Great," which opened on The Great White Way at the Shubert Theatre on 2 August 1944 and did excellent box office until the final performances in January 1945.
• • Joel Ashley enjoyed a long versatile career onstage, onscreen, on radio, and on TV. On television, he appeared live on Hallmark, Studio One, and also in many guests starring roles in some of the most popular TV series. Radio listeners heard him as the announcer for Lucky Strike and he was a leading character in The Shadow, Capt. Video, and many New York soap operas of the 1940s and 1950s.
• • In 1956, he was cast in a minor role in both "Ten Commandments" and "Tension at Table Rock" and moved to Hollywood. In Los Angeles, he had a lengthy tenure as Chair of the Theatre Committee at the Masquer’s Club.
• • Joel Ashley died in Los Angeles in the month of April — — on 7 April 2000. He was 81.
• • Walter Winchell born on April 7th • •
• • Mae West probably counted on the fact that the opening of her 1926 show "Sex" would attract press coverage. And it did. Walter Winchell called it "a vulgar affair ... amateurish in script and cast."
• • A native New Yorker, Walter Winchell [7 April 1897 — 20 February 1972] was a newspaper as well as a radio commentator.
• • While Winchell was at The New York Evening Graphic (whose staff included reporter Ed Sullivan), he invented the gossip column.
• • On 7 April 1954 in Variety • •
• • The death of James Timony [on 5 April 1954] was announced in The L.A. Times on April 6th and in Variety on the 7th. Mae was prostrated by grief at the death of her long-term companion. She was unable to receive callers and dealt with his funeral arrangements. Timony's body was sent back to Brooklyn and buried in a family plot at Holy Cross cemetery.
• • On Thursday, 7 April 2005 • •
• • On Thursday, 7 April 2005, a news item appeared that a Bill Gates-owned company "Buys Dead Celebrity Firm." Film News reported that Corbis Corp., a company owned by Microsoft's Bill Gates, has bought the Roger Richman Agency, whose "clients" include such dead celebrities as Mae West, Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Betty Grable, the Marx Brothers, and others.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The best way to hold a man is in your arms."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper item in April 1935 mentioned Mae West and her look.
• • The Log Cabin Democrat wrote: How much should Miss 1935 weigh? Considerable controversy had been aroused over an edict of the American Society of Beauticians that said the ideal American girl of 1935 should weigh 100 pounds. That ran counter to recent mode established by Mae West with her gay ninety revival. Marion Quigley, weighing 100 pounds, was selected by beauty experts who met in New York, as the ideal girl. After many American girls had added pounds where they counted most to achieve the Mae West look, they were faced with the possibility of having to take the pounds off. . . .
• • Source: Article: "Miss 1935" in The Log Cabin Democrat; published on Sunday, 7 April 1935
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2262nd 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 • • 1944 • •
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