Mae West: Joseph Grant

MAE WEST was sketched in 1933 by Joseph Grant, whose birth and death occurred during the month of May.

• • Born in New York, NY on 15 May 1908, Joseph Grant was an illustrator and an animator who collaborated with Walt Disney, often serving in the capacity of designer and writer.  In 1933, Joe Grant was 25 when he was hired at Disney Studios.  "Mirror, mirror on the wall!  Who's the fairest of them all?" asked the Wicked Stepmother — — one of Grant's creations — — in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" [1937].

• • According to his bio, Joe Grant played a central creative role in "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia" (two projects in 1940) and co-wrote "Dumbo" [1941] and "Lady and the Tramp" [1955]. Though he left Disney in the 1950s, he returned to consult on their popular animated films such as "Beauty and the Beast" [1991] and "The Lion King" [1994].

• • His fascinating portrait of Mae West as Diamond Lil in 1933 was done in India ink, gouache, and pencil on paper.  This bold and very striking drawing is now in the possession of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

• • Joseph Grant died in Glendale, California in May — — on Friday, 6 May 2005.

• • Rudolph Valentino [6 May 1895 — 23 August 1926] • •

• • When she was 33 years old, Mae West adopted Rudolph Valentino as her spiritual adviser.

• • On Sunday, 25 July 1926, Mae met Valentino at Tommy Guinan's speakeasy.

• • Since Mae West was charmed by the vibrant 31-year-old Italian stallion, she was stunned by the abrupt end to his life that occurred one month later when the actor was only 31. Mae and Texas Guinan suspected a jealous rival had poisoned him.

• • The silent film star died at the Polyclinic in New York City on 23 August 1926.

• • On Monday, 6 May 1935 in Time Magazine • •

• • Milwaukee clerk Myrtle Lorraine Sands, while helping to re-index official records in Wisconsin, chanced upon a marriage certificate showing that Mae West had married a fellow on 11 April 1911. The groom was Frank Wallace. Was that 1911 bride the Paramount Pictures movie star herself?

• • Already famous for her wiggling and shimmying, Mae tried every move to wriggle out of this tight spot by emphatically denying it all. However, "the great fact-finding machinery of the U.S. Press began to hum," according to the May 6th, 1935 issue of Time Magazine.

• • When New York reporters located the scrawny, unprepossessing vaudevillian, who was staying "in a theatrical hotel with his dancing partner, Trixie LeMae," Frank Wallace was quite happy to talk.  He affirmed the marriage was real. "The nerve of a brass monkey," was Mae West's response.

• • On Saturday, 6 May 1944 • •

• • Syndicated columnist Earl Wilson reviewed "Catherine Was Great" and his comments were printed in the Los Angeles Daily News on Saturday, 6 May 1944.

• •  On Thursday, 6 May 1976 • •

• • In conjunction with the news that "Sextette" starring Mae West was going into production, a light went on in City Hall.  Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles, announced that he was creating a special Mae Day and issuing a proclamation in the movie queen's honor. Bradley presented West with a scroll validating her "valuable and important role" in the movie industry on Thursday, 6 May 1976.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "The wolf at my door? Why I remember when he came right into my room and had pups." [movie dialogue for Lady Lou in "She Done Him Wrong"]

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on a theft mentioned Mae West.

• • Lisa Rein wrote:  A colorful radio is displayed on nearly every horizontal surface. Among them are a set that doubles as a humidor and another, called a “Mae West,” that has a design feature “you could put a brassiere on,” J. David Goldin said with a laugh.  . . .

• • Source: Article: "In National Archives thefts, a radio detective gets his man" written by Lisa Rein for the Washington Post; published on 2 May 2012 

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2292nd 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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