Mae West: Name-Calling

When MAE WEST finally unhitched herself from the balding vaudevillian Frank Wallace, one of Time Magazine's resident Anglophiles sneered that it was because the actress was afraid to be known in the movie colony as "Mrs. Mamie Szatkus."

• • MAMIE — This name has finally pushed back its Mamie Eisenhower bangs and is ready to join Maisie as a friendly May update, according to Pamela Redmond Satran. Satran has an opinion on MAE and MAY as well. Satran writes: Though they sound like identical twin names, Mae and May — — both of which are coming back strong as middle names — — give off somewhat different vibes. Mae is a bit sassy, a la Mae West, while May is sweeter and more sentimental and springlike.

• • Aren't you glad that issue is settled?

• • Fuzzy Knight [9 May 1901 — 23 February 1976] • •

• • “Fuzzy” Knight, who usually portrayed a comic sidekick in dozens of motion pictures, was born John Forest Knight in the month of May — — on 9 May 1901 — — in the Friendly City (Fairmont, West Virginia). He died on 23 February 1976.

• • Though some sources cite Fuzzy Knight's first film appearance as “She Done Him Wrong” [1933] with Mae West, the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) noted his first movie role was as an uncredited “party guest” in “Night Parade” [1929]. He went on to appear in “My Little Chickadee,” which starred Mae West and W.C. Fields.

• • On Sunday, 9 May 1937 in The L.A. Times • •

• • Usually supportive of Mae, Sidney Skolsky vented his frustrations in The L.A. Times on Sunday, 9 May 1937.  Skolsky wrote about the perfidiousness of Mae's denials when "she insisted that she was leveling with the press when she told them she had never been married to Frank Wallace."  He said he did not trust her any longer. Ah, those pesky retractions.

• • On Tuesday, 9 May 1944 • •

• • The National Collection of War Art owns a poignant line drawing.  The title is "Duncan McPhee, Mae West and Lt. Lindsay, near New Georgia, 9 May 1944" (and Lt. Lindsay is depicted wearing his Mae West).

• • On Monday, 9 May 2005 in Playbill • •

• • On Monday, 9 May 2005, Broadway buffs learned that Diamond Lil's theatre was to be renamed.  Mae West's play "Diamond Lil" was a huge hit for the Royale in 1928. However, on May 9th in New York City, the Plymouth and the Royale were re-dedicated as the Schoenfeld and Jacobs Theatres.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "They'll have me married to triplets next! Let this alleged Mr. Mae West c'm' up and see my lawyer sometime and prove it!"

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on the initial Cannes Film Fest mentioned Mae West.

• • Kenneth Turan writes: The initial Cannes film festival was scheduled for the first three weeks of September 1939. Hollywood responded by sending over "The Wizard of Oz" and "Only Angels Have Wings" along with a "steamship of stars" including Mae West, Gary Cooper, Norma Shearer, and George Raft. The Germans, however, chose 1 September 1939 to invade Poland, and after the opening-night screening of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," the festival was cancelled and didn't start up again until 1946. .. .

• • Source: Article: "A festival of art and prostitution" written by USA critic Kenneth Turan for The Guardian [UK]; published on Thursday, 9 May 2002

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2295th 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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