Mae West: Slim Gaut

Slim was tall and skinny and Robert was short with a big belly, and both wound up next to MAE WEST in "My Little Chickadee."

• • Slim Gaut [8 July 1893 — 17 April 1964] • •

• • Born in Lewiston, Idaho in the month of July — — on 8 July 1893 — — Louis Harvey Gaut served in the military during the first World War.  

• • The tall slim veteran wended his way to California where he worked as a stuntman and an actor. In his first feature film, "My Little Chickadee" [1940], the 47-year-old did a comic bit as a bowlegged man.

• • Between 1940 — 1956, he was cast in 17 motion pictures often as a cowhand but also as a clown, dancer, tall comic, vagrant, patient, an undertaker, etc.

• • Slim Gaut died in Los Angeles on 17 April 1964.  He was 70.  He was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, a.k.a. Sawtelle Soldier’s Cemetery.

• • Robert B. McKenzie [22 September 1880 — 8 July 1949] • •

• • Born in County Antrim, Ireland on 22 September 1880, Robert B. McKenzie set his compass for Tinseltown and launched his cinema career in 1915 when he was in his mid-30s and scored his first roles as a hotel proprietor, desk clerk, waiter, constable, and father.

• • The busy bit parts player had a look casting agents favored — — he was a small man with a big belly.  From 1915 — 1946, he managed to squeek into 327 shorts and feature films, many of them B-level Westerns.

• • The portly Irishman had the opportunity to work with Mae West twice.  In "I'm No Angel" he was "man at rooming house" and in "My Little Chickadee" he was a townsman.

• • Robert B. McKenzie had a fatal heart attack in Manunuck, Rhode Island in the month of July — — on 8 July 1949.  He was 68.

• • Harry Von Tilzer [8 July 1872 — 10 January 1946] • •

• • Born in the month of July, Harry Von Tilzer was known for his popular slightly naughty novelty songs such as "Mariutch Make-a the Hootch a-ma-Cooch in Coney Island" [published in 1907 but probably written earlier] — — about the savvy Italian girl who became a side-show sensation when she realized you didn't need feet in order to dance.

• • "Mariutch" was performed by an aspiring vaudevillian "Baby May, Song and Dance" when her parents would enter their daughter in amateur contests in Brooklyn.

• • "Even as a child," Beverly told a reporter, "my sister's songs were risque."

• • On Sunday, 8 July 1928 in the Journal American • •

• • A reporter from the Journal American visited Mae West backstage after a performance of "Diamond Lil." He wrote a lengthy account of Mae West's formula for writing a play: "hire a room in a hotel, lock yourself in and go to work for as many hours as you can stand the pace. Then you grab a little sleep, get up and resuscitate yourself with a few tons of cold water and start all over again.  And so on until ...." The Journal American published this long article in their hefty weekend edition dated for Sunday, 8 July 1928.

• • Save the Date: Thursday, August 16th • •

• • Thursday, 16 August 2012 will be the next Mae West Tribute in Manhattan and the evening affair will start at 6:30 pm at 155 Mulberry Street.  This year Mae-mavens will enjoy an indoor event (ahhh, air conditioning), music written by Mae West's Italian husband will be played, and attendees will be seated. At the Reception, Italian wine and light refreshments will be served. The public is invited.
• • Mae West was born in Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, 17 August 1893.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West told the reporter for Movie Mirror: "Oh, you mean men!  I haven't time for them now. I'm in Hollywood to make a success in pictures — — and you can only do one thing at a time."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article in the Henderson Evening Journal mentioned Mae West.

• • 75 years ago • •

• • Frank Boyett wrote: Frank Wallace, who had been the husband of Mae West since 1911 but she had only recently admitted it, was in Henderson but was in seclusion, the Henderson Evening Journal reported July 8 and 9, 1937.

• • Frank Boyett wrote: "All other news paled into insignificance the past week when news flashed round the world that Mae West's husband was sojourning in Henderson," the Journal editorialized on July 11. West was the top-earning actress of the mid-1930s.

• • Frank Boyett wrote: Frank Wallace was the dance partner of Trixie LeMae, who grew up here under the name Marie Carey and later ran a nightclub here for many years. ...

• • Source: Article: "75 Years Ago" written by Frank Boyett for The Gleaner; published on 7 July 2012

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2356th 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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