Mae West: Bob Thompson

MAE WEST worked with the West Coast musician Bob Thompson.

• • "Criswell Predicts" was written — — at Mae's request — — by Bob Thompson, a native Californian born in San Jose in the month of August — — on Friday, 22 August 1924.  During the WW2 era, when all his pals were being drafted, Bob's asthma earned him a 4F classification.  That didn't stop him from hot-footing it to Paris to arrange music for a few French female singers, anyone who condescended to work with an American.

• • In the mid-1950s, in need of steady work, Bob Thompson toured with Mae West and her entourage of musclemen. Impressed by Bob's talent, Mae West demanded that he be her piano teacher.

• • After playing with a big name like Mae West, a credit that helped build his reputation,  Bob Thompson got his big break in 1958 with a record deal from RCA. Thompson was signed alongside Esquivel, Billy May, Nelson Riddle, and a crop of other musicians destined to be Hollywood stars.

• • Bob Thompson celebrates his 88th birthday today. Party hearty, honey.

• • Patricia Farley [22 August 1911 — 22 September 1983] • •

• • Born in Kansas City, Missouri, pretty Patricia Fitzpatrick came into this world in the month of August — — on Tuesday, 22 August 1911. By the time she was 20, the five-foot-four Irish American was making the rounds of casting agents in Tinseltown. For her first bit part, Patricia Farley was seen as the hatcheck girl in "Night after Night" — — in blackface.

• • Curiously, no writer ever mentions that Paramount made up the 21-year-old Caucasian so she'd look like a sepia-skinned cloak-room attendant.  It's fascinating, is it not, that a black actress was not selected; instead the studio tapped Patricia Farley to play the role of the hatcheck gal, then had her do her single scene decked out in dark pancake makeup. Perhaps this was a cinematographer's last minute choice, to make Mae West's blondness more striking.

• • Patricia Farley's short sojourn in cinema began with "Night after Night" [1932].  Auspiciously, production started on her birthday.  Twelve more film credits followed, four featured roles amid teeny trifles.  Her farewell to filmdom was the aptly titled "Grand Exit" [1935], in which her uncredited scene as "Marie" must have been like the tollbooth a traveler drives through en route to unvarnished civilian life. Farley died on 22 September 1983 but nothing more is known about her.  She lived to be 72.

• • On Monday, 22 August 1932 • •

• • On this date production began for the motion picture "Night After Night," which offered Mae West her first chance to be in pictures.

• • On Saturday, 22 August 1936 • •

• • Elizabeth Yeaman wrote an article, "Mae West to Abandon Corsets, Wear Modem Apparel in New Picture." Her piece was published in Hollywood Citizen-News on Saturday, 22 August 1936.

• • On Sunday, 22 August 1993 • •

• • Ron Alexander wrote a tribute to Mae called "Peel Her a Grape." His charming essay, which mentioned a gala Mae West centennial bus tour, ran in Sunday's New York Times, Section 9, on 22 August 1993.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "It just breaks my heart when the censors take out my best cracks."

• • Mae West said: "She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article about a singer mentioned Mae West.

• • Sophie Harris writes: A new D’Angelo album is due, but there’s no telling when it will arrive; one is reminded of a Mae West line: “A guy what takes his time, I’d go for anytime.… A hasty job really spoils a master’s touch.” ...

• • Source: Article: "Soul man D'Angelo returns" written by Sophie Harris for Time Out NY; published on Monday, 13 August 2012 

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2403rd 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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