Mae West: Gladys George

MAE WEST starred in "Go West Young Man" [1936], playing Mavis Arden, an actress on tour publicizing her most recent movie.  Ironically, in this motion picture, Mae eased herself into an already popular Broadway comedy that poked fun at "Hollywood dementia" and featured Gladys George in the role of a sultry jezebel. The long-running stage hit told the story of a movie queen, Carole Arden, who is on a junket giving personal appearances to promote her latest film, "Drifting Lady." Her car breaks down, which leads to her amorous encounter with a young, handsome gas station attendant, Chester "Bud" Norton.
• • Dissatisfied with Paramount, during February 1935 Mae West donned an odd black wig and inconspicuously boarded a train for Chicago. The movie star quietly attended a play with Emanuel Cohen, "Personal Appearance," by then a Broadway road company show. They discussed creating a cinema version of this lampoon of the film industry.
• • Gladys George [13 September 1900/1904 — 8 December 1954] • •

• • Born in Patten, Maine to a British knight and his Lady, little Gladys Clare Evans came into this world on 13 September 1900/1904.  For years her metier was live theatre and her beauty, comic timing, and charisma turned "Personal Appearance" by dramatist Lawrence Riley into a blockbuster.  The play opened on West 43rd Street at Henry Miller's Theatre on 17 October 1934 and kept audiences laughing through December 1935.  In addition to playing for 501 performances on Broadway, it toured big cities in the USA.          
• • Married four times, Gladys George was seen in 44 projects for the screen and TV. Though she was a good character actress, and especially effective in bad girl roles, she did not often get top billing.  In her private life, she certainly enjoyed trysts and parties, smoking, drinking, and carousing with her lovers.
• • During her forties, Gladys George began to do battle with serious enemies: throat cancer, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver.  She died in Los Angeles from a cerebral hemorrhage on 8 December 1954. She was interred in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
• • Jesse Lasky [13 September 1880 — 13 January 1958] • •
• • More than anything, vaudevillian Mae West wanted to be "in the legit" — — on The Gay White Way — — and Jesse Lasky gave her an opportunity.
• • In 1911, Jesse Lasky opened the "Folies-Bergere," a plush theatre restaurant on West 46th Street and he cast a pretty 18-year-old Mae to appear in the cabaret with a comedy duo, Cook and Lorenz. The extravaganza was produced by Ned Wayburn, Mae's dancing teacher and was called "A La Broadway."
• • Born in San Francisco, California in the month of September — — on 13 September 1880 — — Jesse Lasky went on to be the founder of the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company, which later merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players to form the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, one of the major studios of the silent era.
• • In 1913 he and his brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (who later became Sam Goldwyn) formed the first studio with Goldfish functioning as president and Lasky as the vice-president. In 1914, their first film, The Squaw Man, became a great hit and an industry milestone in that it was the first epic western; its success also helped make Hollywood a center for filmmaking. Eventually his Famous Players-Lasky company merged and then merged again until it became Paramount, another major studio in American cinema history.
• • Perhaps thirteen was his special number. Born on the 13th of September, Jesse Lasky died on 13 January 1958.  He was 77.
• • On Sunday, 13 September 1953 • •
• • Walter Ames wrote the amusing article "Who's Marilyn Monroe, Queen Mae West Asks" for The Los Angeles Times.  His piece ran on the front page — — of the weekend edition dated for Sunday, 13 September 1953. 
• • On Saturday, 13 September 1969 • •
• • Michael Sarne was writing a lot to Mae West during the autumn of 1969 as he developed the cinema version of "Myra Breckinridge." In a letter dated for Saturday, 13 September 1969, he asked Mae to hurry up and get her comments on the revised screenplay to him as soon as possible. He promised he was giving more thought to other ways to involve her character Leticia Van Allen in the central plot. Mae West, of course, got top billing.
• • In Her Own Words • • 
• • Mae West said: "There wasn't anyone to play to. ... It was the first time I'd opened without my Mother."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about upcoming shows on TV mentioned Mae West.
• • TV Guide wrote: Hollywood — 13 September 1958.  Mae West, now 66, will soon star a five-a-week, late-night, quarter-hour show locally, then has plans for a film series, "Klondike Lou."  ...
• • Source: Item: "TV News Shorts" written by staff for TV Guide; published on 13 September 1958 

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2425th 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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