Mae West: Lane Chandler

MAE WEST starred in the classic film "My Little Chickadee" [1940] and Lane Chandler was seen as a porter.
• • Lane Chandler [4 June 1899 — 14 September 1972] • •
• • Born Robert Chandler Oakes on 4 June 1899, this son of a horse rancher learned to ride in his youth.  The family moved to the wide open spaces of Montana.  He left college early to drive a tour bus in Yellowstone National Park. In his early 20s, the six-foot-four adventurer began to work in Los Angeles as a car mechanic.  Tinseltown waved its gaudy hand at the tall, handsome newcomer and his cowboy skills got him bit parts in silent movies at Paramount when director John Waters patched him into a series of Westerns. 
• • Alert to possibilities in good-looking males, Paramount renamed him and cast him in leading roles in Westerns and contemporary dramas, murder mysteries, and romantic comedies opposite Fay Wray, Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, Esther Ralston, etc. He played Gary Cooper's brother in "The First Kiss" [1928] and the title role in "Firebrand Jordan" [1930].  When talkies replaced silent pictures, Paramount favored Gary Cooper over him. He began to freelance at low budget studios, who cared little about production values, and his screen presence was diminished under fleabag directors.  By the time he was in his 30s, when his former castmates like John Wayne and Jack Hoxie were on the rise, Chandler's stock was sinking.   
• • From 1921 — 1971, the husky-voiced supporting player took part in 383 titles for the screen and (later on) in TV series. i.e., "Gunsmoke," etc. Progressively smaller bits fell to him and, even when he worked with directors who liked him (such as Cecil B. DeMille), he was often uncredited.  In "My Little Chickadee," for instance, his work is not credited..
• • Lane Chandler died in Los Angeles on Thursday, 14 September 1972.  He was 73.
• • Mickey Hargitay [6 January 1926 — 14 September 2006] • •
• • Born in Budapest, Hungary on 6 January 1926, handsome Mickey Hargitay became a bodybuilder and earned the title "Mr. Universe."  He wed Mary Birge in 1948 and they had a daughter.
• • Hargitay parlayed his perfect physique and handsomeness into a performing career when Mae West tapped him to be a musclemen in her "Mae West Revue."
• • While appearing with Mae West in Las Vegas, Mickey Hargitay met Jayne Mansfield (then Mrs. Paul Mansfield), whom he married in 1958. He and Jayne had three children but divorced in 1964. In 1967, Jayne's clock stopped when she was 34.
• • Mickey's clock stopped on Thursday, 14 September 2006.  He was 80.
• • On Monday, 14 September 1931 • •
• • On Monday, 14 September 1931, Mae West's Harlem drama "The Constant Sinner" opened on Broadway. Mae took the role of Babe Gordon.
• • On Friday, 14 September 1951 • •
• • "Diamond Lil," after a regional tour, returned to the Broadway Theatre for a victory lap. Gus Jordan's Gay Nineties saloon on the Bowery was seen again on The Great White Way beginning on Friday, 14 September 1951.
• • Two months later, Mae West and her gaudy retinue took their final bows on 10 November 1951 after this "last stand" on Broadway — — yes, sixty-seven performances.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Considering what 'Sex' got me, a few days in the pen 'n’ a $500 fine ain’t too bad a deal.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in American History Magazine discussed Mae West.
• • In “Mae West's Secret of Success” Peter Carlson started in February of 1927: She pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the pimp. Then she picked up the phone and called the cops. "Hello, police headquarters?" she said. "Will you kindly send someone here immediately to take a desperate character?" When she hung up, the pimp begged her not to hand him over to the cops. Give me a chance to run, he pleaded, and I'll never bother you again. "Alright, rat, I'll give you the chance," she said. "Why, if I didn't have a certain amount of refinement, I'd kick your teeth all over this floor. Now blow, bum, blow."
• • Peter Carlson wrote: The pimp turned and ran — — right off the stage of Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in Manhattan. After his exit, Mae West finished the final scene of her play, Sex. In the scene, her character, a hooker named Margy, rejects the rich guy who wants to marry her and takes off with one of her customers, a sailor with a heart of gold. ...
• • Source: Article: “Mae West's Secret of Success” written by Peter Carlson for American History Magazine; published on Wednesday, 14 September 2011

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2426th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1940 • •
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