Mae West: Letter to the RAF

MAE WEST has a letter in a new title released this month: "Letters of Note."
• • Shaun Usher, a 33-year-old from Manchester, England, began a web site called "Letters of Note," which unearthed various letters written by celebrities. His discoveries attracted many fans and, eventually, a book deal.  Mae West's letter begins "Dear Boys of the RAF" and discusses how she feels about the flotation device named for her. Check out this new release. Good luck to Mr. Usher.
• • Dale Van Sickel [29 November 1907 — 25 January 1977] • •

• • Dale Harris Van Sickel hailed from Eatonton, Georgia where he was born in November — — on Friday, 29 November 1907.  First he was an All-American football player at University of Florida. Then the handsome six-footer headed to Hollywood when he was 25 years old, where he found work as a double for Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, and Dana Andrews.
• • Mae West starred in "Goin' to Town" [1935] and Dale Van Sickel was seen as a party guest.  As an actor, Dale Van Sickel was attached to 288 titles on TV and in the cinema between 1932 — 1971. As a stunt man, Dale Van Sickel was attached to 165 titles between 1933 — 1976. Founding member of Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures, he was their first president.
• • After a long illness, Dale Van Sickel died in Newport Beach, California on 25 January 1977. He was 69 years old.
• • On Tuesday, 29 November 1932 • •
• • Mae West's script had been playing hide-and-seek with the Hays Office. However, on Wednesday, 30 November 1932, the project finally had a title that would not change: "She Done Him Wrong." A day earlier, there had been delicate negotiations on the part of Paramount's rep Harold Hurley. He mamboed around the play's references to white slavery, he massaged away any suggestion that Lil was a kept woman, and he agreed that the Salvation Army uniform had to be made into a safe generic. For all that, Mae got some zingers by the censors.
• • On Monday, 29 November 1948 • •
• • An American revival of "Diamond Lil" opened out of town on Monday, 29 November 1948 at Montclair, New Jersey.
• • On Tuesday, 29 November 1960 • •

• • As costume designer at Paramount Pictures, Edith Head took on a side chore: the custodian of a score of costumes — — worn by Mae West, et al — — that had been sentimentally preserved because they contributed to movie history.
• • On Tuesday, 29 November 1960, an article in The New York Times discussed the final appearance of these glamourous gowns. "I'm only managing to hold them together with emergency sewing now. This will be about their last time out," said Edith Head. The collection, referred to as a "million dollar" affair, included Mae West's emerald green, jewel-encrusted come-up-and-see-me-sometime gown from "She Done Him Wrong," Texas Guinan and Clara Bow outfits, and Ginger Rogers's mink dress from "Lady in the Dark." . . .
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "In the first place, a woman has what it takes — — if she'll use it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An item in the Kingsport Times of Tennessee mentioned Mae West.
• • Kingsport Times wrote: Mae West returns to the State Theatre in her latest comedy "Go West Young Man" ...
• • Source: Item (page 9): Kingsport Times; published on Sunday, 29 November 1936
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2500th 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 • • 1932 • •
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