Mae West: Taken by Storm

The headline was "Writer Sues MAE WEST."
• • The hard-working performer spent many years trying to reach her goals. And once the newspapers published stories about her extraordinary earnings, it seemed every stranger who felt in need of money tried to dig inside her wallet. Meet Jane Storm, who was not deterred from suing even though it was Mr. Arch Obler who wrote the "Adam and Eve" sketch for NBC — — not her.
• • United Press wrote: Los Angeles — January 18 — Mae West's "Adam and Eve" radio broadcast last Dec. 12, which resulted in protests and led the National Broadcasting Co. to ban the use of the actress's name in broadcasts, had a new aftermath today — a copyright infringement suit.
• • United Press explained: Jane Storm, writer, filed suit in federal court here against Miss West, Don Ameche, the broadcasting company, and others, claiming they lifted act 1, scene 2 from her play "Love and Applesauce." She asked damages in excess of $10,000 and an accounting of all profits.
• • United Press concluded: "Miss Storm thought she had a clean play until she heard it over the radio," said Ralph W. Smith, her lawyer.
• • Source: Article: "Writer Sues Mae West" printed by The Cornell Daily (Ithaca, NY); published on  Sunday, 19 January 1938.
• • On Saturday, 28 January 1978 in Los Angeles • •
• • Trying to catch up on paperwork on a Saturday, Mae was paying bills. A personal check was signed by Mae West on 28 January 1978. It was payable to "Dept. of Water and Gas" for the sum of $18.47.
• • On Saturday, 28 January 2012 • •
• • It was a very warm Saturday, 28 January 2012, when acclaimed Australian actress Marie-Therese Byrne took on the challenge of portraying Mae West in "Courting Mae West," a serious-minded comedy written by LindaAnn Loschiavo. A one-time only presentation Down Under, the play had a rehearsed reading in the style of a 1930s radio play under the spirited direction of Cameron Menzies during the Midsumma Festival, which was then in its 24th year.
• • Australia's trendy L.O.T.L. Magazine said: "Those in the mood for some titillating theatre should consider 'Courting Mae West,' part of Midsumma's Playing in the Raw season."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My sister's husband is the kind of guy whose accent has an accent."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A column about a politician written in January 1934 mentioned Mae West.
• • In his column "A New Yorker at Large," Mark Barron shared insights about the Brooklyn bombshell and the ambitious politician Fiorello LaGuardia [11 December 1882 — 20 September 1947]. This installment of Barron's popular weekly column was published on Sunday, 28 January 1934.
• • Mark Barron wrote: New York — Mayor LaGuardia turned on the producers of risque shows, charging them with deliberately inviting police interference for the publicity it would bring.

• • Mark Barron noted: What is interesting in an ironic sort of way is the fact that it was an off-color show which led to the movement that — by increase and addition — eventually elected LaGuardia to his office. And, for that, some might say he owes thanks to Mae West.
• • Back in 1927, Miss West produced a play that brought a squadron of police censors tumbling about her with the turmoil of a Union Square red riot. As a result, Miss West was invited to spend a short vacation in the Welfare Island calaboose. [Mae's 1927 arrest and trial in Jefferson Market Court are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West," which is based on true events during the Prohibition Era.]
• • Despite the avalanche of publicity, Mae was shocked, thinking that her attorney — a Tammany district leader — would be able to keep her this side of the steel bars.
• • A girl reporter was sent to interview Mae. In jail [i.e., Jefferson Jail — then located on Sixth Avenue], the reporter had a conversation with a girl prisoner who charged she'd been "framed" because she would not pay a bribe to a detective on the vice squad.
• • The resultant story started the inquiry into the women's courts, and it was this inquiry that brought Judge Samuel Seabury into such high esteem in the public mind. And it was Seabury whose master minding helped put LaGuardia in the mayor's office.
• • Source:  “A New Yorker at Large” written by Mark Barron for The Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR); published on Sunday, 28 January 1934 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2560th 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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