• • Fred Santley [20 November 1887 — 14 May 1953] • •
• • Born in Salt Lake City, Utah on 20 November 1887 as Frederic Mansfield, Fred was the brother of the Hollywood actor/director Joseph Santley. He began his silent movie career in 1907 with a number of short comedies; he often played a continuing character named Bertie. In talkies, his rich tenor voice won him cinema roles such as Radio Announcer as well as a pawnbroker, pedestrian, boatman, councilman, doorman, juice vendor, reporter, and ticket clerk.
• • In the motion picture "She Done Him Wrong," the popular 1890s ballad "She's More to Be Pitied Than Censured" was sung in Gus Jordan's Bowery saloon by 45-year-old Fred Santley, who was billed as "the tenor" in the credits.
• • Active until the end of his life, Santley's last credit was for "The Farmer Takes a Wife" [1953]. In this big budget musical, Santley was reunited with Frank Mills, who had played a barfly in Gus Jordan's saloon in "She Done Him Wrong." The 1953 cast of "The Farmer Takes a Wife" also brought Santley in touch with two others who had once had the privilege of working with Mae West: Paul Kruger and Lee Phelps.
• • Bit parts player Fred Santley died in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, 14 May 1953. He was 65.
• • On Wednesday, 23 May 1928 • •
• • An article in Variety discussed the costumes designed by Dolly Tree for Mae West.
• • Variety wrote about Mae's lingerie for her boudoir scenes, those daring nighties of "heavy cream lace and yellow chiffon flounces" . . .
• • Source: Article: "Diamond Lil'' written by the Drama Desk of Variety; published on Wednesday, 23 May 1928.
• • On Monday, 23 May 1949 in Life • •
• • Actress Sarah Churchill had the cover of Life Magazine's issue dated for 23 May 1949 but inside there was a grand pictorial devoted to Mae West — — all this for 20 cents.
• • The article "America's favorite hussy comes back again as Diamond Lil" began on page 104. Life featured rarely seen half-tones from the 1920s: Mae onstage in "Sex"; Mae with the cast in court; Mae shaking hands with the prison warden of Welfare Island; Mae pointing to "the pie wagon" she rode in after her arrest as she explains prison life to a group of society women; etc. Life included photos of Mae as a Hollywood star, too.
• • Life wrote: "At 55 Mae is handsomer than ever," emphasizing this point with a colorful full-page portrait of the Broadway icon costumed for her show in a black, gray, and white gown rimmed with gray fur and crowned with a saucy hat, so heavy that she must steady it with a gray-gloved hand. A portrait fit for a Bowery queen.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I never enter a room — — either on social or business duties — — without letting the man across from me know that he is talking to a woman."
• • Mae West said: "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The L.A. Times mentioned Liberace's borrowing of a Mae West quote for "Behind the Candelabra," which will air this Sunday on HBO
• • Liberace [16 May 1919 — 4 February 1987] • •
• • Meredith Blake wrote: "Too much of a good thing is wonderful," declares Liberace in the closing minutes of "Behind the Candelabra." The line, borrowed from Mae West, is a fitting description of the late pianist's famously over-the-top aesthetic: In his long-running Las Vegas show, Liberace was known to make his grand entrance via bedazzled Rolls-Royce limousines and for wearing glitzy ensembles like star-spangled hot pants or a sequin-lined, white fox coat with a 16-foot train.
• • Meredith Blake continued: For the film's costume designer Ellen Mirojnick and production designer Howard Cummings, tasked with re-creating Liberace's "palatial kitsch" on a tight budget and even tighter schedule, it was more like, "Too much of a good thing can be a whole lot of work." ...
• • Source: "Re-creating Liberace's dress-for-excess world" written by Meredith Blake for The Los Angeles Times; published on Friday, 10 May 2013
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2655th 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 • • in 1932 on the set • •
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