Mae West: Ross Hunter's Party

Whenever MAE WEST attended a party, the gossip columnists vied with each other to get a scoop on the occasion.
• • Set designer, art director, and producer Jacque Mapes [14 June 1913 — 4 May 2002] and producer Ross Hunter [6 May 1920 — 10 March 1996] were a power couple during the Golden Age of Hollywood who did their share of entertaining. It was Ross Hunter who would give the eulogy for the screen legend in 1980. In 1976, Dorothy Manners landed this exclusive and printed it on April 7th. Put on your best hat and let's peek in the window, shall we?
• • "Mae West appears at Ross Hunter's cocktail party" • •

• • Dorothy Manners reported this:  As usual when she appears, Mae West, in virginal white, her long blonde hair hanging shoulder length, stopped the action at the cocktail party hosted by producer Ross Hunter and Jacque Mapes at Ross's home. Where did the talk ever start that Hollywood easily forgets its own legends? Mae took a chair center-stage, I mean in the middle of the room, under a becoming soft light and started receiving the likes of Roger Moore, Red Buttons, Luis Estevez, Tony Cointreau (of the French liquor family), and other assorted smitten males.
• • It was quite a coup on Ross Hunter's part getting la West to a private party. She usually graces only tributes — — preferably to herself. This time, the host had run into some luck.  
• • "By accident, I got her on the phone ..." • •
• • "Mae is customarily reached through protocol," he reported. "You leave messages for her through rank. By accident, I got her on the phone, invited her to come to this affair honoring Maxine Mesinger and her husband Emil from Houston, and she said, 'When?' — — and there she was!"
• • [Ed:  Maxine Mesinger [19 December 1925 — 19 January 2001] was a celebrity gossip columnist of the Houston Chronicle who was active between 1965 and 2000.]
• • But the former Diamond Lil had to share her spotlight with two other larger-than-life living legends: Barbara Stanwyck looking smashing in a black-and-blue sequined pantsuit; and Rosalind Russell, fully recovered from her long illness, looking and feeling great.  ...
• • Source: King Features Syndicate's Hollywood column written by Dorothy Manners rpt in Anderson Daily Bulletin (Indiana); published on Wednesday, 7 April 1976.
• • On Sunday, 7 April 1940 • •
• • On Sunday, 7 April 1940 the San Bernardino Sun announced that the new film "My Little Chickadee" starring Mae West and W.C. Fields would be in the local cinema on Sunday and Monday.
• • On Wednesday, 7 April 1954 in Variety • •
• • The death of James Timony [on 5 April 1954] was announced in The L.A. Times on April 6th and in Variety on April 7th. Mae was prostrated by grief at the death of her long-term companion and very shrewd manager. She was unable to receive callers and dealt with his funeral arrangements. Jim Timony's body was sent back to Brooklyn, New York and buried in a family plot at Holy Cross cemetery.
• • On Sunday, 6 April 2014 • •
• • Mickey Rooney [23 September 1920 — 6 April 2014] • •
• • Brooklyn is the hometown of many stars such as Mae West, Mickey Rooney, Rita Hayworth, Barbra Streisand, Mary Tyler Moore, Danny Kaye, Susan Hayward, Lena Horne, etc.
• • Actor Mickey Rooney, who was five-foot-two and reined as "America's favorite boy next door" during the Depression in those popular Andy Hardy films, died yesterday at 93. We will never forget you, Mickey.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The white tornado that calls Itself Mae West has just recently left the hospital after anxious weeks, raising cheers from a worldwide army of loyal admirers.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "You really have to tone them and their actions down and make the characters less sensationaI than they actually are in order to make them believable."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Dorothy Manners column mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West, in a white satin evening gown and a pompadour, stole the big scene at Doris and Jules Stein's huge dinner at Misty Mountain, their Beverly Hills place. There were many guests who were younger and more up to the minute, but it was still Mae all the way.
• • She was escorted by her longtime friend, director  George Cukor, and every time she opened her rosebud mouth, you would have sworn she was going to say "Beulah, peel me a grape." There's only one Miss West, but the way she plays it, there's enough there for everyone.  ...
• • Source: Dorothy Manners' syndicated Hollywood column rpt in The Arizona Republic; published on Sunday, 7 April 1968
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2886th 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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