Mae West: Backstage Meelee

MAE WEST was in the headlines on June 30th. Chaos reigned but wasn't it an ego boost, too?
• • "A Member of Mae West Troupe Accused of Striking Blow" • •

Landing at Idlewild Airport, NYC

• • Washington, June 29 (AP) — A municipal court jury today deliberated less than 15 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty in the assault trial of Charles (Mr. California) Krauser, 210-pound performer with a troupe headlined by Mae West. Krauser was accused of hitting a fellow performer, Miklos (Mickey) Hargitay, during a meelee last June 6 in Miss West’s dressing room backstage at the Casino Royal.
• • Judge Armond W. Scott postponed sentencing until he returns on September 20th from a trip abroad. Penalty on the charge could be $1,000 fine or a year in jail.
• • Krauser remained free on $300 bond.
• • Source:  Syndicated feature rpt in The Kansas City Times;  published on Saturday, 30 June 1956.
• • On Sunday, 30 June 1935 • •
• • Frank Wallace was quite a talker when a news man was present.  He told the New York American that Timony began living with Mae West and one day he pulled over in a "fine, big automobile" with Mae inside, happily wrapped up in a fur coat.  "He said I ought to realize my marriage to Mae was a fizzle and that she could not afford to be married because there was a future waiting for her in show business." 
• • The newspaper ran a long interview with the washed-up vaudevillian in their issue dated for Sunday, 30 June 1935.
• • On Wednesday, 30 June 1937 • •
• • The Straits Times in Singapore was up to date with Mae West, in their own fashion. On Wednesday, 30 June 1937, this was the headline on page 12: "Mae West Comes East to Singapore." 
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • By the way, Mae West is now working on her new contract by the terms of which she gets $100,000 a picture. They also say that the curvaceous one also gets about half that amount again for providing her own story and, be it known, Mae won't stand for anybody's writing stories for her pictures but Mae.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Very few people know my secret ambition to be a lion-tamer. It began when as a child my father took me to my first circus at Coney Island. Through the years I mentioned it very rarely and only to intimates. The response to my enthusiasm was mainly negative and uninspiring. People were incapable of understanding unless they themselves felt the same driving fiery compulsion I had toward lion-taming."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A movie review focused on Mae West.
• • "'I'm No Angel' at State Today" • •
• • The Sandusky Register wrote: With all the traditional fireworks of the old wild west shows, Mae West appears here, on Sunday, in her new picture "I'm No Angel," opening a four day run at Warner's Ohio. Mae West has given herself the difficult task of bettering her first picture, "She Done Him Wrong," which lifted her to the top of the cinematic ladder.
• • It is a modern jam, concocted by Miss West herself, presenting her in the picturesque characterization of a rowdy, wise-cracking carnival dancer and singer. She becomes a lion tamer, has nerve enough to put her head in the lion's mouth, and becomes a sensation in a New York circus. There she captivates society millionaires.
• • Mae sings five "scorch" songs • •
• • She sings five "scorch" songs, dances a glorified shimmy number known as "the midway," wears tights, enters a cage with savage lions, and wisecracks. Her supporting cast is headed by Cary Grant as her "tall, dark, and handsome" sweetheart.  Kent Taylor, Edward Arnold, Gregory Ratoff, Ralf Harolde, Dorothy Peterson, Gertrude Michael, Russell Hopton, and William B. Davidson also have prominent roles.   . . .
• • Source: Review (on page 2) written for The Sandusky Register (Ohio); published on Sunday, 12 November 1933
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2946th 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 • • at Idlewild Airport in 1956 • •
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Mae West: Banned Again

MAE WEST was on page 2 of several major newspapers on June 27th.
• • "Mae West Is Banned Again" • •
• • BOB THOMAS, AP Movie-Television Writer

• • HOLLYWOOD (AP) — — It give Mae West kind of a warm feeling being banned again. "Just like old times," said Mae, her still-remarkable chassis rotating in the familiar Westian manner. She had received word that her new record, "Am I Too Young?" had been banned by a San Francisco radio station. It was another demented badge to add to her long list.
• • The list extends from being pinched for her New York play "Sex" to having her "Person to Person" segment dropped by CBS because her mirrored bedroom and nude portraits were deemed too racy for the home screen.
• • I dropped out to Mae's seaside home at Santa Monica to learn about these and other matters. As usual, she was in the pink negligee and surrounded by portraits of herself with and without "costuming."
• • "Very interesting," she commented on the record ban. "I guess they thought it was a little too suggestive. Some people can't understand humor."
• • Her plan was to get her career going again, what with the record and forthcoming album, "Peel Me a Grape." She might deliver the new songs in the flesh, so to speak, on a night club. tour.  Also cooking: a possible picture in Rome, an animated (what else) television series called "Little Mae, the Wickedest Woman in the World."
• • Mae had some observations about the current Hollywood situation, in which stars are accused of sabotaging the film industry by their high demands and low work habits.  "I think the answer might be to give these stars a percentage of the profits rather than big salaries," she observed. "Then these movie studios can make the pictures more reasonably and the stars might behave  better, knowing the added cost would cut into their own profits."
• • "Personally, I never had any problems," Mae told me. "I was always on time and tried to save money.  I learned that early because my mother put up the money for my first shows." The screen siren added, "I never got a percentage of the profits on my pictures because Paramount was then in bankruptcy litigation and couldn't give it to me.  But I got the Studio out of trouble."  . . .
• • Bob Thomas wrote a syndicated column. It was rpt in The Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland); published on Wednesday, 27 June 1962. 
• • On Wednesday, 27 June 1928 • •
• • Critic Stark Young wrote an article called "Diamond Lil" for the New Republic. It was published on Wednesday, 27 June 1928.
• • On Sunday, 27 June 1943 • •
• • Philip K. Scheuer wrote an article "Town Called Hollywood: Mae West to Dance in Next."
His lengthy newspaper feature was published in The Los Angeles Times on  Sunday, 27 June 1943.
• • On Sunday, 27 June 1954 • •
• • On Sunday night, 27 June 1954, Mae West delighted the Las Vegas club goers — —  and the female patrons stormed the stage — — when the bodybuilders in "The Mae West Revue" filed into the Sahara's Congo Room.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In case you don't savvy the term, the "finger man" of a mob is the fellow who points out the victim and the location to nab him. Mae West, Betty Compson, and one of the many Marxes are only a few of those who are reputed to have had the "finger" put on them at various times.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The time to worry is when they stop talking about you."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentioned Mae West.
• • "'Sinner' Hits 50 Mark" • •
• • The 50th performance of Mae West in "The Constant Sinner," was given last night at the Royale Theater. No member of the cast has missed a single performance since the play opened.    . . .
• • Source: Item in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle; published on Thursday, 29 October 1931  
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2945th 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 1960s • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: Remembering Steve Rossi

MAE WEST's protege was a young man who became known, under her tutelage, as Steve Rossi. Let's continue this fascinating insider's story where we left off yesterday.
• • The information below is based upon our extensive interview about ten years ago with Mr. Rossi.  This material was published and it is © copyrighted. Be courteous and do not steal it; kindly ask for permission to reprint it first.
• • Steve Rossi [25 May 1932 — 22 June 2014] • •
• • "The Mae West Revue" • •
• • Steve Rossi wrote the opening numbers for this new musical revue — — "The Opposite Sex Now and Then," "In Dreams I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" — — songs that were performed by a 15-piece orchestra as he fox-trotted with Mae West. (Rossi remembered the lyrics and sang some of the song to me.) In 1953, since nothing like this had ever been done before, they were unprepared for the audience's reaction. "Women stormed the stage. They went absolutely wild for the men. We'd have to stop the show until these ladies were led back to their seats." Steve Rossi adds, "Wherever we played, The Mae West Revue sold out."

• • According to Mae West's leading man, however, "Mae didn't put my name on the marquee at Ciro's because there was no room for it. Then we went to the Sahara. The night before we opened she called me up and said, 'I want to see you downstairs at the marquee.' My entire name was across the whole marquee. Her name was only seven letters. She says, 'What name do you notice up there?' I said, 'To tell you the truth, I notice my name more than yours.' 'Why is that?' asked Mae West. I said, 'Because I have 22 letters, and you only have seven.' Mae made a decision: 'From now on, your name is Steve Rossi.'" He got used to seeing his new name spelt out in lights, his wagon hitched to a star.
• • In 1953—1954 Steve co-starred with Mae West in her sold-out concerts all over America.
• • In 1957, Steve Rossi teamed up with Marty Allen and they became a top comedy team. They appeared on 700 television shows including 44 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," three of which were with the Beatles in 1964.
• • Allen and Rossi were regular guests stars on “What’s My Line,” “Hollywood Squares,” “Password,” and other game shows. They also starred in Paramount films notably The Last of the Secret Agents with Nancy Sinatra and Ed Sullivan as guest stars.
• • Steve Rossi has guest-starred with Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
• • He will be missed. 
• • Source:   © 2014 The Mae West Blog
• • On Wednesday, 26 June 1935 • •
• • The 8-minute cartoon "Who Killed Cock Robin?" was released on 26 June 1935 in the USA. Loverboy Robin is crooning to a Mae West-like Jenny Wren when he is shot with an arrow.
• • Actress Martha Wentworth [2 June 1889 — 8 March 1974] was the voice of Jenny Wren.  Wentworth also did Mae's voice in "The Mae West Jewel Robbery," which made its radio debut on 21 February 1934.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In March 1939 Walter Winchell reported in the Daily Mirror: "Mae West is amazing New Yorkers with her newly-added excess weight. Almost looks like her photos now."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I don't read. Never have and guess I never will. I write in my books what I learned myself, from life."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in the newspaper New York World mentioned Mae West.
• • Eugene O'Neill and Mae West both use hokum and both succeed.
• • Source: The New York World; published on Friday, 3 November 1933    
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2944th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1953 in Las Vegas • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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