Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Mae West: Anti-Scandal Body

Engaged in a battle with Confidential Magazine, MAE WEST inspired steamy headlines in August 1957.
• • For the publication's cover-line “Mae West’s Open Door Policy,” the reporters poked their nose into Mae's sexual relationship with Chalky Wright, a black, former featherweight boxer.
Naturally, Mae sued and Confidential was brought to trial later that year.  Interestingly, people suddenly died.  Trial defendant Dale Wright,accused of collecting malicious gossip on a Dick-Tracy-like wrist microphone,committed suicide in Mexico. And is it not curious that Mae's  black chauffeur, a subpoenaed witness, died mysteriously, taking a bath, right before the proceedings began.
• • "Mae West Denies Living with a Negro Boxer" • •
• • Charges in Confidential article "ridiculous" • •
• • Hollywood forms anti-scandal body • •
• • Mae West, the platinum blonde actress and singer, yesterday emphatically denied any misconduct with Chalky Wright, late professional boxer, as related in an article in Confidential Magazine, titled "Mae West's Open Door Policy." . . .
• • Defendant Fred Meade testified at the Confidential Magazine libel trial today that the late Negro boxer Chalky Wright gave him a statement "that detailed the year he spent living in the apartment with Mae West." Meade also testified a band leader named Daniel Terry gave him the story of a tryst in the Lake Tahoe woods with singer Dorothy Dandridge.   . . .
• • Source: Article rpt by The Singapore Free Press; published on Friday, 23 August 1957.
• • Regis Philbin born on Tuesday, 25 August 1931 • •
• • How many remember when Regis came up to see Mae West in "Sextette"?
• • Native New Yorker Regis Philbin was born in August — — on Tuesday, 25 August 1931. As with Mae West, Regis claims Irish descent on his father's side.
• • Celebrating his birthday today, Regis Philbin — — who has been a TV-talk show honcho, game-show host, singer, author, and TV personality — — is sure to have a big cake. Congrats!
• • On Sunday, 25 August 1912 in Brooklyn • •
• • Mae West was seen on the stage of the New Brighton Theatre in Brooklyn's Coney Island area on 25 August 1912. The New Brighton always booked top tier vaudeville acts.
• • On Saturday, 25 August 1934 — "dripping with orchids" • •
• • Louella Parsons wrote:  Snapshots of Hollywood collected at random: . . . Mae West, dripping with orchids, in a ringside seat with her boy friend, Jim Timony;  B. P. Schulberg and Sylvia Sidney on the other side of the ring; Roger Pryor and Ann Sothern, Adela Rogers and the new boy friend, Enzo Fiermonte, Raoul Walsh, Adolph Zukor and dozens of other film celebrities, watching these bouts;  ...
• • Source: Gossip Column written by Louella Parsons for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; published on Saturday, 25 August 1934.
• • On Monday, 25 August 1980 • •
• • Mae West and Paul Novak checked into Good Samaritan Hospital on 10 August 1980 (after Mae had fallen out of bed and was diagnosed as having suffered a minor stroke). To avoid media scrutiny, the Los Angeles couple had registered as Gloria and Paul Drake. Though Mae had expected to be discharged on 25 August 1980, she was being kept there.  Mae's condition was not improving, alas. Things were not looking rosy.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West still lives in a modest Hollywood apartment with her brother Jack West, Jr. Her only extravagance has been redecorating it in the white and gold Louis XV motif.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I am my severest critic. Don't forget that!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Kentucky newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • Phyllis Bowman wrote:   August is a month of vagueness. Our gardens are withering and looking pretty bad. The weather is virtually the same every day. The days begin to get shorter. 
• • Phyllis Bowman continued:  Has anything happened in August, except the death of Marilyn Monroe or the death of Elvis? The fun of picnics and grilling has passed. Maybe we could celebrate the birth of a celebrity in August?  Well then, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Herbert Hoover, Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, Michael Jackson, and Mae West were all born in the month of August. . . .
• • Source: Article written for The Messenger (Madisonville, KY); published on  Wednesday, 19 August 2015
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3252nd 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 • in 1934

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