Thursday, November 05, 2015

Mae West: Guinan Gone

MAE WEST was shocked to learn that her friend Texas Guinan had died after a show in  Canada on Sunday, 5 November 1933.
• • Definitely her own special creation, not unlike her buddy Mae West, Texas Guinan wove a dazzling aura around herself.  Since she often said, “Exaggerate the world!” then we can assume she took her own advice.  A trailblazer down to her toes, Texas Guinan was a poetry-writing Greenwich Village bohemian, a hustler, a cowgirl, a gun-blazing silent film star, a syndicated newspaper columnist, and she especially reigned as "The Queen of the Night Clubs" until the Wall Street crash in 1929.
• • According to Marc Wanamaker, a Hollywood film historian and archivist, the wisecracking personality and slightly nasal delivery, did not originate with the Brooklyn bombshell. 
• • Marc Wanamaker explained: "Miss Mae West got a lot of her style from Texas Guinan, a stage — cinema actress in the early silents who became a bar owner [sic] in New York. A lot of the lines attributed to Mae (and W.C. Fields, for that matter) like 'Never give a sucker an even break' came from Texas Guinan. They all had known each other for years from vaudeville.  ..."
• • Texas Guinan's spirit has guided two filmmakers in their latest project. More on this new documentary in another post.
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1930 • •
• • "A prizefighter's tart" who enjoys black men as well as Caucasians, Babe Gordon, the frisky blonde teenage protagonist, was Mae's idea of an uptown temptress, footloose, fearless, and unfettered in Harlem.
• • The novel "Babe Gordon" by Mae West was published in New York City by The Macaulay Company on Wednesday, 5 November 1930.
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932 • •
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932, a cable was wired to Colonel Joy.  It assured him that Zukor and Hertz promised that they will abandon "Diamond Lil" and will make an announcement to that effect tonight. [Hmmm. We know how that turned out.]
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1969 in Ithaca • •
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1969 the Cornell University students were treated to a  screening of "My Little Chickadee" starring Mae West and W.C. Fields at 7:00 pm and again at 9:15 pm.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • W.C. Fields, Mae West, and Elvis Presley have passed through the ranch gates in Arcadia, California.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I've spent a lot of money. I used to play the horses pretty bad. And then I owned a string of horses. I've got a lot of property, but I don't like to talk about my investments in public."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Monocle mentioned Mae West.
• • Margie Ann Price, a newcomer to John Marshall High School, has lived and visited in many parts of the United States.  . . .  "Maryland, New Jersey, California, Colorado, and Wyoming are only a few of the states I have been in," she stated.  During her trip to California, she saw Mae West, Tom Mix, and Greta Garbo. . . .
• • Source: Article in  The Monocle;  published on Friday, 4 November 1938  
• • Note: Mae West in 1938 wearing a perfectly darling pillbox hat. What an enchanting creation! It's obvious that Mae chose her milliners very well. 
• • 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 3304th 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 1938

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