Friday, April 22, 2016

Mae West: Mysterious Denials

On Monday, 22 April 1935, MAE WEST found herself in a Milwaukee pickle.
• • Married? Not Me, Says Mae • •
• • "Never Heard of Him," Screen Star Declares When Report of Purported Husband Is Dug up
• • Hollywood  [U .P.] — — Mae West, the buxom blonde movie thriller, decided today someone had done her wrong when they dug up a report she once had a husband.
• • Reports from Milwaukee, Wis., said a wedding certificate was discovered in the dusty files of a clerk's office listing the marriage of Mae West, actress to an actor, Frank Wallace.
• • "Whew," said Miss West, after spending a busy day issuing firm — if somewhat mysterious — denials. "I've had lots of rabbits given me for Easter — — but never a husband before."
• • Permit Dated in 1911 • •
• • The certificate found in Milwaukee was dated April 11, 1911, according to reports. The Miss West was 18 years old and Wallace 21. The bride gave her father's name as John West and her mother's maiden name as Matilda Dilker, and gave her birthplace as Brooklyn, N. Y.
• • "I never visited Milwaukee until four years ago," Mae said, "and I never heard of Frank Wallace."
• • Beverly West, Miss West's sister, said the report was absurd. "It must have been another Mae West," she said. "There are two or three of them, you know."
• • Parents' Names Check • •
• • The Miss Wests — Mae and Beverly — both admitted, however, that their father's name was John West and their mother's name was Matilda Dilker.  Mae was born in Brooklyn.
• • Wallace, who is reported to have been haunting vaudeville agencies in New York recently, could not be located today.
• • Most of the Broadway old-timers knew a Frank Wallace, who used to be a vaudeville song and dance man, but few of them were able to connect him with the early career of the famous blonde siren of the screen .
• • Several of his friends recalled, however, that he had played a minor part in Mae's sensational stage success, "Diamond Lil," and a check-up in newspaper morgues confirmed this.
• • Source:  United Press news rpt in Urbana Daily Courier; published on Monday, 22 April 1935.
• • On Sunday, 22 April 1928 • •
• • On Sunday, 22 April 1928, The New York Times was purring about Mae West.
• • On the theatre page was an announcement that "Diamond Lil" was the most prosperous of all the recent stage productions. Broadway backers paid attention, noticing that Mae had given the Royale Theatre its first hit — — a non-musical, no less, but with a cast of 35 and a piano man.
• • Sold on Friday, 22 April 1994 • •
• • The silver gelatin print "Mae West and Adoring Musclemen" by Dean Loomis was sold at an auction held at Swann Galleries on Friday, 22 April 1994.  Someone at this NYC auction house mis-dated the original as 1961 when this photo was clearly taken six years earlier.  Tsk.
• • On Tuesday, 22 April 2008 • •
• • It was on Tuesday,  22 April 2008, that the DVD  "Mae West — The Glamour Collection" was released for sale.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • A new kind of record has been hung up for Mae West's "She Done Him Wrong." It played two weeks at the Broadway Paramount, then to the Brooklyn Paramount for a week, and returned again to the Broadway house for another week and now it is back at the Brooklyn theater for a return engagement while it opened at the Rialto for an extended run yesterday.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "So far as plots are concerned, I have gathered them by the hundreds in my years of stage experience. The rule that 'the plot is the thing' still holds good. As particular as I am with selection of characters and their dialogue, I realize that the story must hold together. It must build and never let down."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A trade daily mentioned Mae West.
• • The Film Daily staffwriters observed:  Without trying to detract from the clearly proven box-office qualities of "She Done Him Wrong" — — the Mae West vehicle — — we were disappointed when some slim modern misses appeared to do the ole time scene of the soubrettes of the 1890s.  They should have employed a bunch of hefty dames a la Billy Watson's Beef Trust and then the skit would have been a laugh riot appealing to all us ole timers who knew them when they were that way.
• • Source: Item in Film Daily; published on Tuesday, 28 February 1933
• • 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 3,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3426th 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 1932

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