Mae West: A Steampit

MAE WEST was banned by NBC in 1937 and Jeff Kallman offered a fresh and refreshing perspective. Here are his words.
• • Adam, Eve, and outrage . . . • •   
• • Jeff Kallman said: It’s not that Arch Oboler’s silly but delightful parody of the Garden of Eden is particularly hazardous to the nation’s moral health merely on paper. But when Mae West gets hold of it opposite Don Ameche’s Adam, that’s where the devil in the translation comes into play.
• • a steampit in which Eve flips the tables • •
• • Jeff Kallman explained: And that’s where the headaches begin. The studio guffaws might have been expected, but Sunday night radio in this time and place isn’t exactly the place where listeners think it appropriate to mock the Garden of Eden at all, never mind turn it into a steampit in which Eve flips the tables and charms the snake, rather than the other way ’round.
• • Jeff Kallman observed: The clergy and the sectarian groups flood NBC with protests, and the Federal Communications Commission dressed the network down in a slightly scathing memo. And where other networks mere ban Miss Mae from their air for almost two decades, NBC won’t even let her be mentioned for the same period.
• • Jeff Kallman added: Seventy plus years later it will be impossible to believe the sketch left West guilty of anything other than provoking a few none-too-guilty laughs. Let the record show, however, that two weeks after the hoopla The Chase and Sanborn Hour became a ratings blockbuster. . . .
• • Source:  Excerpt from  Kallman's Alley: A Journal of Classic Radio written by Jeff Kallman; posted on Friday, 13 December 2013.
• • On Monday, 30 December 1912 • •
• • On Monday, 30 December 1912 the singing comedienne was giving a double performance at 7:30 PM and at 11:00 PM at B.F. Keith's Union Square Theatre on Fourteenth Street. Featured on the bill, along with the 19-year-old hopeful, was a great deal of variety. Britain's Laddie Cliff offered new songs and eccentric dances; Phina and company entertained; Alfredo (wandering wizard of the violin) played; Asaki presented his juggling act, so popular in Japan; and gymnasts Lydia and Albino did . . . something.
• • On Saturday, 30 December 1933 • •
• • Picturegoer, a British publication sold in movie houses, ran a three part series: "Making Love to Mae West." The first installment ran on 10 December 1933, it continued on Saturday, 30 December 1993, and the final portion appeared on 6 January 1934.
• • Cary Grant's byline appeared. The actor either wrote it or (perhaps) merely signed it.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West, the Hollywood actress, is expected to visit Australia early next year.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "It's all a lot of strudel."
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • A West Virginia paper mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West in "Goin' to Town" — — Our New Year's Show. Wednesday, Thursday.  This is Mae West's latest and her best picture. See her as a real lady and hear her sing that wonderful song, "I'm a Lady Now." This motion picture will also be shown Tuesday night starting at 11:15pm.   . . .
• • Source: Item in Bluefield Daily Telegraph [Bluefield, West Virginia]; published on Sunday, 29 December 1935
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th 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 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3607th 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 1935 • •
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Mae West: Enough Money

It was Sunday, 26 December 1937 and the headlines read: "MAE WEST Helps Santa's Family Enjoy Christmas."  Though Tinseltown's movie stars were not suffering during the Great Depression, many Americans were. For two years in a row, Mae came to the rescue for a Missouri father named Santa Claus, age 51.

• • The San Bernardino Daily announced Mae's generosity on Thursday,  29 December 1938. 
• • Santa Claus (that's his real name), right, of Marshall, Mo., receives $250 gift of Mae West from Floyd Davis, a theater manager. Claus, who preaches on Sunday and works as a plumber and carpenter during the week, didn't have enough money to answer the many letters mailed him by children. Watching the presentation is Santa's family.
• • On Sunday, 29 December 1912 • •
• • In the Sunday morning newspapers on 29 December 1912, readers noticed that B.F. Keith was offering "Dinkelspiel's Christmas" along with "MAY WEST — singing comedienne" [yes, the newspaper spelled it "MAY WEST" in their 29 December 1912 ad].
• • The 14th Street theatre is, alas, long gone but we can only imagine how much fun we missed since, alas, we were not around to dial STuyvesant 3400 to reserve a ticket.
• • On Wednesday, 29 December 1937 • •
• • Variety did an article on the ill-fated broadcast Mae did on NBC: "Mae West Case Big Dilemma in Washington."  This piece was printed in Variety on Wednesday, 29 December 1937.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West, Ethel Barrymore, and Fred and Adele Astaire also appeared in popular shows that autumn. However, attendance remained low, with some people blaming ticket prices, which ranged from $1.10 to $3.30. Whatever the reason for the low attendance, the Shuberts were not ones to back a loser, so they announced that the Shubert Playhouse would close around the first of the new year.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I've never had a wishbone where my backbone should be."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Westchester Couny paper mentioned Mae West.
• • "At Bronxville Theatre" • •
• • Sunday, Monday, Tuesday — — January 2, 3, 4 starring Mae West, Victor Moore, William Gaxton in their new comedy “The Heat's On” . . .
• • Source: Item in The Bronxville Review-Press; published on Wednesday, 29 December 1943
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th 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 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3606th 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 • • news item in 1938 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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