Mae West: James Arthur Timony

James Arthur Timony was the legal counsel and business manager of MAE WEST from approximately 1919 until his retirement in 1949. Timony admitted he gave up a Broadway legal practice to go with Miss West, seeing great potential there.
• • Timony, who had Irish ancestry, was born in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, 7 June 1884. (This date is also noted on his draft card.)
• • A devout Roman Catholic, Jim Timony carried rosary beads and began each morning by going to Mass. Mae accompanied him during this daily ritual. For decades they went everywhere together — — on cross-country trains, on the Queen Mary, in Mae's "house car," and in limousines.

Always at her side: "Big Jim"

• • Calling James A. Timony the manager of Mae West for 25 years, and the person who "guided her to success," The N.Y. Times also noted that he "received major credit for her development from a relatively obscure singer and dancer into an internationally known prototype of the American siren."
• • According to his obit, Timony had been in retirement for five years due to poor health.
• • When he suffered a fatal heart attack in Los Angeles on Monday, 5 April 1954, he was 69. Mae West took this loss hard, she told reporters.
• • He was buried in Brooklyn’s Holy Cross Cemetery on Monday, 12 April 1954. The long-term bachelor was interred with his parents, Thomas and Mary Campbell Timony.
• • On Thursday, 5 June 1952 • •
• • "Mae West to Open Summer Theatre" was the headline on Thursday, 5 June 1952 in a New Jersey newspaper.  Herbert Kenwith was announcing the world premiere of "Sextette," a play written by Frances Hope and adapted by the movie queen.
• • Source: Article: "Mae West to Open Summer Theatre" (on page 4) of the Raritan Township and Fords Beacon, published on Thursday, 5 June 1952.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Paramount is negotiating with Mae West for her stage play, “Diamond Lil.” If the deal comes through, then Miss West will be starred.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Do I love Jim Timony? Yes. We love each other like Potash loved Perlmutter or like Montgomery must love Ward. Like two old business cronies."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper mentioned James A. Timony and Mae West.
• • George Lait wrote: While she was featured in the musical play, "Sometime," with Ed Wynn, Mae West made the acquaintance of a man who has since played an all-important part in shaping the career which for la West, has amassed fame, fortune, diamonds and film stardom.
• • Her Business Manager • •
• • George Lait wrote: He was James A. Timony, "Big Jim," a successful lawyer in New York with an intimate knowledge of show business and politics. "Big Jim" knew "everybody" on the Great White Way, and it was to him Mae turned over her business affairs, which had come to the point where they needed special management. Timony proved to be the sagacious manager she needed, and with his advice and grooming their associations became more and more profitable for both.
• • George Lait wrote: Mae West had saved money throughout her career in the show business and this money they invested in real estate bonds and stocks. Realty slumps, stock market crashes came and went, but through "Big Jim's" foresight and keen business sense, Mae pulled through it all with a profit
• • This close business association still exists. (Another Dispatch Tomorrow) . . .
• • Note: This successful partnership with his death on Monday, 5 April 1954 at age 69. [James, born in 1884, attended the best schools and a respected law school …]
• • Source: Syndicated content written for Central Press rpt in The News-Messenger [Fremont, Ohio]; on  Tuesday, 12 December 1933  
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,490th 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 • • traveling on the Union Pacific Streamliner, March 1933 • •
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