Mae West: Donald Kirke

MAE WEST spent the summer of 1931 in rehearsals with her upcoming large scale play “The Constant Sinner.” Set in Harlem, the drama opened on Monday, 14 September 1931 and ran for 64 performances on Broadway.
• • Donald Kirke played the role of Harry in “The Constant Sinner.”
• • Burns Mantle wrote in The N.Y. Daily News:  Although there are many colored actors in “The Constant Sinner,” George Givot, white, plays the policy king. Arthur R. Vinton is authentic as a fight manager, and Donald Kirke, Walter Glass, and Walter Petrie help things along.
• • Donald Kirke [17 May 1901 ― 18 May 1971] • •

• • Born on Friday, 17 May 1901 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Donald Kirke was a stage actor who had honed his craft (as Mae did) in vaudeville. After five years of doing an 11-minute act, he was ready for the legit.
• • Kirke was cast in several roles in Broadway dramas and comedies from 1928 —1931 such as “Gang War” [20 August, 1928 — Oct 1928] produced at Morosco Theatre; “Remote Control” [Sep 10, 1929 — Nov 1929], “The Old Rascal” [March 24, 1930 — May 1930], “A Woman Denied” [Feb 25, 1931 — March 1931] ― ― followed by “The Constant Sinner.”
• • By 1932, Kirke was on the West Coast auditioning in Hollywood.
• • On the silver screen, Kirke was notable for “Women Won't Tell” (1932), where he worked with Dewey Robinson, so memorable in the Mae West starrer “She Done Him Wrong” (1933).
• • In the mystery film “The Shadow” (1937), Kirke was cast along with Marjorie Main, who played Mae West’s mother in the short-lived drama “The Wicked Age” (1927) on Broadway; Mae West wrote the play and starred as Babe Carson, a pageant princess.
• • In “Paradise Express” (1937), Kirke played the head of the Armstrong Trucking Company, who will lock horns with the film’s leading man, Grant Withers, a railroad owner. More often seen on a Western saddle, Grant Withers [1905 —1959] played a cowboy in Mae West starrer “Goin' To Town” (1935).
• • Kirke died on Tuesday, 18 May 1971 in Los Angeles County, California. He was 70 years old.
• • On Wednesday, 30 June 1937 • •  
• • "Mae West Comes East to Singapore" • •
• • "Bright Dialogue at The Pavilion" • •

• • The Straits Times wrote: With typically robust humour, Mae West returns with curves and wisecracks... the film "Go West Young Man" is mainly notable for its crisp dialogue....
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In case you don't savvy the argot of the criminal underground, the "finger man" of a mob is the fellow who points out the victim and the location to nab him.
• • Mae West, Betty Compson, and one of the many Marxes [Marx Brothers] are only a few of those who are reputed to have had the "finger" put on them at various times.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The time to worry is when they stop talking about you."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Morning Bulletin mentioned Mae West.
• • "It Ain't No Sin" — Mae West Film Banned in New York! • •
• • Hollywood, June 25th — On the eve of its release, Mae West's new film, 'It Ain't No Sin,' has been banned in New York State. Officials of the Paramount Company state that this film will be recalled and considerably altered before it is released. ...
• • Source: Morning Bulletin; published on Thursday, 28 June 1934
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,027th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • artwork from 1935 • •
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Mae West: Typifies Seduction

MAE WEST met her fans on the silver screen and between the pages of the day’s popular fan magazines, all of whom skated dizzily on the surface of facts and never did any fact-checking. This is the first section, Part 1, segment 32 of 32.
• • "The Real Mae West" • •
• • Mae West: Typifies all that is seductive • •
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: Popular as she always has been with boys and men, Mae West has never married [sic] and she has very definite reasons why she, who typifies all that is seductive and charming to mankind, has preferred to pursue her career in real life alone.

• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: The second installment of Mae West's real life story will appear in the July [1934] issue of New Movie Magazine.
• • Notes • •
• • Oddly enough, though New Movie Magazine chronicled Tinseltown and West Coast screen stars, it was located on the East Coast in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
• • New Movie Magazine’s editorial offices operated from 55 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. This commercial building presently houses Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and numerous businesses.   
• • Who was the London, England native Aileen St. John Brenon [17 April 1894 — 23 September 1967]?
• • The Brenons were a musical and theatrical family.
• • Aileen’s father Algernon had been a music critic, and her uncle Herbert Brenon was a prolific film director who directed the first cinematic adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” (1926).
• • Aileen’s sister Juliet [1895–1979] was a silent movie actress.She married the artist and influential theatrical designer Cleon Throckmorton; they lived in Greenwich Village.
• • Aileen was a music critic and theatrical publicist whose husband was art critic Thomas Craven.
• • The first part of Mae West’s “life story” has now concluded with this post.
• • The second part of Mae West’s “life story” by Aileen St. John Brenon will appear in due course.
• • Source: The New Movie Magazine; issue dated for June 1934.
• • On Friday, 29 June 1934 • •

• • Mae heard more than enough objections about "It's No Sin" from Joe Breen, Catholic priests, and the censors in New York State. "If they think it's too warm, I'll cool it off," Mae told a Newsweek reporter. On Friday, 29 June 1934 an article appeared in The Los Angeles Herald. Mae assured the paper that she wanted to satisfy the censors.  
• • "You can never say," emphasized Mae West, "that I refused to meet somebody half way."  
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Frank Wallace, who says he is the husband of Hollywood movie star Mae West, sued her business manager James Timony and five John Does for $105,000 damages today. Mae West is unavailable for comment.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A man in the house is worth two in the street."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Associated Press mentioned Mae West.
• • "It Ain't No Sin," starring Mae West, Hit by Churchmen • •
• • New York, June 27, AP — — A Mae West movie of the same type that established the swaggering actress as the premier screen siren and one featuring Dolores Del Rio as the French Madame du Barry became the first victims of a militant church campaign for decency in pictures. ...
• • Both the Mae West "It Ain't No Sin" and the Miss Del Rio biographical picture were withdrawn from application for licensing in New York. The censors did not know what "sin" referred to in the Mae West film.
• • Paramount Productions Inc., producers of Miss West's pictures, announced it was being sent back to Hollywood for revision and would be reissued another time. ... The announcements came a few days after leaders of Catholic and Jewish faiths joined in a nationwide drive against indecent movies.  ...
• • Source: AP; reprinted by Nevada State Journal; published on Thursday, 28 June 1934
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,026th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1934 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: On and Off

MAE WEST met her fans on the silver screen and between the pages of the day’s popular fan magazines, all of whom skated dizzily on the surface of facts and never did any fact-checking. This is the first section, Part 1, segment 31 of 32.
• • "The Real Mae West" • •
• • Mae West: Discovered she liked being around boys • •
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: She continued her schooling, off and on, to please her mother, and when she was "going on twelve," she made another interesting discovery.  It was the interest — reciprocated, she admits — she had for boys.  

• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: Mae said she never played with girls at all if she could help it.
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: "Gee, I loved the boys," she says. "Went around with lots of them and played with them. There was a gang of us in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Yeah, of course, we would have fights."  
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: And since she was a husky child, she'd smack a boy on the nose as quickly as she would a girl.
• • Mae West: Typifies all that is seductive • • ...   
• • The first part of Mae West’s “life story” will be concluded on the next post.
• • The second part of Mae West’s “life story” by Aileen St. John Brenon will appear in due course.
• • Follow The Mae West Blog so you never miss a post. July 2022 begins our 18th year.
• • Source: The New Movie Magazine; issue dated for June 1934.
• • On Thursday, 28 June 1934 • •
• • On Thursday, 28 June 1934 this article appeared in the Nevada State Journal as well as other newspapers in the USA and abroad.
• • "It Ain't No Sin," starring Mae West, Hit by Churchmen • •

• • New York, June 27, AP — — A Mae West movie of the same type that had established the swaggering actress as the premier screen siren and one featuring Dolores Del Rio as the French Madame du Barry became the first victims of a militant church campaign for decency in motion pictures. ...
• • Both the Mae West "Ain't No Sin" and the actress Miss Del Rio's biographical picture were withdrawn from application for licensing in New York State. The censors said they did not know what "sin" referred to in the Mae West film.
• • Paramount Productions Inc., producers of Miss West's pictures, announced it was being sent back to Hollywood for revision and would be reissued another time.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West performed "After You've Gone" in "Sextette" [1978]. She said this had been a song she fondly remembered from her New York years when she frequented the hottest night spots in Harlem.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Half the people in the world impersonate me.  Men, women, and even children. They put their hands on their hips or something."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Seattle newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • Sandi Doughton wrote: The country’s first accordion superstar was Guido Deiro, who played in Seattle saloons before being hired to demonstrate the newfangled piano accordion at the city’s Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. By 1910, he was earning $600 a week — the equivalent of $18,000 today. The debonair Italian also caught the eye of actress Mae West.
• • Sandi Doughton wrote: “One of the great female icons of the twentieth century was the lover of America’s most important accordionist — and at the time, the accordionist was the bigger star,” Triggs writes in “Accordion Revolution.”
• • Sandi Doughton wrote: Not everyone was a fan, though. One critic described the accordion as “a fearful instrument that looks like a cash register, and sounds worse.” …
• • Source: The Seattle Times; published on Friday, 20 May 2022
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,025th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Screenplay in 1934 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Acted in the “Olio”

MAE WEST met her fans on the silver screen and between the pages of the day’s popular fan magazines, all of whom skated dizzily on the surface of facts and never did any fact-checking. This is the first section, Part 1, segment 30 of 32.
• • "The Real Mae West" • •
• • Mae West: Took part in the “olio” • •

• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: As a member of the stock company, when there were no child parts in the plays, she was called upon to take part in what are known in old-fashioned plays as "olios," or vaudeville acts in between the scenes of the plays.
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: She sang popular songs and gave her imitations, being what was known on the billboards as a "coon shouter."  
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: It was at this stage of the game, she avers, that she learned to roll her eyes, a propensity, however, that had to be curbed when she became, for the sake of drama, "Little Eva" or "Little Red Riding Hood."
• • Mae West: Discovered she liked being around boys • • ...   
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: The New Movie Magazine; issue dated for June 1934.
• • On Sunday, 27 June 1954 • •

• • On Sunday night, 27 June 1954, Mae West delighted the Las Vegas club goers — — and the female patrons stormed the stage — — when the bodybuilders in "The Mae West Revue" filed into the Sahara's Congo Room.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West was all about breaking rules. Mae made her film debut at age 40 in the 1932 “Night After Night,” in a supporting role for which she wrote her own dialogue.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Sex is emotion in motion."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A trade magazine mentioned Mae West and Mike Todd.
• • Mike Todd has penciled in "Catherine Was Great," the Mae West opus for late June. …
• • Source: Billboard Magazine; published on Saturday, 3 June 1944
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,024th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • at The Sahara in 1954 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Clarendon Stock

MAE WEST met her fans on the silver screen and between the pages of the day’s popular fan magazines, all of whom skated dizzily on the surface of facts and never did any fact-checking. This is the first section, Part 1, segment 29 of 32.
• • "The Real Mae West" • •
• • Mae West: The Clarendon Stock Company • •
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: Her first professional appearance took place with the Clarendon Stock Company at the Gotham Theatre in East New York.  
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: She was the little daughter who cried out "Father, dear father, come home with me now," in "Ten Nights in a Bar Room."  
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: As Little Eva she often took the piano-wire route to heaven in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," playing, as a matter of fact, a large repertoire of child roles in the good old days — "Little   Lord Fauntleroy," "The Moonshiner's Daughter," "East Lynne" and "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch."
• • Mae West: Took part in the “olio” • • ...   
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source:The New Movie Magazine; issue dated for June 1934.
• • On Monday, 24 June 1974 • •

• • During an interview on the "Mike Douglas Show" on Monday night, 24 June 1974, George Raft talked about being signed to the speakeasy film "Night After Night" to play the gangster Joe Anton in 1932, and how he convinced the studio to use Mae West as one of his character's former girlfriends, Brooklyn beautician Maudie Triplett.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • During her time in Hollywood, Mae West made just 12 feature films. However, due to the impact she made, the American Film Institute named her one of the greatest female film stars of all time.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Why, in pictures, you don't have to worry about censorship — — much — — once you learn the rules.... In New York City they let you go ahead and do it and then they break in and arrest you."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Bushwick site mentioned Mae West.
• • Danielle Thompson wrote: Mae West’s Bushwick was an “enclave of German-born brewmasters,” with 14 breweries operating in the area by 1890 and, fittingly, the community was largely occupied by German immigrants.
• • Danielle Thompson wrote: Amongst them was Mae’s mother, Matilda “Tillie” Delker, who moved from Bavaria in 1886 and later married Mae’s father, “Battlin’ Jack” West, a former prizefighter who was, according to Mae, an “epic figure in Brooklyn.” …
• • Source: Bushwick Daily; published on Monday, 25 February 2013
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,023rd 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1932 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest