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Steve Cochran appeared on Broadway with MAE WEST. 
• • Born in Eureka, California in the month of May — — on 25 May 1917 — — he moved during the 1920s to Laramie, Wyoming thanks to his lumberjack father. Perhaps used to a lonely landscape where he often saw things tumbling down and falling, his spirit may have yearned to be hemmed in by a fixed construction such as an auditorium. In any case, upon his 1939 commencement from the University of Wyoming, Cochran began working in regional theatre and summer stock. After honing his craft at the Barter Theatre and the Carmel (California) Shakespeare Festival, he worked at Detroit's Federal Theatre, and was co-starred in the touring companies of "Without Love" and "My Sister Eileen" before his Broadway debut in the eight-performance flop "Hickory Stick."
• • During the war, Cochran [physically unfit for combat] directed Army camp shows.
• • In 1945, the Samuel Goldwyn Company had Cochran under contract. His film debut was the Danny Kaye vehicle "Wonder Man" [1945], produced by Goldwyn and released by RKO. For Goldwyn's projects, the handsome six-footer was cast in supporting roles — — often portraying a boxer or a gangster.
• • Steve Cochran said: "The big secret in playing a criminal in movies is to really believe that the character you are playing is doing no wrong."
• • Upon being released from his contract with Goldwyn in 1948, Cochran went back to The Gay White Way. Mae West cast him in the shady, hot-blooded role of Juarez in her "Diamond Lil" revival from February 5—26, 1949 at the Coronet Theatre on West 49th Street.
• • Then 36, the thrice married lady-killer is reputed to have had a heavy breathing "after-hours" relationship with his 50-something diamond-draped leading lady. [Leading ladies Cochran led to bed included Jayne Mansfield and Merle Oberon.]
• • After performing with Mae West, Cochran signed with Warner Bros. in 1949 and returned to Hollywood.
• • In 1965 Steve Cochran sailed off to Guatemala on his yacht to look for exotic filming locations. The 48-year-old perished onboard of a lung infection during the month of June.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • co-star Steve Cochran • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST, whose Broadway blockbuster was "Diamond Lil," was fascinated by characters – – and the actress-loving gift dispenser Diamond Jim Brady was one of them. Since the very generous gent died in mid-April, it's time for a toast.
• • James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady [12 August 1856 – 13 April 1917], was an American businessman, a financier, and a philanthropist.
• • Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious gems and favored his idol Lillian Russell with dazzling doo-dads such as a bicycle encrusted with mother-of-pearl inlaid and other imaginative tributes.
• • For another actress, Diamond Jim commissioned a hand-carved gilded swan bed [shown here].
• • After Brady died on 13 April 1917, Mae West managed to buy the swan bed from his estate. It was used onstage as part of the bedroom suite of "Diamond Lil" [1928] and Mae also finessed the vintage prop into the filmed version "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].
• • Where lies the gilded swan bed today? Who knows?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
Taking advantage of the legal woes of his sister-in-law MAE WEST, Beverly's husband Sergei Treshatny went to court to obtain a divorce on 15 April 1927 after a decade of marriage. Their divorce became final on 30 September 1927. 
• • On 29 January 1917 Beverly West [1898 —1982] wed her first Russian husband Sergei Treshatny. An inventor, Treshatny had arrived in the United States in 1916. Vaudevillians Beverly and Mae West were both busy working in Paterson, New Jersey during January 1917 when Beverly took some time off to become a "missus" at Brooklyn City Hall on Joralemon Street. It had been a brief courtship. On 8 December 1916, the bride-to-be had celebrated her 18th birthday. • • A decade later, when Mae and Beverly were arrested in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 2 February 1927, Sergei took advantage of the scandal, using the trial testimony as his grounds for divorce.
• • The union between the unhappy couple was dissolved by Supreme Court Justice George H. Taylor, Jr. in Newburgh, New York. The divorce action was based on a police raid on a room in the Arcade Hotel (Bridgeport) at 5:00 AM when Beverly West and Edward Elsner were charged with a "breach of the peace" [i.e., being drunk].
• • The arrest at the Arcade Hotel — — 1001 Main St, Bridgeport, CT 06604 — — is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West." This scene can be viewed on YouTube.com.• • Though the case against Edward Elsner and Beverly West was dropped the next day in the Bridgeport City Court, a stenographer took a transcript of the testimony for Mr. Treshatny — — the policeman who made the February 2nd arrests testified before Judge Taylor.
• • Sergei Treshatny, who was living in Stamford in 1927, had invented an air-cooled motor.
• • Beverly had tried to divorce him in Brooklyn in 1924 — — but dropped it after her plea for alimony and counsel fees pending a trial had been denied.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with family in 1934 • • NYC
Mae West.
Born like MAE WEST in Brooklyn, New York, Sylvia Syms [2 December 2, 1917 — 10 May 1992] was a jazz singer whose birthname was Sylvia Blagman. 
• • When she was a child, Sylvia contracted polio — — a disease that also afflicted Mae's sister Beverly and causes some sufferers to put on weight.
• • As a curious 15-year-old, Sylvia found her way to jazz joints on New York's "Prohibition Row" [West 52nd Street]. In 1941, the 24-year-old debuted at a club called Billy's Stable.
• • During 1948, Mae West went to performances at the Cinderella Club in Greenwich Village to see Rae Bourbon and listen to keyboard king Willie "The Lion" Smith. Fortunately for Sylvia Sims, Mae caught her act onstage there, too. Mae West gave her the part of Flo the Shoplifter in a Broadway revival of Diamond Lil.
• • Thanks to this big break and the exposure Mae West afforded her, Sylvia Syms appeared on the stage as Bloody Mary in South Pacific and as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! — — and also acted in straight roles.
• • Among others who observed her in night spots was Frank Sinatra who considered her the "world's greatest saloon singer." Sinatra conducted her album "Syms by Sinatra" [1982].
• • Signed to Decca Records, she had a million-selling record in 1956 with an up-tempo version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the soundtrack of My Fair Lady. It was her one mega hit.
• • In a nightclub career that spanned 51 years, the New York rooms in which she performed included Bon Soir [on West 8th Street], Ruban Bleu, The Living Room, Village Vanguard [on Seventh Avenue], Cafe Carlyle, Freddy's, Michael's Pub, The Cookery [on East 8th Street], Marty's, and Eighty-Eight's [on West 10th Street].• • She died on stage at age 74 in New York City from a heart attack.
• • Her New York Times obituary said: "With her deep, grainy contralto, I've-been-through-it-all air of sophistication, and sinuous phrasing that echoed her idol, Billie Holiday, Miss Syms was a quintessential saloon singer, a term she said she preferred to cabaret singer. In the saloon tradition of Mr. Sinatra, she treated everything she sang as an intimate personal communication."
• • Times staffer Stephen Holden wrote: "When you perform it's a one-to-one love affair with the people out there," she once said. "That's how it has to be."• • On Sunday 17 August 2008, during the "Mae West's Walk on the Wild Side" walking tour, the group will visit the Cinderella Club and "I Could Have Danced All Night" will be sung live by a vivacious actress, a native New Yorker who has performed in many musicals.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's protege • • Sylvia Syms • •
NYC
Mae West.
Taking advantage of the legal woes of his sister-in-law MAE WEST, Beverly's husband Sergei Treshatny obtained a divorce on 15 April 1927 after a decade of marriage.
• • On 29 January 1917 Beverly West [1898 —1982] wed her first Russian husband Sergei Treshatny. An inventor, Treshatny had arrived in the United States in 1916. Vaudevillians Beverly and Mae West were both busy working in Paterson, New Jersey during January 1917 when Beverly took some time off to become a "missus" at Brooklyn City Hall on Joralemon Street. It had been a brief courtship. On 8 December 1916, the bride-to-be had celebrated her 18th birthday. • • A decade later, when Mae and Beverly were arrested in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 2 February 1927, Sergei took advantage of the scandal, using the trial testimony as his grounds for divorce.
• • The union between the unhappy couple was dissolved by Supreme Court Justice George H. Taylor, Jr. in Newburgh, New York. The divorce action was based on a police raid on a room in the Arcade Hotel (Bridgeport) at 5:00 AM when Beverly West and Edward Elsner were charged with a "breach of the peace" [i.e., being drunk].
• • Though the case against Edward Elsner and Beverly West was dropped the next day in the Bridgeport City Court, a stenographer took a transcript of the testimony for Treshatny, the policeman who made the February 2nd arrests testified before Judge Taylor.
• • Sergei Treshatny, who was living in Stamford in 1927, had invented an air-cooled motor.
• • Beverly had tried to divorce him in Brooklyn in 1924 — — but dropped it after her plea for alimony and counsel fees pending a trial had been denied.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's hotel in 1927 • • Arcade Hotel • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST was fascinated by certain notables – – and the actress-loving gift dispenser Diamond Jim Brady was one of them.
• • James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady [12 August 1856 – 13 April 1917], was an American businessman, a financier, and a philanthropist.
• • Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious gems and favored his idol Lillian Russell with doo-dads such as a bicycle encrusted with mother-of-pearl inlaid and other imaginative tributes.
• • For another actress, Diamond Jim commissioned a hand-carved gilded swan bed [shown here].
• • After Brady died on 13 April 1917, Mae West managed to buy the swan bed from his estate. It was used onstage as part of the bedroom suite of "Diamond Lil" and Mae also finessed the vintage prop into the filmed version "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].
• • Where lies the gilded swan bed today? Who knows?• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST could never forget the summer of 1904. 
• • In May 1904, Dreamland opened in Coney Island. To the right of the Surf Avenue entrance stood a building that Mae West entered, holding the hand of her father "Battling Jack" West. Almost 11 years old, but looking younger because of her petite frame, little Mae was nearly as transformed by the experience as Alice was when plunging into Wonderland.
• • For years, Mae talked about, and thought about, the impression Bostock's lions left on her. The lead lion tamer was Captain Jack Bonavita. Born in Philadelphia in 1866, his muscular frame and courage - - not to mention his sleek military garb, knee-high boots, and sinister moustache - - made him popular with the ladies. Actress Marie Dressler, then working a concession at Coney Island, caught Bonavita's act as often as she could. And it was an unparalleled performance that the 38-year-old trainer gave with his 26 trained lions.
• • Mae's fixation on Jack Bonavita and Bostock's lions inspired her to do "I'm No Angel," in which she fulfilled a lifelong dream of being inside the cage with the king of beasts. Born under the sun sign Leo, Mae felt destined for this - - and she insisted on performing her own stunts. The film begins with Mae riding an elephant. How many other 41-year-old actresses are eager to take risks like that?
• • Dreamland burned to the ground on May 1911.
• • Frank Bostock died, after a bout with influenza, in October 1912.
• • From 1913 -1917 Jack Bonavita focused on filmmaking, working as a stunt man, a director, and an actor. His silent films always co-starred wild animals and some of the lion or jaguar tamers he had worked with at Bostock's Circus. A few flickers he starred in were: "Avenged by Lions" [1916] and "The Woman, the Lion, and the Man" [1915].
• • Mae's hero Jack Bonavita died in the month of March from a polar bear attack at age 51 on 19 March 1917 in Los Angeles, California.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • lion lady • • 1934
NYC
Mae West.
