Mae West: Meant to be a vamp

Cast in the successful Broadway hit "Sometime" [October 1918 — June 1919] as Mayme Dean, a vamp whose suitors always seem to decamp, MAE WEST was in the unusual position of putting across a few comically wistful laments. Since the musical was written during the war years, when red-blooded men were scarce in New York City, presumably the duly deprived females in the audience could relate to Mayme Dean's howl of frustration.
• • Pleading for the attentions of "Any Kind of Man," Mae West sang these lyrics:
• • • I was born a scamp
• • • Meant to be a vamp
• • • If I'd had the chance I could have did
• • • Theda Bara tricks,
• • • Paralyzed the hicks
• • • Nothing could have stopped me but the lid
• • • But somehow my style has got a cramp
• • • Can't find a single soul to vamp
• • • All I want is just a little loving
• • • Just a little spooning and a squeeze . . .
• • • If the boob can walk, he don't have to talk!
• • • Send me any kind of man! ...
• • And here is the 26-year-old performer made up as a vamp, a la Theda Bara, after her appearance in Ned Wayburn's "Demitasse Revue" — — on the cover of a prestigious magazine, New York's Dramatic Mirror, 25 December 1919. Quite a front page.
• • Harrison Grey Fiske, born July 30th • •
• • Born in Westchester County (Harrison, New York) and educated at New York University, Harrison Grey Fiske [30 July 1861 — 2 September 1942] was an American theatrical manager and reporter. Fiske served as an editorial writer and dramatic critic for a number of publications such as the Jersey City-based Argus and The New York Star. In 1879 he became a contributor to the New York Dramatic Mirror, and by 1883 the proprietor.
• • The influence the Dramatic Mirror wielded was not inconsiderable. They praised Mae's performance as part of the Broadway line-up they reviewed — — and her vamp portrait even made the front cover on 25 December 1919, yes, thanks to some pressure exerted by Ned Wayburn who featured the 26-year-old brunette in his "Demitasse Revue" at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Goodness had nothing to do with it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • • • To Ms Mae West on Her 85th • • • •
• • • • What right have you?
• • • • Did you pat your platinum alps
• • • • When across the electric wire
• • • • The thrilling message came
• • • • That the pelvic muscles were tranquillized
• • • • The gluteal shivers forever fridged
• • • • That in fact (O lamentable extinction!)
• • • • Elvis had gone pop. ...
• • Source: Excerpt from a long birthday poem written to Mae West by John Jordan on 17 August 1977
• • 17 July 2004 — 17 July 2011 • •
• • In mid-July the Mae West Blog celebrates its seventh anniversary. Thank you to all those Mae-mavens who come up and see Mae every day.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2007th 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: Tucked in with Sophie

At the end of 1919, MAE WEST was very busy — — and maybe a bit awestruck knowing that she was on the same stagebill with Sophie Tucker.
• • The 26-year-old "firefly of vaudeville" was featured at the 44th Street Theatre [near Broadway]. On the program was the top-billed act — — Sophie Tucker and Her Kings of Syncopation — — along with Ames & Winthrop, Mae West, Riggs & Witchie, and "8 other favorite acts."
• • Sophie Tucker • •
• • Sophie Tucker [13 January 1884 — 9 February 1966] was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first third of the 20th century. Almost ten years older than Mae and not as controversial when she launched her career, Sophie Tucker had an ethnic appeal which upped her forward momentum and she was, in fact, a much bigger draw in vaudeville than the Brooklyn bombshell.
• • Mae West: Bombshell & Atom Bomb • •
• • The latest Marilyn Monroe "controversy" is out now, thanks to Remo's new video and painting on YouTube entitled "Persistence of Marlyn Monroe's Memory — — A Tribute by Remo." Marilyn Monroe stars with strange bedfellows Salvador Dali, Mae West, Mick Jagger, Adolph Hitler, Mona Lisa, and the Atomic Bomb in the painting and also in the quasi documentary video. "Persistence of . . ." is an updated interpretation (created by 36-year-old Argentine metaphysical artist Remo) of the Salvador Dali surreal masterpiece "Persistence of Memory," painted by Dali in 1931.
• • Mae West Arrested on 9 February 1927 • •
• • It was on 9 February 1927 that Mae — — along with the cast of "Sex," and the cast of "The Captive," and the cast of "The Virgin Man" — — was cuffed and dragged in to Night Court.
• • Broadway ingenue Dorothy Hall [1906 — 1953] was the youngest actress to face the judge after the raid; Hall was 21 years old. Helen Menken was 26 and Mae was 33 at the time of this arrest.
• • One-Woman Skit on Mae West for 9 February 2011 • •
• • The Hilltoppers senior citizens group of Scott will hold their monthly meeting on 9 February 2011 at Covenant-Community Presbyterian Church, 1630 Greentree Road, Pittsburgh, PA. After lunch and a brief meeting, actress Karen Durham will present her one-woman skit on Mae West. RSVP: 412-341-8640.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Keith & Proctor's, Harlem

• • MAE WEST was an admirer of The Clef Club. As rehearsals began in early July 1922 for "The Ginger Box Revue," the producer had decided to book this exciting group — — New York's premiere African-American musicians — — to play between the acts, perhaps upon Mae's insistence. This organization had been established by James Reese ["Jim"] Europe [1881 — 1919] and Henry Creamer, two gentlemen whose musicianship found a lifelong fan in Mae West.
• • Two members of The Clef Club were Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. In an interview published in 1976, Eubie Blake explains why black vaudevillians went on in second place — — and tells about the time they were booked in the same Harlem showplace on 125th Street as Mae West in 1919, Keith & Proctor's Vaudeville Theatre.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • MAX MORATH: James Reese Europe was best known, I think, as the composer-conductor for the famous dance team of Vernon and Irene Castle, until Vernon Castle died in a World War I training accident.
• • • • EUBIE BLAKE: I begged him! I begged him not to fly. Listen, one Saturday night Mr. and Mrs. Castle are going down to Texas. He says, “Well, I’m going to Texas and teach some of the guys to fly.” So I said to Mr. Castle, “Do me a favor, don’t fly any more. You’re too valuable a man to fly.” And he laughed at me and said, “I’d rather fly a plane than go down in that subway.” And I don’t know what day it was, but a couple of days after that a guy was flying and he did something wrong and Castle ducked under him to catch him with his plane and POW [claps his hands together]! Both of them.
• • • • MM: And then Jim Europe was murdered.
• • • • EB: Yeah, in May 1919. A drummer in his band. Crazy.
• • • • MM: Ironically, it was Jim Europe’s death that led to the formation of Sissle and Blake as a performing team — — wasn’t it?
• • • • EB: Well, [Noble] Sissle said, “You know what we could do? We could go into vaudeville.” Sissle was always more aggressive than I was. So Pat Casey — — he’d booked Jim Europe’s band — — Pat Casey’d heard Sissle, Sissle told him about me, and Casey said put an act together. And we did something no act has ever done, then or since. We opened, played four days in New Haven. Then three days in the Harlem Opera House — — not the Apollo, the Apollo was a burlesque house then — — then right to The Palace. We screamed them! ...
• • • • MM: Did you continue playing the entire Keith Circuit?
• • • • EB: We didn’t play the deluxe houses, like the Paramount. They said we drew Negroes. We didn’t draw Negroes. We didn’t have a Negro act. I did a little light Negro comedy, a bit of dialect. Sissle didn’t like that. Sissle never sang in dialect. He was right out of college — — Butler, Indianapolis. We’d just sit and entertain, wrote all our own material. When I’d play piano, I’d play a pop song, but I wouldn’t announce it. We had an act you couldn’t follow. But usually we had to work number two.
• • • • MM: Number two — — you mean second place? In an eight-act bill? Why was that?
• • • • EB: All colored acts used to go on second. And they dressed on the last floor next to the toilet. Now, this story I’m going to tell you is about Joe Kennedy — — before he was ambassador to London. Old Man Kennedy. We were playing that theatre way up Broadway [211 West 125th Street, New York, NY] — — Keith vaudeville, you hear what I’m saying? That’s the first time I saw Mae West. We were on the bill with her. Anyway, Joe Kennedy comes backstage and says to this man in charge, “Who told you how to line up a vaudeville show?”
The man don’t know who he is. I’m standing there; I don’t know either. I says, “Why?”
Joe Kennedy explains, “Because you got Sissle and Blake on number two and the show’s top-heavy. Why do you put them on number two?”
And the man said, “All colored acts go on number two.”
• • • • MM: What was the reason for that?
• • • • EB: The newspapers — — the writers — — don’t come in till the third act or so. When they come in, you’re already off. You don’t get in the write-ups. You’re like the also-ran at the races. Every time they moved you down, you’re supposed to get more money. But not us. I don’t know about other colored acts, I’m talking about Sissle and Blake. They’d move us down, next to closing — — that’s the star’s place — — and we still got three hundred dollars a week. That’s all we got. Well, we got four hundred to play the Palace.
• • • • MM: Did you ever work next to closing — — the star’s spot — — on the opening night of a run?
• • • • EB: Plenty of places we played the sticks — — three a day. We starred in those places. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Interview: "The 93 Years of Eubie Blake"
• • Interviewed by Max Morath
• • Published by American Heritage Magazine
• • Published: October 1976, Volume 27, Issue 6
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • About Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle, Clef Club members • •
• • Born in Baltimore as James Hubert Blake [7 February 1887 — 12 February 1983], Eubie Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music.
• • In 1917 he became assistant conductor to Jim Europe at The Clef Club. After Jim's death in May 1919, Eubie forged a vaudeville team with Noble Sissle.
• • In 1921, Eubie Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical "Shuffle Along," one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans.
• • Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Noble Sissle [10 July 1889 — 17 December 1975] was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: December 1919

On 28 December 1919, MAE WEST was very busy — — double-booked, in fact.
• • The 26-year-old "firefly of vaudeville" was appearing that night at the Lyric Theatre [on 42nd Street, west of Broadway]. Sharing the Lyric bill with her were these entertainers: Eugene and Willie, the Howard Brothers; Carl McCullough; the 4 Haley Sisters; and "8 other favorite acts."
• • On the same night, Mae West performed at the 44th Street Theatre [near Broadway]. On the program was the top-billed act — — Sophie Tucker and Her Kings of Syncopation — — along with Ames & Winthrop, Mae West, Riggs & Witchie, and "8 other favorite acts."
• • Sophie Tucker • •
• • Sophie Tucker [13 January 1884 — 9 February 1966] was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first third of the 20th century. Almost ten years older than Mae and not as controversial when she launched her career, Sophie Tucker had an ethnic appeal which upped her forward momentum and she was, in fact, a much bigger draw in vaudeville than the Brooklyn bombshell.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Shubert and Herts

In June 1919 MAE WEST was wrapping up a successful long-running engagement in "Sometime," a musical comedy.
• • It was on Saturday 4 October 1918 that "Sometime," the "musical comedy of commerce" designed to showcase the talents of laughmeister Ed Wynn, had opened at the Shubert Theatre (establishing a nice healthy wartime run that continued for eight months at the Shubert brothers' flagship: 225 West 44th Street).
• • At 25 years old, Mae West was still much more accustomed to appearing in vaudeville than in the legit. In "Sometime," it was Mae's character Mayme Dean who appeared onstage first. At that point in her career, Mae had often been cast as an Irish maid — — although Mayme Dean is a frisky flapper who cannot land a man.
• • The red velvet curtain came down during June 1919, after the show had done big box office for 283 performances.
• • Even though the blockbuster hit closed, fortunately, the stately playhouse lives on.
• • Henry Beaumont Herts • •
• • Engineered by Henry Beaumont Herts [23 January 1871 — 27 March 1933], an architect, painter, sculptor, and craftsman — — who was a student when he won the prestigious design competition for the graceful triumphal arch that once graced West 59th Street by Columbus Circle — — the Shubert Theatre was opened in September 1913. In 1911 Herts had ended his partnership with Hugh Tallent and teamed up with Herbert J. Krapp, who had been their assistant. Together they produced the Booth, its companion the Shubert, and the Longacre Theaters. A native New Yorker who studied architecture and fine art abroad as well as in his hometown, Henry Beaumont Herts's first huge success on Broadway came during the early years of the new century. In his New Amsterdam Theater, completed in 1902, a cantilever balcony was used for the first time.
• • Ninety years ago today, a lithe and lovely Mae West (not yet buxom nor "cantilevered") was packing away her Mayme Dean dreams in a scrapbook. Did she suspect that she would return to this theatre for future successes as both an author and the marquee name?
• • This August the Mae West walking tour will meet in front of Shubert Alley and offer deeper dish — — amid a dazzling display of Mae-memorabilia.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Lieutenant Bunin

Brooklyn native Gene Barry [birthname: Eugene Klass], who was featured on Broadway with MAE WEST in 1944, was born on 14 June 1919.
• • The handsome graduate of New Utrecht High School is still performing.
• • Gene Barry (who borrowed the "Barry" from his idol John Barrymore) began his acting career in stock.
• • He likes to reminisce about his early show business days when he appeared as Lieutenant Bunin in a Mae West play on Broadway, Catherine Was Great. He recalls the famous curtain speech Mae West gave: “I’m glad you like my Catherine. I like her, too. She ruled 30 million people and had 3,000 lovers. I do the best I can in two hours.”
• • Though reports indicated that Mae was short-tempered with Mike Todd, her cigar-chomping producer, Gene Barry recalled that she had been cordial and coquettish with him. When they were rehearsing, for instance, the mighty Empress of all the Russias asked Lieutenant Bunin not to call her "Mae West." Eager to please but unsure how to address his leading lady, Gene asked her what he ought to say. "Mmmm, just call me honey!" was Mae's suggestion.
• • Written by Mae West, the play premiered at the Shubert Theatre on 2 August 1944 and ran until 30 September 1944. On 2 October 1944, the show transferred to Mae's lucky spot — — the Royale Theatre — — where it remained until after the Christmas holidays [when it closed 13 January 1945].
• • After honing his craft onstage, Gene Barry headed to Hollywood and worked in films and on TV.
• • For his contribution to live theater, Gene Barry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — — 6555 Hollywood Boulevard.
• • Brooklynites Mae West and Gene Barry have both been honored by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on their Celebrity Path, where stepping stones are inscribed with names of famous Brooklynites past and present. Each paver also contains a bronze medallion of the Brooklyn Bridge, encircled by the phrase, "The Greatness of Brooklyn Is Its People." (By the way, new names are added to Celebrity Path during the month of June on the borough's annual Welcome Back to Brooklyn Day. )
• • The Mae West Blog wishes dapper Gene Barry a very happy 90th birthday today!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: June 1919

Ninety years ago, in June 1919, MAE WEST was onstage in a tuneful Broadway hit doing an odd thing — — playing a manhunter who can't land a boyfriend.
• • It was on Saturday 4 October 1918 that "Sometime," the "musical comedy of commerce" designed to showcase the talents of laughmeister Ed Wynn, had opened at the Shubert Theatre (establishing a nice healthy wartime run that continued for eight months at the Shubert brothers' flagship: 225 West 44th Street).
• • At 25 years old, Mae West was still much more accustomed to appearing in vaudeville than in the legit. In "Sometime," it was Mae's character Mayme Dean who appeared onstage first. At that point in her career, Mae had often been cast as an Irish maid — — although Mayme Dean is a frisky flapper who cannot land a man.
• • This musical closed in June 1919, after running for 283 performances.
• • Picture Mae West sometime in 1918/9, an energetic brunette sizzling onstage. A reviewer who covered her performance — — and her sultry shimmy — — at the Shubert Theatre described Mae West as a "tasty tornado."
• • A few years after this show, Mae started writing her own material — — however, she never again portrayed a chambermaid nor a lovelorn lady.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Lee Solters

Word comes that a publicist who worked with MAE WEST has gone to the everlasting "Spin City" in the beyond.
• • Born in Brooklyn like Mae, Lee Solters came into the world on 23 June 1919. A creative person who enjoyed writing, the native New Yorker studied journalism and advertising at New York University. He covered high school basketball for The New York Times before he was drafted. While in the military, he penned pieces for Stars & Stripes. After receiving discharge papers, Solters began his own public relations firm during 1948 with partner James J. O'Rourke: Solters O'Rourke.
• • During the 1940s and 1950s, columnists were regulars at the top nightspots. Solters dropped in at clubs like Toots Shor and learned how to plant items with gossip guru Walter Winchell and finesse favorable mentions with society snitch Hedda Hopper.
• • The New York Times (and others) have made mention of his shrewdness. For example, one trick was devised to aid producer David Merrick to salvage a foundering Broadway show: Lee Solters and Merrick concocted a newspaper advertisement with quotations from men they had found in the phone book with the same names as top theater critics.
• • It has been said that in the late 1970s, Mr. Solters moved to Hollywood, where he helped set the trend for hiring entertainers to sell products and images. Forty years before that, however, Mae West was hired to lend glamour and sex appeal to cigarette brands and even soap in the 1930s.
• • Unlike many theatrical press agents of today — — who charge $7,500 + merely to send out a boring press release by fax — — it seems that Lee Solters had the imagination, personal touch, amicable deceitfulness, and discernment that creates buzz.
• • His client roster of entertainment stars included: Mae West, Benny Goodman, Cher, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, the Muppets, Cary Grant, Led Zeppelin, Dolly Parton, and others. He claimed he knew Dolly when she was still flat-chested.
• • He also worked with more than 300 Broadway productions, musicals, and dramas including "Guys and Dolls," "Funny Girl," "The King & I," "My Fair Lady," "Camelot." as well as works by Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Neil Simon. In Nevada, he repped Sinatra, Caesars Palace, and (eventually), the City of Las Vegas.
• • Solters' namesake public relations firm says the New York native died at age 89 at his West Hollywood, California home on Monday morning.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Des Moines

This snatch of dialogue from a MAE WEST comedy will introduce a bit of news.
• • The Chump: I don't suppose you believe in marriage, do you?
• • Tira: Only as a last resort... What do you do for a livin'?
• • The Chump: Oh, uh, sort of a politician.
• • Tira: I don't like work either.
• • Surely, some elected officials work harder than others, however, eleven Oval Office residents have slept soundly at the famed Hotel Fort Des Moines, which is becoming a Hilton. The hotel has hosted both presidents and presidential candidates — — including Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
• • Owner Jeff Miller said the renovations will take at least a year, which might inconvenience some political candidates since his rooms have been a popular stopping place for those with large entourages who need to be in Iowa. Over the years, notable guests have included the likes of Mae West, Nikita Krushchev, William Jennings Bryan, Charles Lindbergh, Liz Taylor, and others.
• • In fact, the web site shows Mae's photo and states: If our lobby could talk, it would tell you how a cast of characters including Hollywood film diva Mae West came up and saw us sometime in the 1930s.
• • If our lobby could talk, it would tell us how Richard Nixon tromped though on his way to a landslide victory in 1972, only to resign two years later. . . .
• • Opened in 1919, the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
• • It cost $1.3 million to construct back in 1919. According to general manager Paul Rottenberg, "It was built as a 'super' hotel. Every room had its own bath; there was circulating ice water to every room; and the water passed through ultraviolet light to be purified."
• • Happy 90th Birthday to the Hotel Fort Des Moines [1000 Walnut Street | Des Moines, IA 50309].
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Armand Tanny

How many of MAE WEST's bodybuilder buddies are still around?
• • Handsome hunk Armand Tanny, a former Muscle Beach mainstay, died in early April.
• • Born on 5 March 1919 in Rochester, New York, Armand was the younger brother of gym-fitness pioneer Vic Tanny — — and began posing in Strength & Health Magazine at 14 years old.
• • As many musclemen did back then, Armand entered the beefcake business as a weightlifter. Still a teenager, he began competing. Eventually, he placed second in the 1941 Junior nationals in Ohio. Reportedly, the 22-year-old champ was able to clean a 300-pound barbell one-handed.
• • When World War II summoned hardy Americans to the front, Armand joined the Coast Guard.
• • After his military service ended, Armand Tanny was a regular at his brother's Santa Monica gym and he wed Shirley Luvin, a Muscle Beach groupie. In 1950, they had a daughter. Disciplined and dedicated, he won the national titles Pro Mr. America [1949] and Mr. USA [1950] doing it the most difficult way — — by daily training and good nutrition and, yes, without steroids. He was an early advocate of raw foods.
• • Jon Thurber, who penned Armand Tanny's obituary for The Los Angeles Times, writes: During the 1950s, he was one of the original nine bodybuilders from Muscle Beach who were part of Mae West's traveling nightclub act. According to the book "Remembering Muscle Beach" by Harold Zinkin with Bonnie Hearn-Hill (Angel City Press, 1999), the nine were known as Mae's Muscle Beach Men. They included such prominent bodybuilders as Joe Gold, George Eiferman, Richard DuBois — — whom Zinkin and Hearn-Hill called "the star" of the group — — Harry Schwartz, Dom Juliano, Lester "Shifty" Schaefer, Irvin "Zabo" Koszewski, Chuck Krauser, and Tanny. According to Hearn-Hill, Armand Tanny organized a strike with Joe Gold when Mae West cut their $250-a-week salaries in half to boost the take at a New York club [i.e., the Latin Quarter]. "Armand and Joe were ready to board the plane," Hearn-Hill told The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. "Mae quickly caved in and they got their full salaries."
• • After touring coast to coast with the Mae West Revue, Tanny, who had a quiet, bookish side, earned a living by writing about physical fitness and bodybuilding for the publication empire helmed by his buddy Joe Weider: Muscle Power, Muscle & Fitness, etc.
• • His daughter Mandy Tanny released a statement about her vivacious father, who was fairly active and still driving his car at age 89. Armand Tanny died of natural causes last Saturday (a month after his 90th birthday), on 4 April 2009, at a nursing facility in Westlake Village, California.
• • In addition to his daughter, Mandy, who is also a bodybuilder and writer, Tanny is survived by his grandson, Mario, a bodybuilder.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: 1919

A short novel that focuses on the lesser-known achievements of "exceptional woman in history" features MAE WEST.
• • New York based ZAPmedia, a boutique provider of books, art, and online content, is toasting Women’s History Month by recognizing the achievements of trailblazing females such as Mae West and inventor Beulah Henry. Released back in February 2007, 1919 – Misfortune’s End — — ZAPmedia’s first venture into publishing fiction — — explores the remarkable lives and accomplishments of certain adventuresses and fearless femmes who made 1919 an incredible year for women around the world.
• • 1919 – Misfortune’s End follows the lives of two families through the twelve pivotal months of 1919, right after World War I. The stories of notable individuals including Mae West [1893 — 1980], Margaret Sanger [1879 — 1966], Madame C.J. Walker [1867 — 1919], Beulah Henry [1887 — 1973], and several prominent males served as counterpoint to the exploits of the fictional characters such as Louvenia Jackson.
• • In reality, during March 1919 Mae West was on Broadway performing in "Sometime" — — ninety years ago — — when the actress was 26 years old and more used to appearing in vaudeville than in the legit. The "musical comedy of commerce," designed to showcase the talents of laughmeister Ed Wynn, had opened at the Shubert Theatre on Saturday 4 October 1918 (establishing a nice healthy run that continued through June 1919 on West 44th Street).
• • In "Sometime," it was Mae's character Mayme Dean who appeared onstage first. At that point in her career, Mae was often cast as an Irish maid — — although Mayme Dean is a frisky flapper who cannot land a man. A few years after this show, Mae started writing her own material — — however, none of her titles contained the downbeat word misfortune.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Liberace

MAE WEST had a close friend for awhile in Liberace, who also forged a public relationship with actress Joanne Rio.
• • While the flamboyant, diamond-loving entertainer pursued male lovers in private, Liberace's record company churned out press releases describing him as "the perfect all-around man any woman would be thrilled to be with" — — and his cookbooks featured recipes for "Liberace lasagna" (showing off his Betty Crocker side).
• • In case you need a refresher course, Wladziu Valentino Liberace [16 May 1919 — 4 February 1987], better known by only his last name Liberace, was a famous American entertainer and pianist of Polish and Italian descent. Liberace, known as "Lee" to his friends and "Walter" to family, was born in Wisconsin to Frances Zuchowska, a Polish American, and Salvatore ("Sam") Liberace, an immigrant from Formia, Italy.
• • Las Vegas was an excellent platform for Mae West and those casino audiences in the Nevada desert made Liberace a huge star during the 1970s and 1980s.
• • Now two Hollywood heavyweights — — Michael Douglas and Matt Damon — — are set to star in a no-holds barred bio-pic that will depict the long hushed-up homosexual affairs of the over-the-top keyboard king, who succumbed to AIDS at age 67 in 1987.
• • Militant about his myth-making, Liberace always denied he was gay, successfully suing the Daily Mirror in 1957 over a Cassandra column that described him as “fruit-flavored."
• • However, Scott Thorson, who claimed to have been Liberace's lover for five years, sued the pianist in 1982 for $60 million alimony after a bitter break-up. Actor Matt Damon will portray Mr. Thorsen.
• • Helming the motion picture is director Steven Soderbergh.
• • Get ready for the "Brokeback Mountain" of the piano sphere.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1950s • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Shewabble

It was 4 October 1918 when MAE WEST hoped to stake her claim on Broadway, steeling her muscles under the spotlight at the Shubert Theatre.
• • It felt good to provoke all that joyful applause, Mae thought, by doing the shimmy. In the shimmy, there was hardly any movement of the feet, but continuous movement of the shoulders, torso, and pelvis.
• • Playing opposite Ed Wynn in Arthur Hammerstein's "Sometime," with music by Rudolf Friml, however, the 25-year-old comedienne realized she was throwing her witty lines away. She observed Ed Wynn closely, learning about timing from a clown prince.
• • This musical, which opened at the Shubert Theatre on 4 October 1918, closed in June 1919, after running for 283 performances.
• • Fast forward 30 years to 1949. Cub reporter William Safire goes up to see Mae, then starring on Broadway in a revival of "Diamond Lil.'' Her leading man in those post-war years was Richard Coogan — — better known as TV's "Captain Video" than the rialto's Captain Cummings.
• • According to Safire, Miss West, from her reclining position on a chaise longue, looked up at me with an expression of ''Have I sunk to this? They're sending the office boy?'' Worse, my first question was painfully puerile: what was it like to play opposite the hero of thousands of kids, Captain Video [New Jersey native Richard Coogan]?
• • Mae thought about that. Then, coming to a decision, she changed her expression. Batting those long false eyelashes, she looked at the ceiling and murmured, ''Mmmm . . . suppose you ask Captain Video . . . mmmm . . . how does it feel to play opposite . . . Mae West!''
• • She had caught the editor's angle, as I had not: send an innocent to the symbol of sin. She would play along for publicity's sake, presuming her persona would sell more tickets than her person.
• • As she rose to usher me out, I dared ask if she ever did the shimmy onstage. ''In an Ed Wynn show ['Sometime'], I did a shimmy. But never'' — — Miss West reached up to brush an imaginary blonde hair off my shoulder, a touch I can feel right now — — ''never did I do the shimmy shewabble!''
• • William Safire clarifies this for his New York Times readers in the year 2000: The shimmy sha-wobble is "a shimmy with bumps and grinds. Low class. Not our Mae."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1918 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Mayme Dean

Cast in the successful Broadway hit "Sometime" [October 1918 — June 1919] as Mayme Dean, a vamp whose suitors always seem to decamp, Mae West was in the unusual position of putting across a few comically wistful laments. Since the musical was written during the war years, when red-blooded men were scarce in New York City, presumably the duly deprived females in the audience could relate to Mayme Dean's howl of frustration.
• • If it's hard to imagine 25-year-old Mae performing songs that include "Any Kind of Man" [by Rudolf Friml and Rida Johnson Young], there is a tantalizing snippet of the instrumental version online, recorded in 1919 by Joseph C. Smith's orchestra, that you can listen to: http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/jcsmith/Sometime.ram.
• • Pleading for the attentions of "Any Kind of Man," Mae West sings these lyrics:
I was born a scamp
Meant to be a vamp
If I'd had the chance I could have did
Theda Bara tricks,
Paralyzed the hicks
Nothing could have stopped me but the lid
But somehow my style has got a cramp
Can't find a single soul to vamp
All I want is just a little loving
Just a little spooning and a squeeze . . .
If the boob can walk, he don't have to talk!
Send me any kind of man!
• • Sitting in the Shubert Theatre on opening night were all the top drama critics. "Sometime," one announced, "is as catchy as the grip!"
• • Ramp up your Mae West memories on Friday evening 17 August 2007, when a guided tour will explore Manhattan's WEST-side during the "Mae West Side Story" walking tour. The event — — open to the public — — is timed to salute Brooklyn's own sexpot on her birthdate. [See the Annual Mae West Gala posting below.]
• • Only 22 more days until Mae's birthday!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West, vamping for the N.Y. Dramatic Mirror • • 1919 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Ed Wynn

MAE WEST said she learned so much from the sublimely silly vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn [born in 1886].
• • While playing opposite the seasoned 32-year-old Ed Wynn in Arthur Hammerstein's Broadway hit "Sometime" (with a music score by Rudolf Friml), Mae West came to the realization that she was throwing away her lines. Observing the crafty comic timing of Ed Wynn, said Mae West, and watching how he made sure he caught the audience's attention before delivering a line, was the best lesson.
• • Fortunately, Mae had ample time to study the Philadelphia-born cut-up. "Sometime" opened at the Shubert Theatre on 4 October 1918. After running for eight months and 283 performances, the musical closed in June 1919.
• • And also in the month of June, Ed Wynn died of throat cancer: 19 June 1966.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Jack Dempsey

It was "lust at first sight" the night that MAE WEST met Jack Dempsey.
• • The world heavyweight champion came up to see Mae onstage at the premiere of "The Mimic World of 1921." One of the characters Mae played was "Shifty Liz."
• • After the performance, the champ and the actress enjoyed their own private performance in her dressing room.
• • Since today is May 31st, the Mae West Blog commemorates the dashing prizefighter who died on 31 May 1983. Jack Dempsey held the title from 1919-1926.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Grace La Rue

Before April ends, it's time to squeeze in Mae West's dear old friend Grace La Rue.
• • Born on 23 April 1880 in Kansas City, MO, Grace La Rue was a major musical comedy star during the first two decades of the 20th century. In "The Honeymoon Express" the winsome actress introduced the song "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)" to an enraptured British audience at the London Palace on 4 August 1913.
• • During the Broadway run of that musical, however, cast member Al Jolson recorded that song for Columbia Records. During the number onstage one evening, Jolson went down on one knee and cried: “Gimme, gimme, what I cry for.” This created a sensation. When the audience wouldn’t let him sing anything else, he gave them one chorus after another — — even dismissing the cast altogether while Gaby Deslys was still on stage. The exasperated French diva quit the Winter Garden show, and Grace La Rue replaced her.
• • In 1919, Grace wed actor Hale Hamilton, and they toured together in vaudeviille.
• • Retired and residing in California, Grace LaRue — — age 48 — — made a brief appearance as Frances in She Done Him Wrong [1933] as a personal favor to Mae West.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 ad • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Edmund Lowe

Edmund Lowe, who died on 21 April 1971, co-starred with MAE WEST in the film "Every Day's a Holiday."
• • The California native was born in San Jose [3 March 1890] and got into the entertainment industry early on. In their December 1919 issue, Motion Picture World did an article on the handsome six-footer: "New Leading Man for Norma Talmadge."
• • Fans might remember seeing him as the engineer in Mike Todd's "Around the World in Eighty Days" or in his final film "Heller in Pink Tights" [1960].
• • In Hollywood, Edmund Lowe has a star on the Walk of Fame [for Motion Pictures] at 6363 Hollywood Boulevard and another star [for TV] nearby at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.
• • At age 81, the actor died of a lung ailment in Woodland Hills, California.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1938 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: December 1919

On 28 December 1919, MAE WEST was very busy — — double-booked, in fact.
• • The 26-year-old "firefly of vaudeville" was appearing that night at the Lyric Theatre [on 42nd Street, west of Broadway]. Sharing the Lyric bill with her were these entertainers: Eugene and Willie, the Howard Brothers; Carl McCullough; the 4 Haley Sisters; and "8 other favorite acts."
• • On the same night, Mae West performed at the 44th Street Theatre [near Broadway]. On the program was the top-billed act — — Sophie Tucker and Her Kings of Syncopation — — along with Ames & Winthrop, Mae West, Riggs & Witchie, and "8 other favorite acts."
Source: The New York Times — — 28 December 1919
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • by James Abbe • • 1916 • •
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Mae West.