Mae West: Warren, Bert, Britney

Warren Buffett sometimes quotes MAE WEST's one-liner, "Too much of a good thing is wonderful."
• • Warren Buffet — — quipped one pundit — — is sensible enough to know she wasn't necessarily talking about him.
• • Born in Omaha, Nebraska at the end of August — — on 30 August 1930 — — Mae West fan Warren Buffett is an investor, a businessman, and a philanthropist.
• • Happy Birthday to the frisky financier who is 81 years old today.
• • Mae in August • •
• • In 1920, Mae had enjoyed seeing her idol Bert Savoy [1888 — 1923] in the musical comedy "The Greenwich Village Follies of 1920," which opened at the Greenwich Village Theatre in August — — on 30 August 1920.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West wrote this: "A man can be short and dumpy and getting bald — — but if he has fire, women will like him."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • With tongue-in-cheek, New York culture maven Mickey Woods writes about the VMA hoopla and tries to pull your leg: (Though, at this point, Britney Spears has near- or full-kissed just about everybody at these things, so it maybe wasn't that surprising. We'll have to check the videotape, but we have a vague recollection that she tongued Mae West at the 1936 VMAs.) But the red carpet was notably restrained this year . . . .
• • Source: Article: "See All the Red-Carpet Looks From the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards" written by Mickey Woods for New York Magazine; posted on 29 August 2011 • • By the Numbers • • • • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2038th 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:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml Mae West • • Photo: • • Mae West's idol • • Bert Savoy in 1920 • • • • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest NYC Mae West.

Mae West: Sime Silverman

An article in Variety — — whose publisher Sime Silverman [19 May 1873 — 23 September 1933] was well-known to MAE WEST — — could inflate and launch a performer's career upward not unlike the way helium helps a balloon.
• • Born in Cortland, NY in the month of May — — on 19 May 1873 — — Simon J. Silverman yearned to be a reporter. In 1903 Daily America hired him to critique vaudeville acts. After acquiring some experience, he snagged a reviewer's gig with The Telegraph. A variety artist had paid for a half-page ad in The Telegraph. Being honest instead of politically correct, Silverman panned the act as "N.G." (no good), which got him sacked. This was exactly the motivation he needed. In 1905, he launched his own "horizontal" sheet, VARIETY, which offered coverage on live acts, vaude, circus dare-devils, and other forms of entertainment.
• • Also born in May, writer Sidney Skolsky [2 May 1905 — 3 May 1983] regularly interviewed Broadway personalities such as Mae West during the 1920s. Sidney Skolsky wrote this amusing essay in 1929. An excerpt appears below.
• • Sime Silverman — — Variety's The Spice Of Life • •
• • He is the sole owner, publisher and editor of the bible of show business: SIME SILVERMAN. Variety, the man in type form, is one of the best, most respected and most influential trade journal in the world.
• • He was fired from the Morning Telegraph be-cause his review of a vaudeville act displeased the managing editor. While on that sheet he signed his reviews: "The Man in the Third Row."
• • He is not moody.
• • He is fifty-three years old. Was born in Cortland, N. Y. Has been married to the same wife for thirty years. The pride and joy of his life is his son, Syd, who wrote on Variety as a child critic at the age of seven, signing his articles with the pen name "Shigie."
• • Decided to publish a paper for the profession which would print news items and show reviews as the staff writers wrote them. He discussed the possibilities with Mrs. Silverman. Together they named it Variety. Then, absentmindedly, she sketched on the table cover the funny capital "V." It's still the trademark of the paper.
• • His first office was a tiny room on the fifth floor of the Knickerbocker Theatre building. [In 1905 the building was situated at 1396 Broadway, between West 38th and West 39th, adjacent to New York City’s famous theatre district.]
• • His only pet is an Angora cat named Steve.
• • He summers at Alexandria Bay when he summers.
• • In mid-December, the year 1905, the first copy of Variety appeared on the newsstands. It contained sixteen pages. It sold for a nickel. The wise guys gave the paper three months to live.
• • He likes to eat in road houses. His credit is good everywhere. He always pays cash.
• • In the beginning Variety's space was devoted solely to vaudeville. Today vaudeville receives but little attention, motion pictures being the big feature. He still reviews the small-time vaudeville shows.
• • Is probably the hardest working editor in America. His day begins at eight-thirty A. M. Can generally be found at his desk at two A. M. still working.
• • He eats in the hunting room at the Astor. Is the greatest check grabber Broadway has ever known. Has never been known to allow anyone to pick up the "bad news." Is a very liberal tipper. ...
• • Photo from 1920 shows the theatre district mainstays — — such as the Casino Theatre, Knickerbocker, and Maxine Elliott's — — which were located between West 38th — — West 39th on Broadway. Soon the playhouses would move further uptown. Mae entertained at the Casino.
• • Babe Gordon [1930] • •
• • Blogger Erik Donald France crafted an enjoyable and insightful review of "Babe Gordon" [1930], a novel by Mae West. His first paragraph is this: Mae West's Babe Gordon is a rare character in that she does basically what she wants. No Pandora's Box. No Thelma and Louise, no Madame Bovary, no Anna Karenina, more like The Last Seduction, the entertaining 1994 neo-noir movie starring Linda Fiorentino. In other words, instead of "independent woman gets punished for her social transgressions," "independent woman lives free and gets away with it." Why aren't there more of these kinds of characters? It's refreshing. ...
• • Source: Erik Le Rouge's blog on Blogger.com [posted on 16 May 2011]
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Raymond Loewy [1893 — 1986], the father of industrial design, created the Mae West bottle for Coke in the 1950s.
• • Gareth Roberts writes: In 1940, the [cigarette] brand came to the attention of the legendary industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the man responsible for Coca-Cola’s Mae West inspired bottle and numerous other American institutions including the Studebaker car, the Greyhound bus, and the Shell logo. The president of American Tobacco George Washington Hill bet Loewy $50,000 he would not be able to improve on the Lucky Strike design. One month later Loewy collected his money and Lucky Strike had a new package. ...
• • Source: Article: "Stubbing Out A Century Of Cigarette Design" written by Gareth Roberts for Sabotage Times; posted on 19 May 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1935th 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 • • NYC theatre district where Mae performed, 1920 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: Divorcing Mr. D

MAE WEST and the Italian accordionist Guido Deiro made beautiful music together for several years in variety. Her marriage to the Mediterranean keyboard king was one of the few secrets Mae kept from her mother Matilda.
• • Vibrant, jealous, well-built, ambitious, financially successful, talented, and sexy, Deiro even threatened to kill the next man who tried to take Mae away from him. John "Battling Jack" West, alarmed for his daughter's safety, cautioned Guido: "None of those Italian knife tricks now, please!"
• • About his brother Guido and his sultry spouse, Pietro Deiro recalled: "We played together and we both shared great successes, Guido becoming rapidly very popular — — especially among restaurant waiters for his large and ostentatious tips. A few years later in New York, Mae West, Guido, and I went for supper to the old Gillette's restaurant. The meal finished, my brother left a two-dollar tip on the table. As he rose to leave, I picked up one of the dollars and later went fifty-fifty with Mae West. This got to be a habit with us. ... "
• • Pietro Deiro misremembered the name of the eatery, a special place Mae and Deiro returned to often when they were in New York City. It was located back then on West 49th Street. [This year's Mae West walking tour will swing by there and attendees will be shown vintage pictures of the building's exterior and the beautiful interior dining rooms where the lovebirds often enjoyed themselves.]
• • When Mae and Guido went their separate ways in vaudeville, the Brooklyn bombshell wound up on a much lower tier of bookings.
• • July 14th • •
• • On the 14th of July 1920, Mae West filed for a divorce from Guido Deiro, charging him with abandonment. Having moved back to her parents' house in Queens County, Mae filed her petition at the courthouse in Jamaica, Queens.
• • When their divorce became final in November 1920, Guido quickly wed his third wife.
• • Mae West was so daunted by this marriage (and the way Guido affected her equilibrium), that she does not even mention his name in her autobiography, coyly referring to him only as "Mr. D."
• • The 14th of July 1999 is a date Mae West [1893 — 1980] did not live to see. On that day, Mae's longtime lover Paul Novak passed away in California.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1914 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.

Mae West: Nuptial Miss

Did the Brooklyn bombshell sigh each year on November 9th? MAE WEST and Italian-born accordionist Guido Deiro made beautiful music together for some years in variety. Her marriage to the Mediterranean keyboard king was one of the few secrets Mae kept from her mother Matilda. And even though her mom had died in 1930, when Mae West penned her autobiography in 1959, she covertly referred to her [deceased] former husband as "Mr. D."
• • When Mae and Guido went their separate ways in vaudeville, the Brooklyn bombshell wound up on a much lower tier of bookings.
• • On 14 July 1920, Mae West quietly filed for a divorce from Guido Deiro — — charging him with abandonment. Having moved back to her parents' house in Queens County, Mae filed her petition at the stately courthouse in Jamaica, Queens.
• • When their divorce became final on 9 November 1920, Guido quickly wed his third wife.
• • Mae West was so daunted by this marriage (and the way sexy, emotionally-charged Guido affected her equilibrium), that she did not walk down the aisle again.
• • Deiro came up to see Mae in Hollywood — — when he was down on his luck and she was a millionaire. He had a bulge in his pocket: a manuscript about their intimate life together. To quiet the storm, Mae exchanged a big check for this packet of pages, and no one saw this memoir again.
• • On 26 July 1950 Guido Deiro, age 63, died after a long illness.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1914 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Gay Divorcee

Did the Brooklyn bombshell sigh each year on November 9th? MAE WEST and Italian-born accordionist Guido Deiro made beautiful music together for some years in variety. Her marriage to the Mediterranean keyboard king was one of the few secrets Mae kept from her mother Matilda. And even though her mom had died in 1930, when Mae West penned her autobiography in 1959, she covertly referred to her [deceased] former husband as "Mr. D."
• • When Mae and Guido went their separate ways in vaudeville, the Brooklyn bombshell wound up on a much lower tier of bookings.
• • On 14 July 1920, Mae West quietly filed for a divorce from Guido Deiro — — charging him with abandonment. Having moved back to her parents' house in Queens County, Mae filed her petition at the stately courthouse in Jamaica, Queens.
• • When their divorce became final on 9 November 1920, Guido quickly wed his third wife.
• • Mae West was so daunted by this marriage (and the way sexy, emotionally-charged Guido affected her equilibrium), that she did not walk down the aisle again.
• • Deiro came up to see Mae in Hollywood — — when he was down on his luck and she was a millionaire. He had a bulge in his pocket: a manuscript about their intimate life together. To quiet the storm, Mae exchanged a big check for this packet of pages, and no one saw this memoir again.
• • On 26 July 1950 Guido Deiro, age 63, died after a long illness.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1914 • •
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Mae West.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: July 1920

MAE WEST and the Italian accordionist Guido Deiro made beautiful music together for several years in variety. Her marriage to the Mediterranean keyboard king was one of the few secrets Mae kept from her mother Matilda.
• • Vibrant, jealous, well-built, and sexy, Deiro even threatened to kill the next man who tried to take Mae away from him. John "Battling Jack" West, alarmed for his daughter's safety, cautioned Guido: "None of those Italian knife tricks now, please!"
• • When Mae and Guido went their separate ways in vaudeville, the Brooklyn bombshell wound up on a much lower tier of bookings.
• • On 14 July 1920, Mae West filed for a divorce from Guido Deiro, charging him with abandonment. Having moved back to her parents' house in Queens County, Mae filed her petition at the courthouse in Jamaica, Queens.
• • When their divorce became final in November 1920, Guido quickly wed his third wife.
• • Mae West was so daunted by this marriage (and the way Guido affected her equilibrium), that she does not even mention his name in her autobiography, coyly referring to him only as "Mr. D."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1914 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Hazel Scott

Bouquets did not shower MAE WEST after her film "The Heat Is On" was released right before Christmas in December 1943. All the same, Mae enjoyed working with several talented cast mates. Among those was Hazel Scott, who played herself.
• • Born in Port au Spain, Trinidad in the month of June — on 11 June 1920 — this classical and jazz musician became one of America's premier pianists of her time.
• • A child prodigy, Hazel first faced the eighty-eights at age 3 under the tutelage of her mother. In 1924, the family relocated to the USA. By age 8, Hazel was performing in New York City and receiving scholarships to study classical music at the Juillard School of Music.
• • The glamourous vocalist was a night club headliner and radio star by the late 30s, performing with Count Basie and others.
• • Hazel Scott died of cancer in New York in 1981.
• • 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.