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MAE WEST had a special fondness for native New Yorkers, vaudevillians, and African-Americans and Nick Stewart was all of those.
• • Born In Manhattan [birthname Horace Winfred Stewart] during the month of March — — on 15 March 1910 — — Nick Stewart took the role of Nicodemus Stewart in "Go West Young Man" [1936].
• • He wed in 1941. Nine years later, the energetic character actor, with his wife Edna, founded the Ebony Showcase Theatre on LaBrea Avenue in Los Angeles.
• • If you saw "Song of the South" [1946], that was his voice bringing Bre'r Bear alive.
• • On the early 1950s TV series "The Amos 'n Andy Show," Nick Stewart (billed as Nick O'Demus) portrayed Lightnin', the slow-moving broom pusher who worked for The Kingfish.
• • The versatile showman from vaudeville and radio was one of the first inductees in the Academy of Television Arts and Science's new Archive of American Television.
• • The last surviving cast member from "Amos 'n Andy," Nick Stewart lived to be 90 years old and died on 18 December 2000 in Los Angeles of natural causes.
• • Mae West Earning Greenbacks for GreenLight • •
• • Robert Klara writes: But most attractive of all: A dead celeb won’t pull a Tiger Woods on you. “You know what you’re getting,” says David Reeder, whose L.A. firm GreenLight Rights handles the licensing for departed stars like Mae West and Johnny Cash. “Any negativity [about their lives] has long been digested by the popular culture—and they’ve withstood the test of time.” ...
• • Source: Article "I See Dead People" written by Robert Klara for Brandweek; posted on 14 March 2011
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Billionaire investor Warren Buffet suggested: “Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” . ...
• • Source: Article "Warren Buffett: his best quotes" — www.telegraph.co.uk; posted on Tuesday, 15 March 2011
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1936 by H. Sabin • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST had a special fondness for native New Yorkers, vaudevillians, and African-Americans and Nick Stewart was all of those.
• • Born In Manhattan [birthname Horace Winfred Stewart] during the month of March — — on 15 March 1910 — — Nick Stewart took the role of Nicodemus Stewart in "Go West Young Man" [1936].
• • He wed in 1941. Nine years later, the energetic character actor, with his wife Edna, founded the Ebony Showcase Theatre on LaBrea Avenue in Los Angeles.
• • If you saw "Song of the South" [1946], that was his voice bringing Bre'r Bear alive.
• • On the early 1950s TV series "The Amos 'n Andy Show," Nick Stewart (billed as Nick O'Demus) portrayed Lightnin', the slow-moving broom pusher.
• • The versatile showman from vaudeville and radio was one of the first inductees in the Academy of Television Arts and Science's new Archive of American Television.
• • The last surviving cast member from "Amos 'n Andy," Nick Stewart lived to be 90 years old and died on 18 December 2000 in Los Angeles of natural causes.• • 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.
Key elements of MAE WEST's persona were rooted in black traditions.
• • Mae West herself said that her earliest influence was the black entertainer Bert Williams. She popularized the sexually charged black dance the shimmy. Some believed she had invented it but she didn't; she learned it in a Chicago nightspot.
• • Mae West tinted photographs to make herself look like her black maid. And chronicler Zora Neale Hurston in a 1934 essay, ''Characteristics of Negro Expression,'' said that Mae West ''had much more flavor of the turpentine quarters than she did of the white bawd.''
• • Speaking of Zora Neale Hurston's 1934 essay "Characteristics of Negro Expression" — this was perhaps the first attempt to define the jook joint. Of course, Mae West set "Diamond Lil" in a Bowery saloon that was not too far distant from a jook — — i.e., the "turpentine quarters."
• • In January it's an ideal time to look back at the sharp-eyed writer Zora Neale Hurston.• • Born in Alabama, Zora Neale Hurston [7 January 1891 — 28 January 1960] was a folklorist and an author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance; her best known work was the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God [1937]. In 2002, scholars listed Zora Neale Hurston among the 100 Greatest African-Americans.
• • Huston's essay appeared in a volume that was privately printed in Great Britain at the expense of Nancy Cunard, its editor. Negro: An Anthology was rejected by American publishers during the Prohibition Era. Wishart, a London imprint, released only 1,000 copies in 1934. This formidable door-stop of an anthology brought together 250 contributions by 150 black scribes and ran to 855 pages. Heiress Nancy Cunard [1896 — 1965] was a visionary and, fortunately, her small press run was eventually reprinted in the USA in wider release. If you have the book, read Zora Neale Huston's entries on behalf of her birthday: January 7th.• • 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.
On the birthday of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington - - born 29 April 1899 in Washington, D.C. - - it's interesting to recall how hard MAE WEST had to fight with Paramount Pictures to get the musician into her film "Belle of the Nineties."
• • Always the champion of the African-American talents she met, Mae insisted that the studio hire him to play and also appear in the movie. The studio didn't want to hire Ellington, at first, because they said the famed Cotton Club headliner would be "too expensive." When Paramount finally gave in to Mae, they agreed to let Ellington and his orchestra play - - however, they insisting on having all white musicians on the set.
• • Mae West marched into the head office at Paramount and said, "White men can't play black music in my picture!" And it was done. Ellington and his band were used and shown onscreen, thanks to Mae (who refused to budge on this).
• • Hollywood's censors did have the final say, though; they refused to let Mae appear next to the musicians in the same scene.
• • "Belle of the Nineties" was in production from 19 March 1934 until June 1934.• • During the 1920s, Mae West met Duke Ellington at Owney Madden's speakeasy. An autographed photo of Mae given to the "Duke" was among his most cherished possessions.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •NYC
Mae West.
In January it's time to remember a singer and comedienne who was a big influence on MAE WEST, though she never admitted it.
• • 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.
• • Born Sophia Kalish to a Jewish family in czarist Russia, she emigrated as an infant and her parents settled in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family changed its name to Abuza and opened a restaurant. Little Sophie sang for tips in this eatery. In 1903, the nineteen-year-old was briefly married to Louis Tuck — — then decided Tucker was a nice stage-name.
• • LIKE Mae West, Sophie Tucker did the circuit, playing piano and singing in vaudeville houses in blackface. In Sophie's case, she claimed that theatre managers told her she was "too fat and ugly" to be accepted by an audience in any other context.
• • LIKE Mae, Sophie Tucker made a name for herself in a [then popular] style known as a "Coon-Shouting" — — in other words, performing minstrel and black-influenced songs. Also, as Mae West did, Tucker hired some of the best black singers of the day to teach her how to do the blues properly; she also hired black composers to write songs for her act.
• • UNLIKE Mae, Sophie Tucker even sang songs that acknowledged her heft, such as "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love." Never apologizing for her size, Mae would never do a song like that.
• • On December 28th, 1919, Sophie Tucker was the big headliner, with her Kings of Syncopation, at the 44th Street Theatre (near Broadway). Vaudevillians on the same bill that night were Ames & Winthrop, Riggs & Witchie, and a 26-year-old brunette named MAE WEST.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West• • Photo: Sophie Tucker • • 1917 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST had a special fondness for native New Yorkers, vaudevillians, and African-Americans and Nick Stewart was all of those.
