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Despite having an ambivalent relationship with her father, MAE WEST took after him and also worked for him when he peddled fruit in Brooklyn and when he helmed a "detective agency" in New Jersey and New York City. Before opening his own operation, West had walked the beat in Coney Island and elsewhere in Brooklyn. 
• • Born on Manhattan's Lower East Side in March 1866, John Patrick West [called "Jack"] grew up feisty, impatient, and strong. As a child he boasted that he'd rather fight than eat. He got his Irish up rather quickly, remembered Mae. He was easily angered and "always ready to do physical violence when the urge was on him." In 1969, Mae revealed in an interview that she thought her father was cruel — — but realized "all his fighting was done doing other people's fighting for them."
• • Jack West was 7 years old in 1873 when his family moved to Brooklyn, settling first in Red Hook, and then in Greenpoint.
• • Though he had no inclination to follow his father's vocation as a ship rigger, Jack knew his parents wanted him to learn a trade; they apprenticed him to a boilermaker in 1880 when he was 14.
• • But Jack West was contemplating starting a fire in the arena. At 11 years old, "Battling Jack" had fought in his first boxing match as a featherweight and yearned to become a bare-knuckles champion. These matches were often arranged by local racketeers. His favorite place to hang out was the gymnasium. His closest companions were weightlifters and boxers — — both black and Caucasian.
• • During the late 1880s, Jack was sidetracked from his vigorous athletic routine after meeting a buxom young lady named Matilda Delker [born in 1870 in Bavaria]. Youthful rebels, Jack and Tillie had much in common. Both defied their parents' expectations, Jack through boxing and Tillie through entertaining the idea of a theatrical career.
• • Initially, the couple forged a passionate bond. Mae explained, "My father had swept her off her feet." But Tillie's youthful transgressive ambitions met an end with Jack West.
• • On 19 January 1889, in Greenpoint, Battling Jack West and Tillie Delker took their wedding vows before a local minister with Jack's sister Julia West acting as maid of honor.
• • On 5 January 1935, "Battling Jack" heard the final countdown; he passed away in Oakland, California of a stroke. The previous November, Mae's father had a severe heart attack and was under the care of a Bay Area heart specialist. A funeral was held in Hollywood within days. Shortly thereafter, the deceased was taken back to Brooklyn to be placed next to his wife in the West's family crypt. Accompanying the body was his son John, his daughter Beverly, and Jim Timony.
• • On this date we remember John Patrick West with love and respect.
• • "It will keep dad home at least once a week" • •
• • Mae West, announcing that she would shortly appear on television, said: "It will keep dad home at least once a week."
• • Source: "People: Speaking Up" published in Time Magazine on 8 May 1950.
• • Since Mae's father [1866 — 1935] was already dead and buried by then, it was a curious statement certainly. Had John West been among the living in 1950, he would have been 84 years old.
• • Nell Craig [1891 — 1965] • •
• • Mae West did not get a chance too often to work with the same actress again. Nell Craig is one of the few who was cast in three motion pictures that starred the controversial screen queen. 
• • Born in Princeton, New Jersey on 13 June 1891, Nell Craig was cast as Mrs. Bond in "I'm No Angel" [1933]. Perhaps you recalled her as the society lady in "Goin' to Town" [1935] as well as a missionary in "Klondike Annie" [1936].
• • Best known today for her recurring role as the floor nurse Nosey Parker in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, brunette actress Nell Craig had begun her long screen career with Essanay in Chicago as a 22-year-old fresh face in 1913. Talkies, unfortunately, reduced her chances to be anything more than a bit player although she did manage to stay employed in Hollywood for decades. From 1913 — 1948, she was seen (briefly) in 150 motion pictures. A number of times, Nell Craig was cast as a uniform-wearing character such as a maid, customs matron, reformatory matron, and quite often as a nurse. She also played secretaries, salesladies, teachers, bystanders, tourists, and (in a silent film in 1924) Mrs. Abraham Lincoln.
• • Upon retiring in 1948 from the screen trade, Nell Craig spent her final years as a resident of the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She died there in early January — — on 5 January 1965. She was 73 years old.
• • Mae West and Amelia Earhart • •
• • Kansas native Amelia Earhart [24 July 1897 — missing 2 July 1937, declared deceased on 5 January 1939] was a noted aviation pioneer, author, and women's rights.
• • Susan Wels has published a fascinating biography of the late aviatrix. Her article "Amelia’s Psychic Adventures with Mae West" was printed on 18 December 2009. Here is a snippet.
• • Susan Wels wrote: Amelia Earhart's drive to push limits and break barriers in every way even led to her to experiment with ESP and psychic phenomena. ... Hollywood movie star Mae West was one witness to her psychic powers. In the early 1930s, when Mae was vacationing at La Cinta, a posh resort favored by Paramount executives, she had an amazing experience with Amelia Earhart that she wrote about in her memoir Mae West on Sex, Health and ESP.
• • One day, Wels wrote, Mae recalled, “I answered a knock on my door and found myself face to face with a major executive... ’Amelia would like us all to get together for a seance,’ my visitor said, ‘and I was wondering if we could come by later.’... Mae West continued: “The courageous aviatrix and I had met, and we admired each other. My bungalow often became La Cinta's most popular meeting-place, and of course I agreed to let her hold the seance there. ..."
• • Mae West explained: “There was a large table in one room of my bungalow, and Amelia Earhart asked us all to sit around it with our hands placed lightly on it. Nobody was to move the table in any way, but Amelia said that as the Psychic Forces were summoned, they would make their presence known by tipping the table so that it rapped on the floor in front of whomever the Forces wanted to contact."
• • Mae West went on: “Suddenly the table began to tip in my direction, and it went on for some time. The message, it turned out, was from my late father, and he spoke about several things which nobody in the group could have known. He told me that one of the men I was seeing at the time — — the man who was present at the seance, in fact — — was okay, and that I should continue to see him if I wanted to. ..."
• • Your father, Mae, always called you "my kid" . . . • •
• • Susan Wels added, referring to what Mae West had recollected: “But I had another admirer whom my father advised me to stay away from. When I read the transcriptions of my father's message, one thing made me a bit skeptical. In referring to me, he had said ‘my kid’ — — and that was an expression I had never heard him use during his lifetime. When I told my friends about this discrepancy, I got a very surprising answer."
• • Susan Wels continued this: “‘Maybe you never heard him say ‘my kid,’ Mae,’ an executive who had known my father well told me, 'but I did! He used to tell us about the things you did as a child, and whenever he told us those wonderful stories, he always called you 'my kid’ ... .
• • Source: Article: "Amelia’s Psychic Adventures with Mae West" written by Susan Wels, the biographer of Amelia Earhart.
• • On Thursday, 5 January 1961 • •
• • "Mister Ed" was an American television situation comedy that first aired as a syndicated program on 5 January 1961. In 1964, Mae West guest-starred and her appearance on "Mr. Ed" won unusually high ratings for this episode as thousands of Mae-mavens tuned in.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "If I have overstressed, as some may think, the physical, I will now relate my first adventure into the occult.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A brief bit on notable individuals in Tulsa mentioned Mae West.
• • John Cruncleton, A.D., Nightingale Theater — — Striding boldly into unknown territory several times a year, Cruncleton's Midwestern Theatre Troupe (housed in The Nightingale Theater) is the very last place you'll find conventional theater — — or conventional anything else, for that matter. Putting up original works, experimental shows, and most recently a piece by Mae West, there's something being said over there on 4th Street. . . .
• • Source: Article: "Hot 100: Touch 'Em; Maybe some of their stuff might rub off" written by the staff of Urban Tulsa Weekly; posted on 4 January 2012
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2167th 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 • • her father in 1934 • •
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Mae West.
An intimate showing of a MAE WEST classic is always a welcome event. 
• • And this brings to mind the oddity that not much has been written about the women Mae West admired, for instance, trailblazers such as Amelia Earhart, Texas Guinan, Marie-Louise Morelli, and Mabel Stark.
• • Mabel Stark was the beautiful blonde wild animal tamer who doubled for Mae during some of the big top scenes in "I'm No Angel" [1933].
• • As a child visiting Dreamland with her Dad in 1904, Mae West was dazzled by the fearlessness of Madame Marie-Louise Morelli, who trained leopards, jaguars, and tigers. In advertisements that billed the petite Frenchwoman as "Queen of the Jaguars," the jungle prowlers were referred to as Morelli's "treacherous pets." Awed by Madame Morelli's smooth command in the cage, the curly-haired little Brooklynite (born in August under the sign of Leo) decided one day she, too, would come face to face with the King of Beasts.
• • Born in Kentucky, Mabel Stark [9 December 1889 — 20 April 1968] was America's premier tiger trainer during the 1920s.
• • During a photo shoot with Mabel Stark, Mae West was asked if she could see herself trading places with anyone and she said: "Yes, it would be this Mabel Stark, the Tiger Girl!"
• • See if your eyes are sharp enough to spot Mabel Stark next week in the vintage footage when the Canadian cinema historian Reg Hartt will be screening Mae West's circus film "I'm No Angel" (written by Mae and based on her fond memories of Bostock's lions in Coney Island). Film archivist and celluloid connoisseur Reg Hartt, who will be introducing this screen classic, had also offered Mae West's first starring film "She Done Him Wrong" (based on her stage play "Diamond Lil" with its Bowery setting) until 2 July 2009.
• • About "I'm No Angel," Reg Hartt had this to say: Mae West was a star of such enormous clout that she was able to dictate her desires. She changed forever not only the role of women in the movies but also the way women in real life saw themselves. “When I am caught between two evils,” she said, “I generally take the one I have not yet tried.” This feature film was made in 1933. It was written by her.
• • The Cineforum is the unique movie emporium that Mr. Hartt operates out of his Bathurst Street living room in Canada.
• • Though the Cineforum has existed for the past four decades, it was not until 1992 that it was moved to his parlor. British painter Peter Moore described the intimate, old-fashioned Cineforum as “the most perfect place in the world to watch a motion picture.”
• • WHERE: Cineforum — — 463 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario.
• • WHEN: 7:00 PM on 20 July 2009 [Note: Monday evening only]. Program personally introduced by Reg Hartt.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Mabel Stark in 1933 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST had a good friend (and a bankroll for her shows) in Texas Guinan. In "Courting Mae West," Eileen Glenn will portray "The Queen of the Night Clubs" herself. 
• • Born in New Jersey, Eileen Glenn was raised in East Tennessee. A trailblazer since childhood, she produced her first show, Cinderella, on her front porch while still in grammar school. She discovered her passion for Prokofiev’s "Peter & The Wolf" and Herb Albert's Tijuana Brass; soundtracks of "The Sound of Music," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "Godspell" became bliss-driven engines that transported her soul straight to Broadway.
• • Ms Glenn graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BA in theatre. Three years later she discovered improvisational theatre and — — over the course of 4 days — — she flew to Chicago to audition for The Second City, returned home, packed her bags, and set up digs at The Hotel Lincoln (former home of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd). 
• • Ms Glenn’s post-graduate instruction was working. She performed in everything: musicals, improv reviews, Shakespeare, Chekov, Greater Tuna, Caligula, The Mikado. Her experience in Chicago culminated with a summer trip to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Upon returning, she produced and starred in her one-person show, Margaret Atwood’s Good Bones and Simple Murders — — which earned rave reviews and has since been produced in New York City, Texas, and Arkansas.
• • Ms Glenn has performed regionally at Mill Mountain Theatre, VA; Arkansas Repertory; Shadowlawn Theater, NJ; and several seasons with Texas Shakespeare Festival. In New York she was a company member with Jean Cocteau Repertory and Lightning Strikes Theatre Company. She performs frequently with The Phoenix Theatre Ensemble and has appeared on many occasions with Judith Shakespeare Company and Actors Stock Company.
• • Inspired at an early age by the likes of Annie Oakley, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Amelia Earhart, and strong independent women everywhere, not to mention her mother, she is not surprised her journey has led her here. It seems Ms Glenn was almost destined to play an independent, gun toting, cowgirl with a heart of gold, living life by her rules and running her own empire.
• • In the immortal words of Texas Guinan, "I would rather have a square inch of New York than all the rest of the world.”
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 6 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 2:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to COURTING MAE WEST are $18 per adult.
• • Theatermania.com sells the tickets — — http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144297
• • Questions? Phone 212-779-3051.
• • The play is 95 minutes.• • Get ready to come up and see Mae West and Texas Guinan and the gang onstage in mid-July 2008.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West play • • Eileen Glenn to portray Texas Guinan • •
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Mae West.
Like the novel Ragtime, Dream Lucky weaves in a number of real life events and personalities — — including Mae West.
• • The time: 1936-1938. The mood: Hopeful. It wasn't wartime, not yet. The music: The incomparable Count Basie and Benny Goodman, among others. The setting: Living rooms across America and, most of all, New York City.
• • Dream Lucky covers politics, race, religion, arts, and sports, but the central focus is the period's soundtrack — — specifically big band jazz — — and the big-hearted piano player William "Count" Basie. His ascent is the narrative thread of the book — — how he made it and what made his music different from the rest. But many other stories weave in and out: Amelia Earhart pursues her dream of flying "around the world at its waistline." Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., stages a boycott on 125th Street. And Mae West shocks radio listeners as a naked Eve tempting the snake.
• • Author Roxane Orgill has written a number of notable books for children and young adults.
• • 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.
Book reviewer Tom Mackin mentioned MAE WEST in his short critique of "Dream Lucky: When FDR Was in the White House, Count Basie Was on the Radio, and Everyone Wore a Hat" [NY: HarperCollins, 2008].
• • Tom Mackin wrote: Hoboken resident Roxane Orgill has done her homework for "Dream Lucky: When FDR Was in the White House, Count Basie Was on the Radio, and Everyone Wore a Hat." This thin volume is packed with information on the Terrible Thirties, some of it about the scabrous treatment of black entertainers of the era.
• • Tom Mackin added: But she seems less interested in a sobering treatise on Jim Crow than in short riffs about the famous personalities of the time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Fibber McGee and Molly, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, Mae West, Benny Goodman, Amelia Earhart. The result is a tired digest of overly familiar history. Surely there is much more to tell about the black singer Billie Holiday, who had to darken her fair skin to sing with a black band; about Harlem's famed Cotton Club, where only whites were served; and about Count Basie, the renowned Red Bank pianist and bandleader, who could not read music.
— — Source: — —
• • Book Review: "In Brief"
• • Written by: Tom Mackin for New Jersey's Star-Ledger
• • Published in: The Star-Ledger — — www.nj.com
• • Published on: 11 May 2008
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
