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MAE WEST makes an appearance in an amusing stage play called "The Reel James Joyce" and you can enjoy an evening performance on Tuesday, 16 June 2015.
• • June 16 heralds a number of celebrations of James Joyce’s complex novel "Ulysses." Down Under, the Melbourne festival has been celebrating James Joyce since 1994.
• • According to the stage director Wayne Pearn: It's 1924 in Paris around 1924. Charlie Chaplin seeks to make a serious film after the failure of "A Woman of Paris," and wants to direct and play Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses." A cast of ex-pats and Parisians (Nora, Erik Satie, Mae West, Theda Bara, and a bevy of Sorbonne-educated young assistants) all want a bit of the action. In the cast: Steve Gome (plays James Joyce), Dan Walls (plays Charlie Chaplin), Bridgette Burton, Kelly Nash, Sarah Plummer, and Silas James.
• • Presented by Bloomsday in Melbourne, Inc. — — Tel.: 03 9898 2900
• • Tell them you heard about it on the Mae West Blog.
• • On Thursday, 16 June 1932 • •
• • It was Thursday, 16 June 1932 when Mae West pulled into Pasadena, California on The Chief. She was unimpressed by the motion picture landscape she surveyed from the train station. "I'm a big girl from a big town," Mae told Los Angeles reporters, "coming to a little town."
• • On Saturday, 16 June 1934 • •
• • A featured article "Come Up and Meet Mae West" by Frank Condon appeared in Collier's Magazine, in their issue dated for Saturday, 16 June 1934. Mae's recent robbery was described. And the actress explained why she did not like "Belle of the Nineties." She said, "Too much of me in it. The story just didn't turn out right."
• • On Saturday, 16 June 1951 • •
• • Referring to a former cast member Sarah Allen, who was suing her, Mae West said: "It takes more than platinum blonde hair and shapely hips to be like Mae West."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Yesterday Mae West appeared at a hearing in court of a damage suit brought against her by another actress, Sarah Allen.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I never found anyone I liked well enough [to marry]. I might have, I suppose, if things had been a little different in my set-up. But I didn't."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Australian newspaper discussed Mae West.
• • Cairns Post announced: On 16 June 1934, Beattie's Theatre, Babinda. "She Done Him Wrong," "Midnight Club," and "Flowers and Trees" in all Technicolor.
• • Cairns Post continued: The popular Mae West Paramount Pictures production, "She Done Him Wrong" features Miss West as the Bowery Darling who was faithful just as long as her diamonds held out.
• • Cairns Post added: Mae West proves herself quite an unusual type of performer. She sings in a most unusual manner "Frankie and Johnnie" and "Haven't Got No Peace of Mind." Included in the cast are Cary Grant, Owen Moore, Noah Beery, and Gilbert Roland.
• • Source: Cairns Post (Queensland, Australia); published on Saturday, 16 June 1934
• • Note: The song "Haven't Got No Peace of Mind" did not appear in the American release of this motion picture. Who was the composer or lyricist? The local trade papers in 1932 and 1933 only noted that this number "was written especially for her." If you have seen this slightly different overseas version, let us know.
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •
• • Thank
you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this
past decade. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a
milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3201st 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 • • in 1932 • •
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When she was not living in Brooklyn or Queens with her parents, MAE WEST enjoyed staying in hotels in the theatre district, which offered very convenient housing to a busy actress who would work in a show sometimes until 11 PM or midnight. After renting for years, she did purchase a townhouse rippling with French Renaissance style at 266 West End Avenue in Manhattan. Mae West occupied the house (between 72nd and 73rd Street) for a time with her sister, Beverly, who is listed there in a 1933 directory.
• • Built in 1896 with a limestone facade, the former Mae West home is 28 feet wide and six stories tall with nearly 14,000 square feet (generously designed with windows on all sides). The house was originally constructed for the importer Julius N. Jaros and designed by 42-year-old Rudolphe Daus, a prominent architect who worked in New York City. The Jaros family occupied it from 1896 —1906 only. The property remained a single-family dwelling until the early (or mid) 1940s.
• • Born in Mexico in 1854, Rudolphe Daus was educated in Berlin and in the United States. He graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He designed the Hall of Records, 13th Regiment Armory, and German Hospital in Brooklyn, and the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in New York. [One of Mae's childhood residences was a block away from the German hospital.] Daus was Secretary of the Commission of 1898, an official group that framed the building laws of New York City; additionally, from 1899 — 1900 he was Surveyor of Buildings for Brooklyn. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, the Atlantic Yacht Club, and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
• • Rudolphe Daus died in Paris in mid-October — — on 16 October 1916. He was 62 years old.
• • On 16 October 1939 • •
• • Mae West and W. C. Fields signed legal paperwork for "My Little Chickadee" when they were collaborating. Both signatures appear on a Universal Films contract dated 16 October 1939.
• • On 16 October 1989 • •
• • A studio call for actors was printed in a Florida newspaper on 16 October 1959.
• • Writing for the Orlando Sentinel, business reporter Susan G. Strother announced: Mae West, Charlie Chaplin, and Clark Gable — — are you out there? If so, Universal Studios Florida is interested. The studio theme park is looking for actors to fill the roles of 20 or so characters who would roam the Orlando park and entertain guests. Universal plans to hold auditions later this month, though a site has not been selected. In addition to Mae West, Charlie and Clark, shoes the studio wants to fill are for the likes of Bette Davis, James Cagney, Kojak and Humphrey Bogart. ...
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in an Australian paper mentioned Mae West.
• • Melanie Ball writes: I set out at an enthusiastic clip on the first day of a 145-kilometre walk between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste in Western Australia's south-west and I'm tending towards Mae West's contrary observation: "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful." . . .
• • Source: Article: "The Cape crusader" written by Melanie Ball for The Brisbane Times; posted on 15 October 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2085th 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 • • 1930 • •
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So many authors attached their musings to pondering the career and personality of the iconic MAE WEST.
• • This early August date — — 3 August 1954 — — is when Colette died. The frisky French author wrote a notable essay in 1934, assessing the impact of Mae West onscreen. Seventy-seven years ago, Colette observed: "She alone, out of an enormous and dull catalogue of heroines, does not get married at the end of the film, does not die, does not take the road to exile, does not gaze sadly at her declining youth in a silver-framed mirror …. She alone has no parents, no children, no husband. This impudent woman is, in her style, as solitary as Chaplin used to be. ..."
• • Mae West on the Newsstand • •
• • Hope you kept a copy of the Mae West theme issue of Harper’s Bazaar [August 2010]. 
• • Lovingly lensed by Jean-Paul Goude, model Laetitia Casta portrayed Hollywood screen queen Mae West for the August 2011 edition of Harper’s Bazaar USA. Styled by Alex Aikiu in eye-catching couture from Dior, Armani, and others, Laetitia’s portrayal is nothing short of stunning in "I’m No Angel."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "He's the kind of man a woman would have to marry to get rid of."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Nancy Wride writes: Dabbing away a tear, outgoing Mayor Beverly O'Neill gazed out at 800 admirers in the Long Beach Convention Center ballroom. For once in 12 years she didn't quote Mae West. Hours of adoration more befitting a eulogy than a retirement had preceded O'Neill to the podium. ...
• • Source: Article: "O'Neill Era Comes to a Close: Supporters and critics praise the three-term pro-growth mayor of Long Beach, who stepped down last week after 12 years in office" written by Nancy Wride, Times Staff Writer for the L.A. Times; published on 24 July 2006
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2011th 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 • • 1933 • •
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MAE WEST was surrounded by a diverse number of nationalities when she filmed "Sextette" [1978].
• • Born on 8 February 1911, Harold Fong was seen briefly as the Chinese Kitchen Chef. A bit part player often cast as a menial or in an ethnic role, Fong was featured in 74 projects either on the small screen (in one TV series or another) as well as on the big screen such as: a naval aide, a Japanese, a clerk, or a captain of a patrol boat — — all of which he played in 1944 in Hollywood when he was 33 years old. His two final appearances were in "Up in Smoke" and "Sextette," both released in 1978, after which he retired.
• • In the month of June — — on 1 June 1982 — — Harold Fong died in Los Angeles. He was 71. Wishing we knew more, it's still the right thing to give him his due here and memorialize his passing.
• • In June 1919 • •
• • More than ninety years ago, in June 1919, Mae West was onstage in a tuneful Broadway hit doing an odd thing — — playing a lusty manhunter who cannot land a boyfriend during the World War I Era.
• • 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.
• • In June 1936 • •
• • It was the June 1936 issue of Real Screen Fun, with the editor's choice of a most peculiar cover painting: a bikini clad gal on her knees with a puppet's body around her neck. Huh? Mae West had a more dignified photo of herself inside this odd and short-lived publication.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae arrived in Pasadena, California on The Chief in June 1932, but she was unimpressed by the motion picture landscape she surveyed from the train station. "I'm a big girl from a big town," Mae told Los Angeles reporters, "coming to a little town." You tell 'em, honey!
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • "Mae West" and "Charlie Chaplin" will be on hand along with a representative from Mayor Freedman's office and other airport and airline officials for March 15 ceremonies launching new nonstop flights between Tampa and Los Angles by Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of USAir Group. ...
• • Source: Press Announcement: "Mae West and Charlie Chaplin to help launch new Tampa-Los Angeles nonstop flight March 15. (USAir Group)"; published on 10 March 1989
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1948th 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 • • 1932 • •
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MAE WEST starred in "Go West, Young Man" (1936) with a large cast that included Eddie Dunn, who took the role of the security guard at the theatre.
• • Born on 31 March 1896 in Mae's hometown, Brooklyn, NY, Edward Frank Dunn launched his celluloid career at age 19 when he was featured in a short titled "The Vanishing Vault" [1915]. Working as a gagman and an occasional director at Hal Roach studios, Dunn occasionally found his way into a Laurel and Hardy vehicle filmed there or honed his craft in a Mac Sennett comedy alongside W.C. Fields or cast with Charlie Chaplin. As he became less of a featured player and more of a bit parts fella, Dunn's agents steered him to smaller roles. He kept busy playing policemen, bartenders, waiters, mugs, stagehands, janitors, guards, or detectives. Movie buffs have seen Eddie Dunn in 371 films. For his last role, Eddie Dunn played a stage driver in "Buckaroo Sheriff of Texas" [1951], made the same year he died.
• • During the month of May — — on 5 May 1951 — — he died in Hollywood, California at age 55 and was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Mae West turned down the role of Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard," and Gloria Swanson took the leading role. Halfway down the review of "Nunset Boulevard," drama critic Paul W. Thompson enthusiastically writes: In the midst of this, they hold audience-participation sequences (quizzes, frozen turkey bowling and the like), impersonate film actresses like Mae West, Jean Harlow, and Ginger Rogers, and even perform a tribute to the camp classic "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," with one of them as Bette Davis and the other four (in wheelchairs) as Joan Crawford. There are 21 songs. ...
• • Source: Article: "It'll Charm You If You Want It To: Nunset Boulevard Opens in Munster" written by Paul W. Thompson for Broadway World (Chicago); posted on 4 May 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1921st 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 • • 1936 • •
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"MAE WEST, Hildegarde, Charlie Chaplin, Bill Hart, George M. Cohan, Joe E. Lewis, Jackie Gleason, Abbott & Costello, Judy Garland, Betty Hutton, and Olsen & Johnson were all top earners," writes Joe Laurie, Jr. in Vaudeville: From the Honky-tonks to The Palace [NY: Henry Holt, 1953]. 
• • Though the Brooklyn bombshell was demanding $500 a week by 1922, her pianist Harry Richman noted she did not always get it — — and she preferred to make do with her phone being turned off rather than back down and accept a little less for a booking. And like her friend Texas Guinan, Mae did not always pay her bills. For example, The New York Times and Variety both printed courtroom coverage when Tommy Gray sued Mae for not paying his fee of $146 for special material.
• • Thomas J. Gray • •
• • Mae was named for her paternal grandmother Mary Jane Copley, who was born in Ireland. And her familiarity with Irish dialects gave the variety artist a tremendous advantage in vaudeville, where she was often cast as an Irish maid — — and sang Irish novelties such as Tommy Gray's comical song "They Are Irish," to which Mae added a few more choruses, each in a different Irish accent.
• • The "Bard of Broadway" was born in New York City, Mae's hometown in the month of March — — on 22 March 1888.
• • Talented and prolific, Thomas J. Gray was a lyricist and an author who had attended Holy Cross School and was a charter member of ASCAP (1914). He served overseas during World War I, and later wrote scripts for silent movies, songs for Broadway and London revues, plus special material for Mae West, Bert Williams, Blossom Seeley, Frank Tinney, Savoy & Brennan, Trixie Friganza, and many others. His column "Gray Matters" ran in Variety and his byline appeared in the New York Dramatic Mirror as well. His chief musical collaborators included Fred Fisher and Ray Walker.
• • Booked at Hammerstein's Victoria in September 1912, Mae performed jokes and songs that she commissioned from Tommy: "Isn't She a Brazen Thing?", "It's an Awful Easy Way to Make a Living," "The International Rag Song," and "Good Night, Nurse."
• • In 1913, Variety raved: "Thanks to Tommy Gray and her own comedic ability, Miss West looks set as a big-time feature."
• • Bronchitis cut short his brilliant career. Tommy died on 30 November 1924. He was 36 years old.
• • Though Mae often did not pay his bills until a judge intervened, and she was taken to court more than once by Tommy, she attended his funeral at St. Malachy's in midtown, a standing-room-only affair.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • From New Delhi, India, Sunaina Kumar writes: MAE WEST knew what she was talking about when she said too much of a good thing can be taxing. That in a nutshell is the story of Indian kitsch. It started as a camp, underground movement that appropriated everyday Indian symbols like nimbu mirchi, auto, kaali peeli, and cutting chai, coloured them in multi-hued nostalgia and put them on bags, cushions and coasters. Either you got it or you didn’t. ...
• • Source: Article: "Horn. Not ok. Please" written by Sunaina Kumar for Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 10; posted on 12 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1876th 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 • • 1912 • •
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Mention Jascha Heifetz and few would suspect a link to MAE WEST during the Prohibition Era.
• • Born in 1901 in Vilnius (then the Russian Empire, now Lithuania), Jascha Heifetz was a violin virtuoso. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time and people who follow classical music know about his other career highlights and recordings.
• • In 1930, the 29-year-old Heifetz lived next door to Mae West in Manhattan.
• • Heifetz died in Los Angeles during the month of December — — on 10 December 1987 at the age of 86.
• • Shadow and Substance: My Time with Charlie Chaplin • •
• • St. Louis, Missouri writer Gerry Mandel turned his extensive knowledge about early Hollywood, the Jazz Age, and Chaplin into his first novel. Douglas Fairbanks is seen bending elbows with Chaplin at a Los Angeles bar, and Mae West, Buster Keaton, and Cary Grant are noticed in local hang-outs, too. If you enjoy fiction that swirls around celebrity names and seethes with Chaplinesque mysteries, check this out. And good luck to Mr. Mandel.
• • On 10 December 2010 help restore a vaudeville gem! • •
• • Speaking of Mae West and Buster Keaton, these vaudeville greats once performed at the Lyric Theatre on Third Avenue North in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. That magnificent old vaudeville palace has become, alas, quite dilapidated and thus it's been shuttered for decades. Tsk! But the non-profit group Birmingham Landmarks Inc. is hosting a Benefit, hoping to raise enough green to restore this playhouse. The fundraiser is set for the Spring Street Firehouse in Avondale tonight — — on Friday, 10 December 2010 at 7 PM. Tell them the Mae West Blog gave you a nudge.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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MAE WEST gets full chapter coverage in a new book-length study of a neglected motion picture genre — — the comedy.
• • "Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy" [Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 576 pages] is the work of Saul Austerlitz, a writer living in New York City.
• • According to a review by critic David M. Kinchen: From "City Lights" to "Knocked Up," Austerlitz examines American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother, the comedy, and puts the comic titans of the present in the context of their predecessors. The chapters and short essays follow the connections that link Mae West to Marilyn Monroe and W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • BOOK REVIEW: 'Another Fine Mess' — — Film Comedy Deserves More Respect and Saul Austerlitz Tries to Level the Playing Field
• • Reviewer David M. Kinchen
• • Published by: HuntingtonNews.Net [located in Huntington, WV 25701]
• • Published on: 2 December 2010• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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No prude, MAE WEST did not hide the fact that she had worked in Burlesque as well as in Vaudeville.
• • An interesting article by Divinity Rose discusses these forms of popular entertainment and their individual appeal. Divinity Rose writes: One of the first specific applications of "vaudeville" to describe a variety show was by "Sargeant's Great Vaudeville Company" in Louisville in 1871. The word “vaudeville” carried with it the sophistication and romance associated with Paris. We have seen one theory for the word's origin, the troubadours of the Val-de-Vire region of France. Another theory is that it comes from voix de ville, meaning “voice of the city.” Seen in this light, the phrase reminds us of vaudeville's identity as a folk form, an expression of the people's voice. The word “vaudeville” distinguished the new business from variety, which was used by some people like a curse word. Vaudeville is where Marx and Chaplin — — along with Mae West, Harry Houdini, Milton Berle, and countless others got their start.
• • Divinity Rose adds: Burlesque was a little different than Vaudeville. Burlesque had a lot of comedy, charm, and girls taking off their clothes. When it began, it was about witty and charming women and clever comedy. Although, performers in Vaudeville often looked down on Burlesque, many great comedy acts polished their performances there. Burlesque offered stable work during tougher times, and so many bigger acts performed in burlesque shows under aliases. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Vixens and Vaudeville Part 1: The history of Vaudeville, Burlesque and the Vixens"
• • Written by: Divinity Rose
• • Published on: Monday, 1 November 2010
• • Published by: Louisville.com• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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