Mae West: Skittish Over Skit

MAE WEST found herself in the center of a storm in mid-December 1937.  No one could shovel fast enough to clear a path. Then the FCC got into it. Mae did not write the skit, however.  Arch Obler wrote it (though he was never named nor scolded).
• • "FCC Wants Copy of Mae West's Eve Skit" • •

• • WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 — [UP] — The federal communications commission ordered the National Broadcasting company tonight to submit a copy of Mae West's Adam and Eve broadcast of last Sunday night.
• • Asserting it had received letters protesting the skit was profane, indecent and insulting to the American people, the commission said it had not prejudiced the matter but would reserve judgment until it had the facts.
• • The order was contained in a letter from Chairman Frank R. McNinch to Lenox R. Lohr, president of NBC.  McNinch told Lohr that under the law the commission had no right to censor broadcasts, but called attention to a section forbidding utterance of obscene, indecent or profane language by radio. The commission, McNinch said, is charged with enforcement of the law.
• • Every person holding a radio station license has the legal as well as moral duty and obligation to protect the public from offensive broadcasts, McNinch wrote.
• • Article by United Press rpt in The Daily Illini; published on Sunday, 19 December 1937.
• • On Sunday, 19 December 1936 in Picturegoer • •
• • Picturegoer's issue for the week of 19 December 1936 featured these three: Mae West, Merle Oberon, Alfred Hitchcock.
• • Picturegoer was a magazine published in the United Kingdom between 1913 — 1960. Its primary focus was on contemporary films and the performers who appeared in them. During the silent film era, it started as a weekly movie review, then evolved into a weekly listing of films being shown at UK cinema houses when talkies became popular. Eventually, it became a bi-weekly movie magazine featuring the screen's biggest stars that was sold at all movie theaters in the UK.
• • On Sunday, 19 December 1937 • •
• • Forbidden fruit, unlawful carnal knowledge, the serpent in the garden — — and maybe the real "snake" all along was the self-righteous head of the purity police, the Catholic League.
• • NBC Chairman Frank R. McNinch was still dealing with the fallout after Mae West's appearance on his network. The FCC took the position that, though it had no power to censor radio guests, NBC had a moral duty to shield its listeners from offensiveness. An article about the outraged public outcry and protest letters that NBC had received over the Mae West Biblical skit on radio was published in The Sunday Morning Herald in Washington, DC on Sunday, 19 December 1937.
• • Eventually, NBC would ban Mae for 15 years over this curious flapdoodle.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Hollywood — "Belle of the Nineties," starring Mae West, has a "beef trust" chorus and a choir of 100 voices.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "We must do all that only and exclusively with the eyes."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Australia's Sunday Times mentioned Mae West.
• • "Says Mae" • •
• • NEW YORK, Saturday.  To celebrate the completion of her last picture, Mae West has given director Edward Sutherland a gold watch case inscribed "Come up and see me sometime, and I'll give you the works."  . . .
• • Source: Item in Sunday Times (Perth); published on Sunday, 19 December 1937
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. Yesterday we entertained 1,430 visitors. 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3074th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1937• •
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Mae West: Byron Foulger

In December of 1937, MAE WEST was invited to portray Eve on radio. The Garden of Eden skit, penned by Arch Obler, also included a part for a serpent played by Byron Foulger.
• • Byron Foulger [27 August 1899 — 4 April 1970] • •
• • Born in Ogden, Utah, little Byron Foulger came into this world on Sunday, 27 August 1899.
• • Byron Foulger began performing with community theater, and stock and repertory companies after graduating from University of Utah. In 1932, he appeared in his first motion picture "Night World" as a night clubber called Mr. Baby. Specializing in mild-mannered roles, the busy character actor worked the silver screen and TV until 1970, racking up close to 500 credits.
• • When Byron co-starred with Mae West • •
• • But his most memorable role was as Satan in 1937 opposite Mae West in a racy "Adam and Eve" skit on the Edgar Bergen — Charlie McCarthy network radio program "The Chase and Sanborn Hour," which resulted in Mae West being banned from the airwaves almost immediately.
• • Byron Foulger died in Hollywood, California on Saturday, 4 April 1970. He was 70.
• • It happened on April 4th • •
• • The fourth day of the fourth month turned out to be full of many unforgettable moments. Three of these are below.
• • It was on Wednesday, 4 April 1928 that Mae's successful Bowery drama "Diamond Lil" first opened at Leo Teller's Broadway Theatre in Brooklyn, NY. Lil's stage costumes were designed by Dolly Tree. If you were standing outside on the corner of Court Street and Stockton Street, you would have heard thunderous applause and cheers. "You'd have thought that a favorite bootlegger had come back from Atlanta," wrote drama critic Robert Garland in the New York Evening Telegram on Thursday, 5 April 1928. "[Mae] makes Miss Ethel Barrymore look like the late lamented Bert Savoy."
• • It was on Friday, 4 April 1930 that the infamous "Pleasure Man" obscenity trial had come to an end — — when the jury could not agree.
• • On Sunday, 4 April 1976 Mae was a guest on CBS-TV. This would be her final televised appearance on a show called "Back Lot, USA" with the elfin host Dick Cavett. During this prime time program, the screen queen discussed her colorful life and performed a long, elaborately staged medley of her jaunty 1930s hits. Mae was 72 years old at the time.
• • On Monday, 5 April 1954 • • 
• • The death of James Timony on Monday, 5 April 1954 was announced in The L.A. Times on April 6th. Mae was prostrated by grief at the death of her long-term companion, the man who guided her rise to fame and fortune.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • It is mid-afternoon but Mae is in a negligee revealing that the years you politely try not to think about have been fantastically kind. Hair kept as blonde as ever; and a smooth face untouched, she swears, by plastic surgery; and smooth hands that tell no tales and the seemingly unchanged hour-glass figure.
• • "And not a single cavity in my teeth, which are my OWN, too," Mae West says and smiles.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I was always famous for what I wore, not for what I didn't wear." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Confidential Magazine trial involved Mae West
• • Douglas O. Linder wrote: California attorney Jerry Giesler, speaking for many Hollywood insiders, declared war on Confidential:  "My clients have decided to fight... We'll hound them through every court in the country.  We'll file civil libel suits and criminal libel complaints...The smut is going to stop."  The libel suits began. Lisabeth Scott sought $2.5 million in her suit, Robert Mitchum asked for $1 million, and Doris Duke filed suit for $3 million.
• • Douglas O. Linder explained: Meanwhile, others in the California movie industry sought the intervention of State Attorney General Edmund "Pat" Brown. In early 1957, Brown's office launched an investigation of Confidential. 
• • Douglas O. Linder noted: A grand jury empaneled in spring heard from celebrity witnesses including Mae West, Maureen O'Hara, June Allyson, Walter Pidgeon, and Liberace. ...
• • Source:  "The Confidential Magazine Trial: An Account" written by Douglas O. Linder;  published in 2010
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2885th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Edgar Bergen in 1937 • •
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Mae West: Pursuit of a Man

"MAE WEST Crashes Into Society" was a headline on page 5 in Australia on Thursday, 19 December 1935.  Let's investigate this vintage movie review, shall we?
• • "Pursuit of a Man in 'Now I'm a Lady' Starring Mae West" • •

• • First-Nighter wrote: Mae West's latest picture, "Now I'm a Lady," presents her at the outset as a girl from the western cattle country, who comes into a large fortune because the man she was about to marry is shot by the sheriff, and she inherits his wealth. Oil on her property has provided her with fabulous wealth, and she runs a racing stable, and dazzles society with the splendour of her entertainments.
• • First-Nighter explained: Part of the social gate-crashing scheme consists in marrying Monroe Owsley, in the role of Fletcher Colton, a wastrel scion of society. This young man's aunt tries to ruin the heroine by hiding a man in her bedroom. And when the husband — — whose demands for money have become exorbitant — — searches the bedroom looking for money, he encounters the other man with tragic results. The rest of the story is worked out in swift, melodramatic fashion. In the end, Mae West gets the man she wants and becomes a real lady. Marjorie Gateson appears as Mrs. Crane Brittony, a society leader, who snubs Mae West to her own undoing. "Now I'm a Lady" will be presented at the Winter Garden Theatre on Saturday.
• • Source: "Hashes from the Screen" by First-Nighter for The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Queensland; published on Thursday, 19 December 1935.
• • On Sunday, 19 December 1936 in Picturegoer • •
• • Picturegoer's issue for the week of 19 December 1936 featured these three: Mae West, Merle Oberon, Alfred Hitchcock.
• • Picturegoer was a magazine published in the United Kingdom between 1913 — 1960. Its primary focus was on contemporary films and the performers who appeared in them. During the silent film era, it started as a weekly movie review, then evolved into a weekly listing of films being shown at UK cinema houses when talkies became popular. Eventually, it became a bi-weekly movie magazine featuring the screen's biggest stars that was sold at all movie theaters in the UK.
• • On Sunday, 19 December 1937 • •
• • Forbidden fruit, unlawful carnal knowledge, the serpent in the garden — — and maybe the real "snake" all along was the self-righteous head of the purity police, the Catholic League.
• • NBC Chairman Frank R. McNinch was still dealing with the fallout after Mae West's appearance on his network. The FCC took the position that, though it had no power to censor radio guests, NBC had a moral duty to shield its listeners from offensiveness. An article about the outraged public outcry and protest letters that NBC had received over the Mae West Biblical skit on radio was published in The Sunday Morning Herald in Washington, DC on Sunday, 19 December 1937.
• • Eventually, NBC would ban Mae for 15 years over this curious flapdoodle.
• • On Sunday, 19 December 1948 • •
• • The date was Sunday, 19 December 1948. Mae West sat in the VIP section of the audience during the famed TV variety favorite hosted by Ed Sullivan.  The actress was in rehearsal in New York City at that time, auditioning for a new cast and preparing for a revival of "Diamond Lil," a production that would open on Broadway on 5 February 1949.
• • During the program's place in its own line-up [for Season 2, Episode # 15], it was still being called "Toast of the Town."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • According to Broadway.com, the "Mae West" bio-pic will show the infamous incident in which “City officials raided the theater [that West was performing in] at a performance, arresting and prosecuting West on morals charges, sentencing her to ten days in jail for ‘corrupting the morals of youth.’ Now a media sensation, West continued to find success on the stage; even if her gay-themed "The Drag" didn’t make it to Broadway, she had a big hit with "Diamond Lil." The play took the rising star to Hollywood, where she became one of the highest-grossing stars of the 1930s, never losing her bawdy flavor.”
• • Hmmm. Maybe the script-writer sneaked a peek at "Courting Mae West" — — which dramatizes the suspenseful February 9th police raid so cunningly.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "The challenge of a new writing form would cloud my grief, I hoped." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about Hollywood movies discussed Mae West.
• • "Mae West Plays New Screen Role with Familiar Technique" • •
• • Schenectady Gazette wrote: Mae West is become not only a tradition but an institution. Her style of comedy is unique and, it might be added, unchanging. She has a splendid cast int his [in "Go West Young Man"] and the comedy is well worked out. ...
• • Source: Article in Schenectady Gazette; published on Monday, 23 November 1936
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2813th 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 1935 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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