Mae West: Two Auctions

Rare MAE WEST items are being offered in two auctions this week in North America.
• • In southern California, previews are currently in progress for the Profiles in History sale set for this Saturday. Over 3,000 items from "The Debbie Reynolds Collection" include costumes, props, and memorabilia from cinema's Golden Age, acquired from various movie studios over five decades. Miss Reynolds had once owned a deep blue Mae West costume from "Every Day's a Holiday," however, she's had a few auctions over the years and may have sold this special gown.
• • Mae West, W.C. Fields, Basil Rathbone, Gary Cooper, Robert Duvall, Jimmy Stewart, Lana Turner, Sean Connery, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Dean Martin, Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, George C. Scott, Mel Gibson, and Tom Cruise are among the performers associated with these auction items.
• • WHEN: Previews are going on now through Friday, 17 June 2011, from 12 noon to 5:00 PM. Auction will be held on Saturday, 18 June 2011 from 12 noon.
• • WHERE: The Paley Center for Media, 465 Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, California (near Rodeo Drive); Tel. 310-786-1025.
• • Auction in Canada • •
• • Their catalogue describes Lot # 52 this way: Mae West and W. C. Fields signed contract for My Little Chickadee, Fields letters and other ephemera.
• • When they were collaborating on this motion picture, both Mae West and W. C. Fields signed a Universal Films contract. The document is dated 16 October 1939. Fans have already begun to bid on this lot.
• • Though you can phone in your bids, the live auction will take place on 18 June 2011 at 12 noon. For more details, contact iCollector.com Technologies in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.
• • Earl Carroll • •
• • During the summer of 1922, Mae West was desperately knocking on her friend Earl Carroll's door. The performer needed assistance so that "The Ginger Box Revue" could be staged. "Boy, did I pester him!" Mae told a reporter. But when the millionaire impresario (famous for eleven editions of "Earl Carroll's Vanities") brushed her off, Mae's hopes fizzled and the musical revue foundered.
• • Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 16 September 1893, Earl Carroll was an ambitious American theatrical producer, director, songwriter, and composer. Known as "the troubadour of the nude," Carroll was well-known for his productions featuring the most lightly clad showgirls on Broadway.
• • When he was 54, Earl Carroll died in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624, which also took the life of his 39-year-old girlfriend, Beryl Wallace, in Aristes, Pennsylvania in the month of June — — on 17 June 1948.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Sharon Galligar Chance notes: Authors Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley Jr. — — in "Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood" — — claim that actress Mae West was considered for the role of madam Belle Whatley and Shirley Temple for the role of "Bonnie Blue Butler" in the movie.
• • Source: Article: "Be swept away by making of 'Gone with the Wind'" written by Sharon Galligar Chance for Scripps Newspapers/ vcstar.com; posted on 28 May 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1964th 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 • • 1940 • •
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Mae West: Colonic Tonic

MAE WEST Kept a Clean House — — shrieked today's news headlines. Apartment Therapy's staff leads off with a zinger (and a quirky style of capitalization not endorsed by The Chicago Manual of Style): "Eleven Days into The Great Spring Cleanse on Social Workout, and we've discovered that both Mae West and Princess Diana were into colonic irrigation. ..." All right, that's quite enough of that. The next topic has to do with gas.
• • 1928 Mae West Visible Gas Pump • •
• • All is not well in Southern Colorado where pump pilfering perplexes the Pueblo Police this week. Recently, crime reporter Nick Bonham warned his readers: "A 1928 Mae West Visible Gas Pump was stolen from Colorado Performance, according to Cpl. Edward Vasquez. The pump is valued at $2,500 and had been bolted and welded to the ground. ..."
• • 13 April 1934 • •
• • It was on 13 April 1934 that Mae West appeared on the cover of Film Weekly in the United Kingdom. The smaller photo is from "I'm No Angel" [lower right]. Jolly good show.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Debbie Reynolds is onstage currently at Sacred Heart University’s Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts in Fairfield, Connecticut.
• • Connecticut arts reviewer Karen Dydzuhn writes: In response to questions posed by Executive Director Jerry Goehring, Debbie Reynolds proved her range of talent by interspersing impersonations of legendary performers Mae West, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, and Katharine Hepburn with often comedic anecdotes detailing both her personal and professional lives. ...
• • Source: Article: "‘America's Sweetheart' Sparkles on Edgerton Stage" written by Karen Dydzuhn for Fairfield County Patch; posted on 12 April 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1898th 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 • • Film Weekly, 13 April 1934, Vol. 11, Issue 287 • •
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Mae West: No Mopes at Mapes

MAE WEST entertained thousands of Mae-mavens at The Mapes — — and her fans remembered how she lit up the Sky Room.
• • Happy memories of the Mapes Hotel outlasted lingering anger over its implosion 10 years ago, as 200 people gathered Sunday [31 January 2010] for a celebration of the downtown icon, according to reporter Bill O'Driscoll of the online news outlet RGJ.com.
• • "I was there opening night in 1947," said Harry Spencer, longtime area publicist and writer. "Overnight, the whole atmosphere of Reno changed from honky-tonk cow town to upscale. Reno truly was cosmopolitan."
• • According to sports betting expert Ross Everett, The Mapes Hotel in Reno, Nevada was an important part of Northern Nevada history. Ushering in a new era in casino gambling, The Mapes was actually the first property in the country to combine a hotel, casino, and live entertainment under the same roof.
• • Name the stars of the day, and they likely appeared on the Mapes stages, Harry Spencer recalled, remembering fondly the excitement of the legendary Mae West, who performed for a standing room only audience in the elegant window-walled Sky Room Lounge on the 11th floor. Live stage shows also billed big-name entertainers such as Liberace, Milton Berle, Nelson Eddy, Sammy Davis Jr., Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Debbie Reynolds, Wayne Newton, Dean Martin, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and Milton Berle.
• • Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe stayed there while shooting "The Misfits" film.
• • After enjoying a long bout of prosperity, The Mapes foundered and closed in 1982 and was demolished in 2000 despite attempts to preserve it.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Crestfallen in Creston

A MAE WEST mannequin, Hollywood costumes and props, and a long-standing dream are becalmed in California. A once jubilant vision is in ruins amid the chromatical consonant clatter of bankruptcy court procedures, suing, and counter-suing.
• • Two worried faces are hovering over the fragments, the remnants, the splintered bits of romantic yearning. Actress Debbie Reynolds and her son Todd Fisher own this wealth of Tinseltown memorabilia — — such as costumes worn by Mae West, ruby slippers crafted for “The Wizard of Oz” star Judy Garland, a white halter-top dress wind-blown around the legs of Marilyn Monroe in “The Seven Year Itch,” and assorted pop culture valuables — — are all part of The Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum, a nonprofit corporation formed by Fisher and his mom.
• • Unfortunately, these carefully stored treasures are also part of a lawsuit due to mounting debts owed to lenders.
• • During her tenure in the movie business, Debbie Reynolds had the chance to purchase costumes, props, and other signifiers she had planned to display in a museum so they could be preserved and enjoyed by movie buffs amid the lullaby of placid vowels sounds: ahhhh and oooohh. In the meantime, some of these artifacts are in a vault and others have been stored on Todd Fisher’s farm in Creston, California as the mother and son worked with developers to find a supportive site for this enterprise. Since things have gone awry, this permanent exhibition might have to be sold off, piece by piece, to pay back some investors, Todd Fisher told reporters. Sad. Very sad situation for all involved.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Imitated

She's 77, still unsinkable, and she's doing an imitation of MAE WEST in a cabaret show in Manhattan not far from where the Empress of Sex once lived with sister Beverly.
• • Born in El Paso, Texas on 1 April 1932, Debbie Reynolds is an actress — — and currently describing herself as a vaudevillian.
• • Included in her little bit of this, little bit of that act are celebrity impersonations of Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Zsa Zsa Gabor (advising Paris Hilton), Barbra Streisand, and others she knew.
• • Before launching into a Judy Garland [10 June 1922 — 22 June 1969] medley, Debbie confided that she and the troubled vocalist were neighbors who used to bend an elbow together. It's left unsaid which woman could outperform the other at the bar but — — at a microphone — — let's just say that Garland's reputation is still safe.
• • Debbie Reynolds will entertain her fans through 27 June 2009 at Café Carlyle [Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, New York, NY; (212) 744-1600]. If you go, tell us what you think of her impersonations.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Debbie Does

Debbie Reynolds, who once collected costumes and apparel worn by MAE WEST, will now be stepping into her shoes.
• • The youthful 74-year-old performer will star in a string of concerts this winter, including a show in Las Vegas for New Year's Eve. "They call it a concert show. I still call it a vaudeville show," the perky actress told a reporter recently. Reynolds adds, "I do my impressions" — — and these include MAE WEST, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, along with Zsa Zsa Gabor advising Paris Hilton.
• • Born Mary Frances Reynolds on 1 April 1932 in El Paso, Texas, the performer is now "more uninhibited than ever," opines The Advocate.
• • A career-making role was her portrayal of Titanic survivor Molly Brown in the buoyant blockbuster "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" [1964], which was nominated for six Oscars, and scooped up several accolades.
• • Asked, "Why do you think gay men in particular adore you?" Debbie Reynolds was on message. Listen to her canny [canned?] response: Well, because I adore them, I understand their lifestyle and the situations that life has presented to them. I admire how well they handle it. I am for them. I am their "mother at large," let's say. I appreciate all the hardship they have had to go through just to convince somebody that they were wonderful ... and not to be put down because of a lifestyle. It's not like you picked it out of a hat, but it's all yours. It would be much better if people in the world understand and accept and love you for you. ...
— — information was extracted and modified from this source: — —
• • The Advocate — — Advocate.com
• • Posted on Advocate.com || Q & A || 5 December 2007
• • Article: The Unsinkable Debbie Reynolds
• • The legend gabs with Greg Archer about her upcoming return to the stage, her loyal gay fans, and how Hollywood has changed since her heyday.
• • Byline: Greg Archer
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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