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MAE WEST recorded a popular old standard in her album "The Fabulous Mae West" [for MCA Records, Inc., 100 Universal Plaza, Universal City, California] — — "All of Me" by two Michigan composers Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons. Marks became best known for the song "All of Me," which he co-wrote in 1931 with bandleader Seymour Simons, and which has been recorded more than 1,000 times (including four versions by Frank Sinatra).
• • Born in Detroit, Michigan in the month of January — — on 14 January 1896 — — Seymour Simons was a pianist, composer, radio producer, and an orchestra leader. After completing his military service in World War I, Simons returned to his hometown and built a reputation as a piano player and songwriter, providing material for stage stars Elsie Janis and Nora Bayes. He collaborated with Bayes and others on songs. Simons worked in radio production and booking from 1928 — 1932 and led an orchestra on the radio in the early 1930s. An enduring hit, "All of Me" has been honored with something called the “Towering Song” award given by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000.
• • Seymour Simons did not live to see this award. He died in Detroit on 12 February 1949. Simons was 53 years old.
• • On Tuesday, 14 January 1930 • •
• • As the Los Angeles engagement of "Diamond Lil" was winding down, a nerve-wracking telegram arrived. The condition of Matilda West was worsening; the cancer had spread to her liver. Mae West hired a private train. On 14 January 1930 — — after their last performance in California — — Mae and the cast left for Brooklyn, New York.
• • The death of 59-year-old Matilda West in January 1930 "was a staggering blow," admitted Mae, who was inconsolable and devastated by the loss of her beloved mother.
• • On Friday, 14 January 1938 • •
• • In the month of January, "Every Day's a Holiday" debuted in the USA on a weekend — — Friday, 14 January 1938.
• • It was the first Mae West film that failed to make money, unfortunately, and Paramount Pictures cut ties with her..
• • On Wedneday, 14 January 1959 • •
• • When he was hired in to help Mae West get her memoir together, ghostwriter Stephen Longstreet may have discussed autobiography's conventions — — the expected triumphs won after disappointments, the lessons learned from hard knocks, and the struggles along the way. Their collaboration during 1957 — 1958 produced a manuscript published in hardcover by Prentice-Hall on Wednesday, 14 January 1959. Using a well-worn comeback borrowed from the speakeasy hostess Texas Guinan, Mae titled her life story "Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It."
• • On Saturday, 14 January 1995 • •
• • The article "TNF and Mae West or: death from too much of a good thing" was published in the respected medical journal The Lancet, Volume 345, Issue 8942, Pages 75 — 76, the issue dated for 14 January 1995.
• • Unlike being in the company of Mae, hanging around with TNF is no fun. It means tumor necrosis factor. Yikes. But a medical researcher out there does have a sense of humor and we are applauding by posting the citation in The Lancet.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “A man can be short, bald, and dumpy — — but if he has fire, women will like him.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A remembrance about Van and Schenck mentioned Jack West and Mae West.
• • Joe Schenck rehearsed with Mae and his musicians in a clubhouse located at 70-12 Cypress Hills, Ridgewood, NY.
• • Born in Brooklyn, New York on 2 June 1891, Joseph Thuma Schenck was a musician, a pianist, and a singer with strong ambitions.
• • Schenck died at age 39 while working in Detroit on 28 June 1930.
• • Joe's partner was Gus Van [12 August 1886 —12 March 1968].
• • Thanks go to the venerable Ridgewood Times for this fascinating account (below).
• • Walter Hutter’s column in the March 24, 1977 issue of the Ridgewood Times contained a letter about the vaudeville stars Gus Van and Joe Schenck, who had been Mae's boyfriend around 1912 when she was 19. They stayed in touch and she attended some of his night club performances.
• • “Dear Sir:
• • “I wonder how many people from Ridgewood remember a famous pair of singers by the name of Gus Van and Joe Schenck? Their first vaudeville engagement as headliners came at the Bushwick Theatre in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
• • “Later, the two made the Ziegfeld Follies for several years. They made ‘talkies.’ They had a triumphant visit to London and sang at the famous Kit-Kat Club where the Prince of Wales was a frequent visitor.
• • “After the Madison Theatre was built, they were back in their hometown, making an appearance at this theater. What a show they made and how the people enjoyed it. Many were old friends and neighbors, and fellows they’d worked with. What a show! I had the privilege to see them twice that week. Everyone had a wonderful time. The audience enjoyed encore after encore. I wonder how many people from Ridgewood remember?”
• • Walter Hutter commented: “From pre-World War I days to 1930, Van and Schenck were perhaps vaudeville’s greatest singing team. Both were closely associated with our neighborhood — Gus Van from Ridgewood was born about 1888 [birthdate correction: 12 August 1886] and Joe Schenck from Glendale, in 1895 [birthdate correction: 2 June 1891].
• • An introduction by Jack West • •
• • “They discovered each other in a tavern at Knickerbocker and Willoughby Avenues, their meeting coming through an introduction by Jack West, father of Mae West. Mae was another famous personality with a Ridgewood background.
• • “In their early years as a team, Gus Van would sing, while Joe Schenck played the piano. Later on, they sang together.
• • “There was no limit to their fields of public exposure. They ran the whole gamut of nationwide vaudeville, radio, movies and stage, almost without pause. They also toured all of Europe. Vaudeville was at its peak during years together. It’s estimated that in 1928, some two million people were daily attending vaudeville performances.
• • “In 1930, Joe Schenck [born 1891] died suddenly while staying at a Detroit hotel. He was only 35 years old [correction: Joe was 39]. Despondent for six months, Gus Van went back to work and finished his career as a successful solo performer. He was active up to just a few years before his death in 1968.
• • The Van and Schenck Club in Glendale • •
• • “So popular were they in the early part of the century that a local club was formed in their honor. Called the Van and Schenck Club, it was created by the efforts of Glendale and Ridgewood fans who’d known the showmen in their youth.
• • “For a while, the club was located at Bleecker Street and Irving Avenue. Later on, it was at Wyckoff and Irving Avenues and finally in 1927, it moved to 70-12 Cypress Hills Street, a short distance from the old Dietz coalyards. The property was sold to a private party in 1960. The club disbanded some years later.”
• • Old Timer’s note — Van and Schenck were among the first stars to sign for what was regarded as “big money” to appear on radio back in the latter part of the 1920s. They were contracted to do a 15-minute daily show for 13 weeks at $2,000 a week. ...
• • Source: The Old Timer, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 860299, Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386-0299 — — http://www.timesnewsweekly.com
• • Did Jack West really introduce Van to Joe Schenk, his daughter's boyfriend? There is more than one account of how the men met.• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2177th 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 1937 • •
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Mae West.
Though we are not big fans of the 1982 TV bio-pic about MAE WEST, the actress who played Mae's beloved mother onscreen was born today.
• • Cast in this televised production as Matilda West, Piper Laurie's birthname was Rosetta Jacobs. The little redhead was born in Detroit, Michigan in the month of January — — on 22 January 1932 — — the daughter of a Polish immigrant and his Russian-American wife.
• • Mae West's Playboy Interview on iPad • • 
• • “Is that an iPad in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” — — Mae West would most likely enjoy the opportunities that our media-driven world now offers for more people to be happy to see her. According to F.C. Etier: Whether you’re using the new Playboy Hard Drive or looking forward to the just announced Playboy feature (about to be available on iPad) to fill your eyes with beautiful models, opportunities abound. . . . On Thursday, 19 January 2011, Hugh Hefner announced (via his “official” Twitter account) that Playboy (archives and new issues) would be available “uncensored” on iPad. . . . [Source: Technorati.com, 21 January 2011]
• • On Mae West Street • •
• • According to John D'Anna, who reports for The Arizona Republic: Last year Bob Urdiales and his neighbors on Mae West Street at Superstition Sunrise RV Resort set the record for the world's longest salad bar. This year's party has a Love Boat shipwreck theme, playing off the idea that — — in addition to being a bawdy comedienne — — a Mae West is also a life preserver. ... [Source: AZCentral.com, 21 January 2011]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1928 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST adored ragtime. She once told an interviewer about grooving very early to "the black man's sound." Whether she was imitating the sultry Shimmy she watched in a Chicago club or swinging to the latest jam she heard in Harlem, Mae's musical taste was in formation: "we copied it because it was the greatest. [Black people] had been developing it for years."
• • In 1928, she performed a rag that she especially loved onstage in "Diamond Lil" and its Hollywood counterpart "She Done Him Wrong" [1933]. The lyricist and composer of this song — — "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone" — — was Shelton Brooks [4 May 1886 — 6 September 1975], who published it around 1913. He was good friends with Mae's maid Bea Jackson; his nickname for her was "Hot Story Telling."
• • Born in Amesburg, Ontario, Canada, Shelton Brooks moved to Detroit in 1901 with his family; his parents were Native American and Black. His father was a preacher and Shelton and his brother would play the organ during services.
• • Surrounded by music, Shelton wrote his first big hit in 1910 — — "Some of These Days" — — using his own lyrics. He had already introduced the song in his own vaudeville act when Sophie Tucker's maid introduced both him and the tune to Sophie. The vaudevillian, who would eventually style herself as "the Last of the Red Hot Mamas," made this number her very own theme song.
• • "Walkin' the Dog" • •
• • His 1916 instrumental tune "Walkin' the Dog" inspired a dance that first swept dancehall-crazed New York City, and then the rest of the country. That year, the variety act "Mae West and Sister" performed "Walkin' the Dog" as their grand finale.
• • A lifelong lover of black culture, Mae's ears were drawn to the relaxed, finger-snappy Shelton Brooks sound.
• • "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone" — — Shelton Brooks's playful song, which Mae performed in 1933 in her first blockbuster hit film, was also been recorded by a diverse group of song stylists such as Tampa Red & His Hokum Jug Band, Sophie Tucker, Liza Minnelli, Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon, Peter Bocage, Kid Thomas Valentine, Le Petit Jazzband de Mr. Morel, and others.
• • On September 6th, Shelton Brooks died in Los Angeles in 1975 when he was 89 years old. He is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone" [lyrics] • •
• • • • Miss Susie Johnson is a crazy as can be
• • • • About that easy riding kid they call Jockey Lee
• • • • Now, don't you think it's funny, only bets her money
• • • • In the race friend Jockey's goin' to be
• • • • There was a race down at the track the other day
• • • • And Susie got an inside tip right away
• • • • She bet a hundred to one that her little Hon
• • • • Would bring home all the mon
• • • • When she found out Jockey was not there
• • • • Miss Susie cried out in despair....
• • • • I wonder where my easy rider's gone today
• • • • He never told me he was goin' away
• • • • If he was here he'd win the race
• • • • If not first, he'd get a place
• • • • I never saw that Jockey trailing anyone before
• • • • I'm losing my money, that's why I am blue
• • • • To win a race, Lee knows just what to do
• • • • I'd put all my junk in pawn
• • • • To bet on any horse that Jockey's on
• • • • Oh! I wonder where my easy rider's gone
• • • • Oh! I wonder where my easy rider's gone
• • • • He went to put my brand new watch in pawn
• • • • I see him comin' round that turn
• • • • What a trail that man can burn
• • • • He's gonna win because my dough is on the nose
• • • • Just watch my Jockey's easy rider stance
• • • • He'll hit that home stretch, win it by a mile
• • • • I want him to win this spree
• • • • And keep a-goin' till he comes to me
• • • • Oh! I wonder where my easy rider's gone
• • • • Oh! I wonder where my easy rider's gone
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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Mae West.
Some exceedingly peculiar artists were fascinated by MAE WEST — — including Ray Johnson.
• • During the 1950s, Ray Johnson began using images of Mae in his artwork in a way that anticipated the 1960s works of Pop artists (such as Warhol).
• • Born in Detroit, Michigan, Ray Edward Johnson (1927 — 1995) was a seminal figure of the Pop Art movement. Primarily a collagist, Johnson was also an early performance and conceptual artist. Once called “New York’s most famous unknown artist," he is considered the “Founding Father of Mail Art" and pioneered the incorporation and use of language in the visual arts.
• • Until his death in 1995, Johnson continued his work in collage, sent out volumes of mail art, and staged numerous performances. He became increasingly reclusive, however. As his contemporaries became famous, Johnson cultivated his role as an outsider, parodying celebrity through performances, fake openings, and photocopy-machine art. From 1982 on, he repeatedly refused offers from numerous galleries to exhibit his art, and for the last five years of his life, he refused all public exhibitions of his works. On 13 January 1995, Ray Johnson’s body was found floating in a small cove in Sag Harbor, NY. He was 67 years old.
• • An ambitious posthumous show at the Richard L. Feigen Gallery — — which opened on 29 April 2009 (and which runs through the end of July 2009) — — illustrates the shared interests and iconography of Ray Johnson, Salvador Dali, and Andy Warhol. This exhibition displays an exciting selection of previously unexhibited collages by Ray Johnson that showcase his distinct and incessant layering of re-appropriated imagery from Surrealism, high culture, and Pop Art. The three artists all exploited celebrity — — both their own and others’ — — and constructed powerful personae that were an integral part of their work. While Dali and Warhol sought the limelight in order to promote their art, Johnson was more interested in dodging in and out of it and became famous for being ‘unknown.’
• • Recently, Karen Rosenberg, Art Critic for The New York Times, visited the exhibition, which was organized by an independent curator, Frédérique Joseph-Lowery. She had many things to say about Ray's muses such as Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, the Mona Lisa, and Jackie Kennedy.
• • Karen Rosenberg writes: It’s a scholarly undertaking with a mischievous edge, replete with dissertation-worthy dissections of Johnson’s wordplay and iconography but able to wink at his subversions of gender and other nods to gay subculture. There’s also a frisson of glamour. Songs by the Velvet Underground, Debbie Harry and other Factory scenesters play in the gallery, along with audio excerpts from movies starring Mae West and Marilyn Monroe.
• • Karen Rosenberg observes: Mae West’s famous line becomes “Come Op and See Me Sometime,” a reference to Op Art. Likewise, Meret Oppenheim’s surname is rewritten as “Openheim” and her most famous work — — the fur-lined teacup — — conjured with a patch of plush leopard-print fabric. . . . .
• • If you happen to be in Manhattan (or en route to The Big Apple), the playful, mischievous, and provocative exhibit “Ray Johnson ... Dalí/ Warhol/ and Others” continues through 31 July 2009 at Richard L. Feigen & Company, 34 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10021; T. (212) 628-0700.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST adored ragtime. She once told an interviewer about grooving very early to "the black man's sound." Whether she was imitating the sultry Shimmy she watched in a Chicago club or swinging to the latest jam she heard in Harlem, Mae's musical taste was in formation: "we copied it because it was the greatest. [Black people] had been developing it for years."
• • In 1928, she performed a rag that she especially loved onstage in "Diamond Lil" and its Hollywood counterpart "She Done Him Wrong" [1933]. The lyricist and composer of this song — — "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone" — — was Shelton Brooks [4 May 1886 — 6 September 1975], who published it around 1913. He was good friends with Mae's maid Bea Jackson; his nickname for her was "Hot Story Telling."
• • Born in Canada in the month of May, Shelton Brooks moved to Detroit in 1901 with his family; his parents were Native American and Black. His father was a preacher and Shelton and his brother would play the organ during services.
• • Surrounded by music, Shelton wrote his first big hit in 1910 — — "Some of These Days" — — using his own lyrics. He had already introduced the song in his own vaudeville act when Sophie Tucker's maid introduced both him and the tune to Sophie. The vaudevillian, who would eventually style herself as "the Last of the Red Hot Mamas," made this number her very own theme song.
• • "Walkin' the Dog" • • • • His 1916 instrumental tune "Walkin' the Dog" inspired a dance that first swept dancehall-crazed New York City, and then the rest of the country. That year, the variety act "Mae West and Sister" performed "Walkin' the Dog" as their grand finale.
• • Shelton Brooks died in Los Angeles in 1975 when he was 89 years old. He is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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Mae West.
During her career, diamond diva MAE WEST loved to pile on the glitter — — thereby inspiring one man's career and personal outlook.
• • The famed costume jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane, now 77 years old, launched his career as a shoe designer.
• • However, as a little boy in Detroit, he said, he liked to draw and he had never planned to be a jewelry designer. And when he saw Mae West, wearing "lots and lots" of jewelry in a movie, he began to draw sketches of her. "I once drew a picture of my mother," he told a reporter. "She came out looking like Mae West."
• • Now enjoying a retrospective showing of his "Fabulous Fakes" collection in Long Island [at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay], Kenneth Jay Lane is yukking it up with news men and dropping names to polish up his anecdotes.
• • Young Kenny from Michigan, totally fascinated by Diamond Lil, eventually found his stairway to success. And bling went the strings of some hearts.• • 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.
It was exactly 75 years ago — — on 16 January 1934 — — that MAE WEST gave testimony in the trial of Edward Friedman, who had robbed her.
• • This coverage appeared in the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express:
• • OFFICERS GUARD MOVIE QUEEN AT TRIAL AFTER THREATS BY GANGSTERS • •
• • Amid a chorus of masculine and feminine "oh's" and "ah's," alluring Mae West herself, a riot of color and beauty, swept thorough the courtroom of Judge Harry Sewell this morning in a grand entrance before her audience, took the witness stand and told her story of how she was robbed of $12,000 worth of diamonds and $3,400 in cash.
• • Her appearance was that of the complaining star witness at the trial of Edward Friedman, charged with being one of the robber gang, and it created as much of a sensation in the crowded courtroom as at any Mae West premiere.
• • "The man with the gun said to me, ‘Give me the poke,'" Miss West testified.
• • "My purse was on the seat beside me and the bandit reached over for it. I figured he wanted it, so I picked it up and gave it to him."
• • LAVISH GESTURES • •
• • Here the lovely Mae illustrated with lavish gestures and with the aid of a brocade purse how she generously handed over her purse to a man with the gun.
• • But if she had figured that was to save her sparklers, it was a wrong move, she admitted ruefully.
• • "Then he said, ‘Give me that ring,'" she continued. "So I did. It was a diamond ring."
• • ACTRESS GUARDED • •
• • At this moment a court recess was called. Mae's screen of protective detectives and investigators closed in around her. They were there, to see that no gangster took a shot at her because of telephone threats made against her, but they acted as gallant lackeys as well.
• • "Wouldn't you like a drink of water" asked the first lucky man to reach the side of the attractive screen siren.
• • "Here's a seat for you, Miss West," interrupted another.
• • "I'm all right, boys — there's nothing wrong with me," purred the golden-haired Mae. "I'm feeling fine."
• • A Diamond Pendant Shaped Like a Champagne Bottle • •
• • The missing jewels, she already has complained, included a diamond pendant shaped like a champagne bottle, with the "laughing water" fizzing from its mouth; a diamond bracelet two inches wide and a diamond ring. The cash represented a week's pay for working in the movies.
• • Today she said she didn't want her "rocks" back, but only to find out who really took them.
Her bodyguard, Detective Lieutenants Joe Filkas and Frank "Lefty" James, were fulfilling their pleasurable task as a result of couple of anonymous telephone calls received by the blonde heroine of She Done Him Wrong and other screen hits, demanding that she stay away from Friedman's trial — — "or else."
• • However, those calls didn't bother the nonchalant Mae.
• • "I asked the guy who called me ‘So what?' and hung up on him," she drawled. "Say, phony calls and letters and stuff like that are all a part of a day's mail. I should get hot and bothered ...'
• • She said the man who called her had a 'heavy' voice.
• • "But that don't make him unusual, like a circus exhibit, exactly. Lotsa guys have deep voices, seems like I've observed," she added.
• • Friedman is said to have admitted the robbery, but later repudiated the confession, claiming it was given during a 'third degree' by police.
• • The other men also were indicted with him — Morris Cohen, alleged Detroit gangster, and Harry Voiler, who was with Miss West as a friend at the time the holdup was perpetrated. It was Voiler, according to Friedman's admission, who hired him to hold up Miss West. He is now in Chicago fighting extradition. Cohen never has been found.
— — Source: 1/16/1934 Evening Herald and Express — —
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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Mae West.
MAE WEST adored ragtime. 
She performed a rag that she especially loved onstage in "Diamond Lil" and its Hollywood counterpart "She Done Him Wrong." The lyricist and composer of this song — — "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone" — — was Shelton Brooks [4 May 1886 — 6 September 1975], who published it about 1913.
• • Born in Canada, Shelton Brooks moved to Detroit in 1901 with his family; his parents were Native American and Black. His father was a preacher and Shelton and his brother would play the organ during services.
• • Surrounded by music, Shelton wrote his first big hit in 1910 — — "Some of These Days" — — using his own lyrics. He had already introduced the song in his own vaudeville act when Sophie Tucker's maid introduced both him and the tune to Sophie. The vaudevillian, who would eventually style herself as "the Last of the Red Hot Mamas," made this number her very own theme song.
• • His 1916 instrumental tune "Walkin' The Dog" inspired a dance that first swept dancehall-crazed New York City, and then the rest of the country. In 1917, Brooks had another hit with "The Darktown Strutter's Ball," for which he wrote both the words and music.
• • It was in August [on 21 August 1971] — — on a TV program called "The Anthony Newley Show" — — that "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone" was performed by Liza Minnelli. Was Mae West watching Liza on television that evening?
• • Four years later, Shelton Brooks died in Los Angeles in 1975 when he was 89 years old. He is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's songwriter • • Shelton Brooks • •
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Mae West.
