Mae West: Mamie Szatkus

Imagine how MAE WEST must have felt in July 1937 when her elopement in Milwaukee in 1911 was being aired like faded, threadbare laundry — — in full view of her adoring public.
• • Time Magazine ran with this embarrassing exposure under the headline "Mr. Mae West" — — Last week in Superior Court in Los Angeles it was as obvious as Mae West's best curves that Mr. Mae West had taken her advice. Even her most devoted fans chortled when they read that her now-admitted hoofer husband's real name is not Wallace but Willities or Szatkus and that the Szatkus family always knew her as Mamie. "Mrs. Mamie Szatkus" was scarcely box-office for glamorous Mae West.
• • • • Mae West's 1935 income was $480,000 • • • •
• • Lawyers pondered the possible legal harvest of Mr. Mae West's suit. Under California law, property, except gifts, acquired by either husband or wife after marriage becomes community property, owned half & half by either spouse. Mae West's 1935 income was $480,000. Her current worth, mostly acquired since the 1911 wedding, is estimated as $3,000,000. Mae West's husband might not be tall, dark nor handsome but the inside of his head was apparently not as bald as the outside. He had said he wished to vindicate his honor, money was of secondary moment. Snorted Mrs. Szatkus last week, "We were married but we never lived together as man and wife." Snorted Mr. Szatkus' lawyer, "They offered us $30,000 to settle the case. . . . Mae West can have half of Wallace's [Szatkus'] possessions . . . . Next week we expect to apply for an injunction that will tie up all of Miss West's property in California." That his client's share-Mae-West's-wealth movement might be halted by California's community property law proviso that a separated wife's earnings are her own was poohed by Mr. Szatkus' Los Angeles lawyer who said the clause was discriminatory sex legislation and might be found unconstitutional. . . .
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Reflecting the statements from her alleged spouse Frank Wallace, Mae West replied: "I've gotten a lot of bunnies on Easter," she retorted in her throatiest, breast-heaving contralto, "but this is the first time I've ever received a husband. I've never heard of the fellow. I'm a spinster and I'm not 42. I was practically a child in 1911 and I never was in Milwaukee until four years ago. They'll have me married to triplets next! Let this alleged Mr. Mae West c'm' up and see my lawyer sometime and prove it!" [Time Magazine, Monday, 19 July 1937]
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • Plano, Texas reporter Ian Floyd writes about a gal who launched her showbiz career after a Mae West audition, and after a friend explained Mae was a pioneer for all actresses. Mr. Floyd explains: It was not long before Rhonda Medina decided to once again pursue an acting career. In 1994, she planned to move to Hollywood with her friends in time for pilot season. Her plans were halted by the Northridge earthquake that struck Los Angeles in January of that year. Then in 1995, she made the trip.
• • "When I got to Hollywood, I saw a flier for Mae West audition, and I also saw one for Marilyn Monroe," Medina said. "I was a huge Marilyn Monroe fan and I said to a friend who worked at Universal Studios in Florida, 'I have always wanted to be Marilyn Monroe.' He said, 'Well, I don't see you as a Marilyn, but I do see you as a Mae West.' I was kind of insulted. I thought, well isn't she some kind of overweight lady who walks around like she is a madam in a brothel? He said, 'She was a pioneer for women in Hollywood.'"
• • She was convinced. Rhonda Medina found old movies and bought books written by Mae West. She studied her inside and out. Once she was ready, she called Universal Studios to request an audition, but she quickly realized that approach would likely not lead to a job. Instead, she called the office a second time — — in character.
• • "I got on the phone and said, 'Hey, this is Mae West,'" Medina said, in the voice of Mae West. "'I want to come up and see you sometime, but I didn't know when your auditions are.' She put me through to a voice mail, and at then end of every voice mail there was, 'If this is an emergency please call such-and-such person at this extension.' I would leave a message there. Then I would go to the next voice mail and I left about 15 voice mails, one connected to the other." The next day someone returned her call. ...

• • Source: Article: "Encore Adult Daily Enrichment Center staffer gives guests the show of a lifetime" written by Ian Floyd, Staff Writer for the Plano Star-courier; posted on Tuesday, 19 July 2011
• • 17 July 2004 — 17 July 2011 • •
• • In mid-July the Mae West Blog celebrates its seventh anniversary. Thank you to all those Mae-mavens who come up and see Mae every day.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1997th 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 • • marriage license 1911 [top portion] • •
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Mae West: Kiss-Less Bride

There was a great deal of mayhem in the life of MAE WEST when her kiss-proof marriage to Frank Wallace was first exposed — — and divorce proceedings began.
• • As all Mae-Mavens know, on the morning of 11 April 1911, a teenager wed her 21-year-old co-star Frank Wallace [birthname: Frank Szatkus] in Milwaukee. He and Mae West had been performing at the Big Gaiety Theatre there, part of the Columbia Amusement Company, an Eastern burlesque wheel run by Henry Jacobs and John Jermon.
• • PHOTO: Yes, that's Mae, next to her bridegroom, showing off her new wedding ring in 1911.
• • Mae, who was still 17 when they eloped, had met the entertainer the previous year. Matchmaker Matilda West had gone backstage to tell this soft-shoe artist that she had a youngster who was a “comer” — — a good partner to pair up with.
• • A dark-haired, wiry acrobatic dancer, Frank Wallace was determined not to follow the example of his sedentary father, a Lithuanian tailor from Queens, New York. Threading his way through the vaudeville and burlesque circuit, he shared the bill with Mae West and Willie Hogan at Canarsie’s Waldo Casino in Brooklyn. In those days, they often rehearsed in the basement of the house that belonged to Mae’s parents. Following rehearsals, Matilda would serve a Bavarian supper of pig’s knuckles and sauerkraut.
• • When singing ragtime favorites — — like “Ragtime Rosie Ragged the Rosary” and “Everybody’s Doin’ It” — — West and Wallace consciously imitated black performers, sliding, shuffling, and stepping in a sultry, passionate, smooth style that brought them bookings in Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
• • According to Frank Wallace's account, after a few weeks of rehearsal, “we went on the Fox circuit. Later we signed with Jacobs and Jermon, the burlesque producers.”
• • Mae claimed she only wanted to get physical with Frank, not tie the knot. However, Etta Woods, an older singer on the bill with them, persuaded Mae that it was better to be married in case she got pregnant accidentally. After they said their vows, Mae insisted that the marriage be kept a secret from her family and their booking agents.
• • The length of their tour in “A Florida Enchantment” lasted a few months, after which Mae returned to her parents in Brooklyn and encouraged Wallace to join a different road company, which he did.
• • During the regional tour of "Diamond Lil" [1928 — 1929], Frank Wallace played a bartender. Here they are onstage, side by side, in the Midwest.
• • West and Wallace never lived together as man and wife. Their secret elopement only came to light when Mae became a Hollywood headliner in the 1930s and Frank, run down at the heels and looking for a meal ticket, decided to sue his successful wife. In July 1937, in response to a legal interrogatory, Mae finally was obliged to admit she had been married to her skinny dance partner, although she maintained she had been a "kiss-less bride."
• • In 1942, as they went to court, Frank Wallace was holding out for a costly $1,000 per month maintenance, charging that he had "subordinated" his career to his wife's after they wed. As a result, argued Wallace, she earned "fabulous sums" while his career languished.
• • Fortunately, Mae discovered that he had married Rae Blakesley in 1916 in NYC without seeking a divorce first, or even notifying her about this act of bigamy.
• • It was in the month of July — — on 19 July 1942 — — that Wallace agreed to drop his fight for alimony.
• • The final divorce decree was granted in 1943.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Reflecting upon her divorce from Frank Wallace, Mae West noted this about hastily tying the knot in 1911: "It was later proved to be some knot. The judge must have learned it from a sailor."
• • "He'll always remain in the wastebasket of my memories," West quipped on learning of the death of her former bridegroom Frank Wallace.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • "For over 30 years I have held this secret in my heart," said Frank Wallace. "I have complied with everything that Miss West wanted. She wanted a career but now I want a chance to tell my story ...."
• • Source: Article: "Mae West's Husband Drops Suit, Agrees to a Divorce" written by The United Press; published by The Pittsburgh Press on 19 July 1942
• • 17 July 2004 — 17 July 2011 • •
• • In mid-July the Mae West Blog celebrates its seventh anniversary. Thank you to all those Mae-mavens who come up and see Mae every day.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1996th 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 • • 1911 and 1929 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: Finalized

There was a great deal of mayhem in the life of MAE WEST when her marriage to Frank Wallace was first exposed — — and divorce proceedings began.
• • As all Mae-Mavens know, on the morning of 11 April 1911, a teenager wed her 21-year-old co-star Frank Wallace [birthname: Frank Szatkus] in Milwaukee. He and Mae West had been performing at the Big Gaiety Theatre there, part of the Columbia Amusement Company, an Eastern burlesque wheel run by Henry Jacobs and John Jermon.
• • Mae, who was still 17 when they eloped, had met the entertainer the previous year. Matchmaker Matilda West had gone backstage to tell this soft-shoe artist that she had a youngster who was a “comer” — — a good partner to pair up with.
• • A dark-haired, wiry acrobatic dancer, Frank was determined not to follow the example of his sedentary father, a Lithuanian tailor from Queens, New York. Threading his way through the vaudeville and burlesque circuit, he shared the bill with Mae West and Willie Hogan at Canarsie’s Waldo Casino in Brooklyn. In those days, they often rehearsed in the basement of the house that belonged to Mae’s parents. Following rehearsals, Matilda would serve a Bavarian supper of pig’s knuckles and sauerkraut.
• • When singing ragtime favorites — — like “Ragtime Rosie Ragged the Rosary” and “Everybody’s Doin’ It” — — West and Wallace consciously imitated black performers, sliding, shuffling, and stepping in a sultry, passionate, smooth style that brought them bookings in Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
• • According to Frank Wallace, after a few weeks of rehearsal, “we went on the Fox circuit. Later we signed with Jacobs and Jermon, the burlesque producers.”
• • Mae claimed she only wanted to sleep with Frank, not tie the knot. However, Etta Woods, an older singer on the bill with them, persuaded Mae that it was better to be married in case she got pregnant accidentally. After they said their vows, Mae insisted that the marriage be kept a secret from her family and their booking agents.
• • The length of their tour in “A Florida Enchantment” lasted a few months, after which Mae returned to her parents in Brooklyn and encouraged Wallace to join a different road company, which he did.
• • West and Wallace never lived together as man and wife. Their secret elopement only came to light when Mae became a Hollywood headliner in the 1930s and Frank, run down at the heels and looking for a meal ticket, decided to sue his successful wife.
• • The final divorce decree was granted in the month of May — — on 7 May 1943.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in Milwaukee Gaiety 1911 • •
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Mae West: Easter Honey

"I've gotten a lot of bunnies on Easter," Mae West retorted in her throatiest, breast-heaving contralto, when confronted by a Time Magazine reporter, "but this is the first time I've ever received a husband."
• • In 1937, Time was making an issue of "Mr. Mae West" in an article discussing the actress's secret marriage on 11 April 1911.
• • Here's what the article said about Mae's "Easter Honey" when she was 18 years old - - and perhaps afraid that she was pregnant:
• • Voluptuous, invitational Mae West, public passion of 50 million movie-going males, had to do last week the one thing every middle-aged woman hates most to do: admit having reached her middle forties. And she had to admit the other one thing that Mae West least wished to admit: that she is married.
• • Her marriage was not entirely news to Mae West's fans. Two years ago a female WPA researcher flipped a marriage card out of Milwaukee's registry which attested the wedding of one Mae West to one Frank Wallace, April 11, 1911 (TIME, May 6, 1935).
• • The Mae West then married was 18, would today be 44. Promptly Vaudeville Hoofer Frank Wallace popped up in Manhattan to boast that he was the man. But she would have none of him. "I've gotten a lot of bunnies on Easter," she retorted in her throatiest, breast-heaving contralto, "but this is the first time I've ever received a husband. I've never heard of the fellow. I'm a spinster and I'm not 42. I was practically a child in 1911 and I never was in Milwaukee until four years ago. They'll have me married to triplets next! Let this alleged Mr. Mae West c'm' up and see my lawyer sometime and prove it!"
• • Last week in Superior Court in Los Angeles it was as obvious as Mae West's best curves that Mr. Mae West had taken her advice. Even her most devoted fans chortled when they read that her now-admitted hoofer husband's real name is not Wallace but Willities or Szatkus and that the Szatkus family always knew her as Mamie. "Mrs. Mamie Szatkus" was scarcely box-office for glamorous Mae West.
• • Lawyers pondered the possible legal harvest of Mr. Mae West's suit. Under California law, property, except gifts, acquired by either husband or wife after marriage becomes community property, owned half & half by either spouse. Mae West's 1935 income was $480,000.
• • Her current worth, mostly acquired since the 1911 wedding, is estimated as $3,000,000.
• • Mae West's husband might not be tall, dark, nor handsome but the inside of his head was apparently not as bald as the outside. He had said he wished to vindicate his honor, money was of secondary moment. Snorted Mrs. Szatkus last week, "We were married but we never lived together as man and wife." Snorted Mr. Szatkus' lawyer, "They offered us $30,000 to settle the case. . . . Mae West can have half of Wallace's [Szatkus'] possessions. . . . Next week we expect to apply for an injunction that will tie up all of Miss West's property in California." That his client's share-Mae-West's-wealth movement might be halted by California's community property law proviso that a separated wife's earnings are her own was poohed by Mr. Szatkus' Los Angeles lawyer who said the clause was discriminatory sex legislation and might be found unconstitutional.
• • Source: Time Magazine
• • Published: Monday, 19 July 1937
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • to come • •
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Mae West.