Mae West: Hoosier Hoedown

It's been years since MAE WEST toured the midwest so happy Hoosiers are hand-clapping about her revisiting next month.
• • The upcoming season of the Lawrence County Concert Association revolves around the theme "Stars of the Silver Screen," with "appearances" by Mae West, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, and possibly Marilyn Monroe or Frank Sinatra.
• • On Saturday, 26 September 2009, ticket-holders will enjoy a performance of "Red Hot Hollywood" with actress Maggie Timan slinking into the spotlight as the Empress of Sex.
• • Just announced is this event — — From the silver screen to the stage, Matt Davenport Productions, Inc. presents a thrilling "red carpet" review of Hollywood's greatest music memories. A versatile cast of eleven sing, dance, and recreate magical movie memories.
• • Get details from the Lawrence County Concert Association of Bedford, Indiana by phoning 812-279-6542. Tell them the Mae West Blog pointed you in their direction.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West: On March 2nd

Two actors who co-starred with MAE WEST in "Go West Young Man" died on the second day of March.
• • Born in Virginia, Randolph Scott [23 January 1898 — 2 March 1987] was a motion picture actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. He played the part of meek and mild Bud Norton in Paramount Pictures release "Go West Young Man" [1936] when he was 38 years old.
• • Randolph Scott died in Beverly Hills at age 89 on March 2nd in 1987.
• • Born in Pittsburgh and raised in Nebraska, Lyle Talbot [8 February 1902 — 2 March 1996] was an actor best known for playing Joe Randolph on TV's harmless time-waster "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" as well as his lengthy film career. Lyle Talbot began his movie career under contract to Warner Brothers in the early days of "the talkies" and went on to appear in more than 150 films, first as a young matinée idol and later as a character actor and star of assorted B movies. He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and later served on the board.
• • He portrayed the amusing Irish Catholic politician Francis X. Harrigan who pursues blonde vixen Mavis Arden in "Go West Young Man" when he was 34 years old. Talbot also appeared onscreen opposite many famous actresses including Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, Mary Astor, Ginger Rogers, and Shirley Temple.
• • Interesting coincidence: three of his four children went into journalism. Stephen Talbot (who also played Gilbert Bates on "Leave it to Beaver") is a documentary producer for the PBS series "Frontline"; David Talbot is the founder and editor of Salon.com; and Margaret Talbot is a staff writer for The New Yorker.
• • Lyle Talbot died in San Francisco, California at age 94 on March 2nd in 1996.
• • In "Go West Young Man" — — released on 18 November 1936 — — Mae West stepped into a role created as a Broadway comedy that poked fun at "Hollywood dementia" and featured Gladys George [1900 — 1954] in the role of a sultry jezebel. The long-running stage hit told the story of a movie star and diva, Carole Arden, who is on a tour giving personal appearances to promote her latest film, "Drifting Lady." Her car breaks down, which leads to her amorous encounter with a young, handsome gas station attendant, Chester "Bud" Norton.
• • This Mae West vehicle made the East Coast playwright Lawrence Riley [1896 — 1974] an accidental screenwriter when he revised his Broadway play for Paramount Pictures. And at last he got his chance to experience "Hollywood dementia" first-hand.
• • The cast of "Go West Young Man" included:
• • Mae West — — Mavis Arden
• • Warren William — — Morgan
• • Randolph Scott — — Bud Norton
• • Alice Brady — — Mrs. Struthers
• • Elizabeth Patterson — — Aunt Kate Barnaby
• • Lyle Talbot — — Francis X. Harrigan
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1936 • •
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Mae West: Texas Elite

MAE WEST featured saloons and gambling joints in her motion pictures. Now word has come to light about an elite underground casino the actress had visited in Arlington, Texas during the 1930s.
• • According to journalist Michael E. Young: Before this was Arlington Baptist and before it was Bible Baptist Seminary, these 46 acres on West Division Street were known by another name: the lilting Top O' Hill Terrace. And in the 1930s and '40s, it was the fanciest gambling joint around — — a forerunner to Las Vegas looming over the Texas plains.
• • Top O' Hill was the vision of Fred Browning, who had run some gambling operations in Fort Worth, Texas but was weary of the efforts of the Rev. J. Frank Norris of the First Baptist Church to put him out of business.
• • He bought the property in 1926 from a pair of sisters who'd operated a tea room and garden there and promptly dug a 6,000-square-foot basement beneath the restaurant for a casino and showroom large enough to house the big bands of the day.
• • Vickie Bryant, wife of Arlington Baptist president David Bryant and a tenacious investigator of the school's history, said Mr. Browning and Dr. Norris were inextricably linked.
• • Even as Mr. Browning built his casino's reputation, attracting many of America's best-known players to his tables, Dr. Norris fought to shut him down, vowing that one day, "We will own that place."
• • Mrs. Bryant recounts their stories before leading the tours through the old Top O' Hill's attractions. And she still marvels "how God has taken this place from poker to preachers."
• • When Mr. Browning bought the property, he told his wife, Mary, that he'd build a fortress there, "so those pesky Baptists and the law couldn't break in," Dallas historian and writer Jim Gatewood said.
• • And that's exactly what Mr. Browning did.
• • Twenty guards, some working with attack dogs, protected the property. It took a password, repeated several times at various points, to gain access to the stairway leading down to the casino. And Mr. Browning ordered his staff to ensure the anonymity of his guests.
• • But over the years, names trickled out — — Mae West, Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Tom Mix, and Howard Hughes. John Wayne visited. So did Frank Sinatra.
• • Gangster Bugsy Siegel gambled there, and so did Bonnie and Clyde. A young Ginger Rogers tap-danced there. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra entertained, and so did fan dancer Sally Rand.
• • Top O' Hill drew Texas' new oil millionaires, too, including H.L. Hunt, Mrs. Bryant said.
• • The subterranean casino deterred too much snooping. But gambling was illegal in Texas, and Dr. Norris, Mr. Browning's nemesis, rarely rested.
• • So he designed the place with hidden rooms to hide the gaming tables and slot machines and built an escape tunnel so gamblers could scramble to the nearby "tea garden." There, food and drinks were always set out so arriving Texas Rangers would find the guests relaxed and happy in the hilltop garden.
• • Still, word spread and the raids began in 1935, with at least four more through 1947, when Texas Ranger Capt. M.T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas led several officers through an open doorway, arresting dozens of gamblers and staff and destroying the gambling paraphernalia. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Arlington Baptist College offers tours of grounds' casino past
• • Byline: Michael E. Young
• • Published in: The Dallas Morning News
• • Published on: 8 November 2008
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: August 1962

During the 1930s, MAE WEST's motion pictures had exclusive engagements at both the New York Paramount and the Brooklyn Paramount [385 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201] near DeKalb Avenue.
• • The Brooklyn Eagle reminds us of this: During its heyday, up to 4,000 patrons at a time sat to watch movies accompanied by “colossal” stage shows at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre.
• • The last show on August 22,1962 attracted around 300 patrons to see a John Wayne feature.
• • Gracing its ornate stage during its reign as the mecca of Brooklyn entertainment were such celebrities as Mae West, Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Rudy Vallee, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, and most of the big band era orchestras.
• • Basketball fans now sit to watch Long Island University games in the former movie palace auditorium.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: On This Day in History: August 22 — — Paramount’s Last Picture Show
• • By Brooklyn Eagle — — www.brooklyneagle.com/
• • Published online: 22 August 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Brooklyn Paramount • • circa 1932 • •
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Mae West: At the Paramount

MAE WEST returns to the Brooklyn Paramount on Friday 25 April 2008.
• • An all-day conference "Vaudeville at the Paramount" will be presented at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus and offer rare film clips along with panels including radio legend Joe Franklin, critic Dave Kehr and screenwriter Norman Steinberg, and a reception.
• • Once a prestigious Brooklyn landmark, the historic Paramount Theatre enjoyed a heyday during the Prohibition Era.
• • The wide-ranging cultural impact of vaudeville and the historic Brooklyn Paramount Theatre in the 1920s and 30s will be the topic of a special conference at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus on Friday, April 25, 2008. Featuring panels with writers, critics, and researchers along with rare film clips, a musical performance and reception, the event is free and open to the public.
• • The conference, entitled Vaudeville at the Brooklyn Paramount, will recall the history of the famed Paramount theatre — — now part of the Brooklyn Campus — — and explore the vaudeville variety art form and its influence on American popular culture in the twentieth century. More than ten scheduled speakers will include Dave Kehr, film critic for The New York Times; Norman Steinberg, writer of Blazing Saddles now teaching screenwriting at the Brooklyn Campus; and Joe Franklin, talk show icon and host of the weekly Memory Lane program on WOR.
• • Popularized in venues throughout the United States as accessible entertainment for the whole family, vaudeville performances included acts from the worlds of music, acrobatics, dance, comedy, trained animals and magic. When the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre opened in 1928 as a destination for viewing the new talkie films, it included vaudeville with the cinema offerings, drawing performers such as MAE WEST, Ginger Rogers, Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Ethel Merman. Although vaudeville was eclipsed by radio, film and television, it left an indelible influence on formats for diverse and democratic nightlife.
• • "Vaudeville at the Brooklyn Paramount" will take place in the Spike Lee Screening Room, LLC 122, on the Brooklyn Campus, located near Flatbush and DeKalb avenues in downtown Brooklyn, on Friday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A reception with a performance by the Sol Yaged Quartet will begin at 5 p.m. The event is open and free to the public.
• • Info: contact Michael Hittman, professor of anthropology at (718) 488-1185; or Joseph Dorinson, professor of history, at (718) 488-1191.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West : 9 November 2007

Come up and see MAE on 9 November 2007 — — in California.
• • In 1925, the beautiful Stanford Theatre opened, serving for decades as Palo Alto's premier movie house. A roster of the best classic films can be found here. And on Friday 9 November 2007, they will be showing a double feature of two black and white films released in 1933.
• • In "I'm No Angel," Mae West plays a cooch dancer and a lion tamer named Tira, who tells Cary Grant "Come Up and see me sometime — any time."
• • It's billed with "Rafter Romance." Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster co-star as people who share a Greenwich Village apartment on different shifts who fall in love outside the place's walls. Robert Benchley guest stars.
• • The Stanford Theatre Foundation is dedicated to bringing back the authentic movie-going experience of Hollywood's Golden Age. Classic Hollywood directors never intended you to watch their pictures on a video screen in your living room (or while jogging). The magic of the movies depends on a larger-than-life image and the shared reactions of a large audience.
• • The Stanford Theatre: 221 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA — T: (650) 324-3700
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
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Mae West: April 1974

MAE WEST was prominently featured in the April 1974 issue of Ms Magazine. Their cover story — — "What Movies Have Done to Women" — — featured Hollywood blondes such as Mae, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Ginger Rogers, Marion Davies, Alice Faye, Doris Day, along with non-blondes such as Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, etc.
• • Of all the blondes, Ms decided that Jean Harlow and Mae West were the most interesting — — and the Art Director filled three-quarters of a page with Mae's photo.
• • Ms noted that Mae West "swaggered from one artificial costume epic to another, writing her own scripts, and emanating her brand of vulgarity and ribald comedy. ..." Her nine films were "enough to convulse the censors."
• • Calling Mae a "self-styled drag queen," Ms concluded that it was not the actress's appearance that riled the censors but rather that Mae West "as author and star, controlled plots and manipulated males with the deftness of a puppeteer. ..."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in vaudeville • • circa 1916
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