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MAE WEST hired several extraordinary men for her "Mae West Revue" and, if she was looking for a Greek god type, she found it. On 27 June 1954, Mae West launched her innovative show at the Sahara Hotel in Vegas (built in 1952).
• • In 1957, this innovative sold-out stage show, which had toured from coast-to-coast, would close in Las Vegas — — again at the Sahara.• • Born in Shanghai, China in the month of January — — on 3 January 1934 — — Dan Vadis was 20 years old when he broke into show business. The six-foot-four athlete was friends with Gordon Mitchell [1923 — 2003], who had joined Mae's famous bodybuilder troupe along with Mickey Hargitay, Richard DuBois, Reg Lewis, Zabo Koszewski, etc. and made the proper introductions. [Sources that give a birthdate as January 1938 must be incorrect since Dan Vadis would have been only 16 years old in 1954.]
• • Of Greek descent, his birth certificate read Constantine Daniel Vafiadis and his build packed just as much heft as his name. In 1962, the muscular newcomer was cast in the starring role as Hercules in the sword-and-sandals classic "Colossus of the Arena" and its sequel.
• • Vadis made 27 motion pictures that made use of his impressive physique between 1962 — 1983, including a number of Clint Eastwood's tough guy spectacles such as "High Plains Drifter" [1972], "The Gauntlet" [1977], and "Bronco Billy" [1980].
• • Sad to say, handsome Dan Vadis died of a drug overdose on 11 June 1987 in wretched circumstances. He was 49 years old.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke [1917 — 1994] • •
• • Mae West worked with many colorful cast mates in "Sextette" [1978] including one gentleman who died in early January.
• • Born in the USA on 20 May 1917, Patrick Sullivan Burke often was placed in fantasy roles. His first role was as a leprechaun in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" [Walt Disney Productions, 1959]. Over the years he appeared in a dozen projects for TV and the big screen, cast variously as a witch, a soldier, a bartender.
• • In "Sextette" [1978], he played a live human being, namely the Irish Delegate. The same year he was seen in "Lord of the Rings" and he played the Head Angel on an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" before retiring.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke died in Las Vegas in the month of January — — on 3 January 1994. He was 76 years old.
• • On 3 January 1870 in Brooklyn • •
• • In one motion picture, Mae West played a shady lady who was trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to a foreigner. It was during the month of January — — exactly 140 years ago — — that the complex construction began [on 3 January 1870]. Completed over a dozen years later, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on 24 May 1883.
• • In January 1930 • •
• • Colonel Joy (a Will Hays appointee who read scenarios and scripts) began attending Mae West's stage performances in Los Angeles, and then he advised against employing her as a member of Universal's writing staff as early as January 1930.
• • In Movie Classic, January 1934 • •
• • One of the best Hollywood interviewers Ruth Biery wrote a lengthy article, "The Private Life of Mae West" and Part One was printed in the fan magazine Movie Classic, their January 1934 issue. Her 3-part series is a must read.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The best way to hold a man is in your arms."
• • Mae West said: "To catch a husband is an art — — to hold him is a job."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A brief bit on actresses mentioned Mae West.
• • World Features Syndicate wrote: It used to be rare that actresses used their real names, thinking that for one reason or another they would not sell tickets. But here are eight who did:
• • 1. Mae West; 2. Elizabeth Taylor; 3. Ingrid Bergman; 4. Olivia de Havilland; 5. Glenda Jackson; 6. Sally Field; 7. Jane Fonda; 8. Gina Lollobrigida
• • Source: Feature: "Real Names" written by World Features Syndicate; published on 22 March 1991
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2165th 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 1954 at the Sahara • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
Imagine those happy occasions that took place yearly each February 24th when MAE WEST planned a birthday celebration for her live-in lover. 
• • Born Chester Rybinsky in Baltimore on 24 February 1923, Mae's darling was thirty years her junior.
• • They met and became acquainted when Charles Krauser, George Eiferman, Irvin "Zabo" Koszewski, Dick DuBois, Dominic Juliano, Joe Gold, Armand Tanny, Gordon Mitchell, and Mickey Hargitay were among the star bodybuilders in West's chorus for all — — or part — — of the show's three-year run.
• • Chuck Krauser changed his name again, becoming Paul Novak — — Mae's main man for the next 24 years.
• • Paul Novak [1923 — 1999] lived to be 76 years old.
• • The British journalist Tom Vallance wrote this intriguingly detailed remembrance ten years ago in 1999.
• • THE LEGENDARY star Mae West once said, "A man in the house is worth two in the street" — — and for the last 26 years of her life Paul Novak was that man, her companion, bodyguard, and acknowledged love of her life who shunned publicity himself but ensured that West's last years were happy ones.
• • He had met West in the 1950s when he became one of the team of musclemen who backed her in her night-club act, and he soon fell in love with her, though she was nearly 30 years his senior. Described as "the epitome of the strong, silent type," he was content to stay in the background and let it be assumed that he was merely the star's bodyguard — — but in fact he was her husband in everything but name.
• • Born Chester Ribonsky in Baltimore in 1923, Novak served as a navy gunner in the Second World War and as a member of the merchant marines fought in Korea and Vietnam. A body-builder with aspirations to be a wrestler, he changed his name to Charles Krauser. His friend Joe Gold, founder of Gold's Gyms and another member of West's chorus line, said, "He changed his name legally in New Orleans to Krauser, thinking it was a good moniker for a wrestler."
• • (It was Mae West who suggested a final change to Paul Novak.)
• • He also worked as a circus handyman before joining West's line of eight loin-clothed musclemen to whom she sang, "I Like To Do All Day What I Do At Night" in the fabled night-club act that made a sensational debut in Las Vegas in July 1954. Time magazine reported, "Mae's troupe proved invigorating even for jaded Las Vegas", and the act subsequently toured the US for over five years. One of the other chorus-boys was the former "Mr Universe" Mickey Hargitay who in 1956 became romantically involved with Jayne Mansfield.
• • When Mansfield and West began to fight over Hargitay, and Mansfield made some publicly disparaging remarks about West's age, the ensuing uproar resulted in Novak's punching Hargitay — — the only occasion on which Novak made the headlines. An intensely private person, he managed for the rest of West's life to stay out of the limelight, though when photographed with her they made a striking couple, West's tiny if voluptuous body contrasting with the wide shoulders and massive chest of her companion.
• • Throughout her career, West had been known for her countless love affairs with actors, wrestlers, prize fighters and chorus boys (she once said, "Sometimes it seems I've known so many men the FBI ought to come to me first to compare fingerprints") but, according to the writer Justin Clayton, "Her love affairs continued until she fell in love with beefy muscle-man Paul Novak, who quickly became her lover, bodyguard, driver, cook and anything else to prove his love for her. From that meeting and up until the end of her long life, Novak would be at Mae's side to tend to her every need. His devotion was noted by nearly everyone who was in their company, and for the first time in her life Mae began to settle down in a monogamous relationship."
• • Though those who knew them attested to their mutual devotion, they were both strong-willed and temperamental, and Novak, like any paid companion, was not popular with all of West's friends and relatives. On one occasion after an argument with West's brother and sister-in-law, whom she supported, Novak rang Joe Gold and asked him to drive him to New Orleans so that he could sign up for another tour of duty with the merchant marines.
• • Dolly Dempsey, a long-time friend of the couple, said, "It was the first time I ever heard Mae really talk like Diamond Lil. As Paul was leaving, she told him, `Just remember, there ain't no swingin' doors in this place!' " Joe Gold added, "Just as Novak was about to board ship in New Orleans he stopped to make a phone call. Returning, he said, `I've got to catch a plane', and he flew home to West, leaving me to drive back to Los Angeles alone."
• • During the final years of West's life, she and Novak lived a quiet life, entertaining small groups of friends (including the directors George Cukor and Robert Wise) or strolling by the sea near the 22-room beach house in Santa Monica where they spent most of their time, though West also had an apartment in Hollywood.
• • With Novak's constant protection and his concern for her diet and exercise, West survived until the age of 87, when she had a series of strokes. On 22 November 1980 she died in her sleep, with Novak at her bedside.
• • A few years before she had said that Novak was "a good guy," adding, "Of course there's 40 guys dyin' for his job!" In her last years West continually asked him to contact an attorney so that she could change her will in his favor, but he later stated, "I always said to her, `Now now, dear, there's plenty of time to do that.' I guess I thought she would live forever. How did she ever pick me — — just a wrestler and roustabout?' "
• • Chester Ribonsky (Paul Novak), sailor, bodybuilder and bodyguard: born Baltimore, Maryland 1923; died Santa Monica, California 14 July 1999.
— — Source: — —
• • Obituary: Paul Novak
• • Byline: Tom Vallance
• • Published by: The Independent [London, England]
• • Published on: Tuesday — — 20 July 1999• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Correction! Mae West researcher and fan Mark Desjardins has furnished us with fresh information. Mr. Desjardins writes: That was a wonderful birthday tribute you posted for Paul Novak. However, I would like to point out that his original birth name, Chester Ribonsky was misspelt; his surname was actually Rybinsky. Kevin Thomas, who knew Paul Novak and Mae West, wrote the Los Angeles Times obituary for him and after it was published, sent me a hand corrected copy. Paul's nephew corrected him after publication. However, for some reason, the improper spelling of his name continues to occur.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Paul Novak (left side) • • 1955 • •
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Mae West.
Continuing to mourn the passing of Richard DuBois [1933 — 2007] last week in southern California, the MAE WEST BLOG is offering an excerpt from Chapter Four of this book by Brad Harris, which discusses "The Mae West Revue" that DuBois starred in during 1954, and also Mae's immense contribution to the growth of muscle mania in publications and in foreign films:
IMMENSE AND IMMORTAL: The Wild World of Italian Peplum Films
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • CHAPTER 4: THE BEST, THE REST & EVEN MAE WEST
Steve Reeves and Hercules owe at least some degree of their success to a growing interest in the sport of bodybuilding. It had long been little more than a fringe sport, hardly more than a step or two above carnival sideshows. In the1950's that started changing. More and more bodybuilding magazines were showing up on the newsstand, and people were starting to get curious. They were looking at those ads in the back of comic books for that Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension system, and they were thinking to themselves, "Yeah, I am tired of getting sand kicked in my face!" 90-pound weaklings all over the country were dreaming of the day bikini-clad beauties would be chanting "Hero of the beach!" to them.
• • Reeves and countless other men became the centerpieces for bodybuilding magazines, which were often a blend of profiles, fitness articles, and photos of the men in various states of undress.
• • No self respecting peplum film would be caught dead without a buff beefcake actor in the lead role. The names, faces, and hairstyle might change, but the bodybuilding origins of the hero remained a constant. After all, no one wants to pay good money to see some weakling in the role of Hercules, getting sand kicked in his face by all the other gods down on Muscle Beach.
• • Steve Reeves went on to star in several sword and sandal films . . . .
• • Dozens of men would step up to the peplum plate looking to be the next Steve Reeves. There were some decent guys in the lot, a couple exceptional stars that shone nearly as brightly as Reeves, and a lot of serviceable if unremarkable workhorses. Most of them came from America, not so much in imitation of Steve Reeves as it was a reflection of bodybuilding's greater popularity abroad than at home in Italy.
• • Of the handful of memorable stars, many had one thing in common, a certain unifying thread of terror: they'd all been part of Mae West's traveling revue.
• • In her heyday, Mae West was something of a bombshell, but by the 1960s the bomb had exploded and all that was left was the shell. Gloriously unable to act her age, Mae West decided to launch a traveling burlesque revue with her own ancient body as the star attraction. While this may have worked had it toured under the title of "Sideshow by the Seashore," The Ripley's Believe it or Not set was not Mae West's intended audience.
• • In order to offset the fact that, well, she was really old [age 61] and not wearing many clothes [sic], she surrounded herself with a cast of hunky bodybuilders who would perform the standard issue tasks of carting her about on a palanquin, posing, and just standing around looking buff.
• • West's strange little carnival show was a success for all the wrong reasons. Her men were chosen purely for their physical attributes, which resulted in constant mistakes, missed cues, flubbed lines, and a variety of other screw-ups. Audiences didn't seem to mind however, as the whole affair was all too weird to care about something so trivial.
• • Performing in Mae West's revue was a sort of rite of passage into the world of peplum filmmaking, and several of her company of bodybuilders escaped her out-of-date shenanigans and headed to Europe to hurl boulders at rubber monsters. Mickey Hargitay, Brad Harris, Reg Lewis, Dan Vadis, Richard DuBois, and Gordon Mitchell all served time as part of Mae's show before impressing the gods with their tenacity and winning roles in films. . . .
— — excerpt — — • • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1954 • •
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Mae West.
Fifty years ago, The MAE WEST Revue closed at the Sahara Hotel in 1957. 
• • In 1954, at the age of 61, the former vaudevillian launched an extravaganza onstage surrounded by beefcake. Instead of the typical leggy showgirls, West selected a bevy of muscle-bound beauts to add eye candy when she performed bawdy songs such as "I Want to Do All Day What I Do All Night."
• • George Eiferman, Irvin "Zabo" Koszewski, Dick DuBois, Dominic Juliano, Joe Gold, Armand Tanny, Gordon Mitchell, Mickey Hargitay, and Charles Krauser were among the star bodybuilders in West's chorus for all — — or part — — of the show's three-year run.
• • Chuck Krauser changed his name to Paul Novak and became Mae's live-in lover for the next 24 years.
• • The Mae West Revue opened at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in 1954. Mae West's audience played America's top venues, drawing celebrities — — including the handsome Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy — — and breaking attendance records at New York City's legendary Latin Quarter.
• • In Las Vegas the successful show gave its last performance back at the Sahara in 1957.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Mickey Hargitay & Charles Krauser • • 1955 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST hired several extraordinary men for her "Mae West Revue" and, if she was looking for a Greek god type, she found it. On 27 June 1954, Mae West launched her innovative show at the Sahara Hotel in Vegas (built in 1952).
