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Posing for the cover of Radio Stars Magazine, MAE WEST looks ready to rumble. 
• • As the major movie studios began to convert from silent movies to talking pictures, they developed ways of testing the appeal of stage and radio talent such as Mae West and Rudy Vallee. The moguls would cast radio personalities and Broadway stars in "shorts" — — comic skits, for instance — — and if these short subjects generated heat, then the individual would be offered a contract and sent off to Tinseltown.
• • Chatting with the former radio star Rudy Vallee [1901 — 1986], Joe Franklin became aware of his vast magazine collection. Numerous back issues were carefully preserved in his house at the top of Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills (where the closest neighbor was Jack LaLanne). In his comfortable den, Rudy Vallee proudly displayed a great number of publications that had featured him on the cover but he also kept special back issues with cover art of people he liked — — such as Mae West — — close at hand. Vallee gave this back issue of Radio Stars, featuring a smoldering Mae, to his friend Joe Franklin.
• • Any fans of old-time radio reading this blog?• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's colleague • • Rudy Vallee • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
Joe Franklin has always enjoyed MAE WEST. During 1951 — 
1999, when he was the host of television's first talk show "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane," the king of nostalgia invited Mae West to be featured six times on his popular program broadcast from New York City on WABC-TV and on WOR-TV.
• • In 2005, Joe Franklin enjoyed seeing scenes from Courting Mae West — — and this month he had a chance to get acquainted with the current cast when he popped in on a performance at the Kaufman Theatre [123 East 24th Street] on Monday 21 July 2008.
• • Before coming to the play, Joe Franklin plugged the show during the "Potpourri" section of his broadcast on Bloomberg Radio.
• • Here's Joe Franklin during Intermission, enjoying some refreshments. "With her whip cracking dialogue," Joe Franklin told theatre manager Mark Sportiello, "the playwright shows she is as much of a word jockey as Mae West." • • An expert on vaudeville and a member of a prestigious sheet music society, Joe Franklin is no stranger to the lawless decade — — the Prohibition Era — — when Courting Mae West takes place.• • According to Joe Franklin, what he enjoys about this serious-minded comedy is the sense that what happens in Act I and Act II is spontaneous and yet inevitable. And he enjoys the characters: the ambitious women and the complex, lovable scoundrels around them.
• • Joe Franklin was completely mesmerized by the star of Courting Mae West — — Yvonne Sayers, who relished the opportunity to play such a unique woman in American history.
• • "She's a high-wattage actress," said Franklin. "She has the skill to keep her performance as acting and not an impersonation of Mae West."• • A lifelong theatre buff, Joe Franklin has seen many performers try to portray Mae and fail. "I feel that, ultimately, you have to love the individual you are playing. You have to have a certain feeling. You have to have passion for the person. I can see that Yvonne Sayers is the type who prepared for the part by trying to understand why Mae did what she did, defending it, and getting behind it."• • According to Joe Franklin, Yvonne Sayers is destined for stardom. "She's got what it takes — — just like Mae."• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West cast • • Yvonne Sayers illustration • •
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • author of "Courting Mae West" with Joe Franklin and Mae • •NYC
Mae West.
Joe Franklin has always enjoyed MAE WEST. During 1951 — 1999, when he was the host of 
television's first talk show "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane," the king of nostalgia invited Mae West to be featured six times on his popular program broadcast from New York City on WABC-TV and on WOR-TV.
• • In 2005, Joe Franklin enjoyed seeing scenes from Courting Mae West — — and this week he had a chance to get acquainted with the current cast when he popped in on a dress rehearsal in Times Square on Friday the 13th [13 June 2008].
• • Here's Joe Franklin posing with Mae West, Texas Guinan, and the gang. 
• • An expert on vaudeville and a member of a prestigious sheet music society, Joe Franklin is no stranger to the lawless decade — — the Prohibition Era — — when Courting Mae West takes place.• • According to Joe Franklin, what he enjoys about this serious-minded comedy is the sense that what happens in Act I and Act II is spontaneous and yet inevitable. And he enjoys the characters: the ambitious women and the complex, lovable scoundrels around them.
• • Joe Franklin also admires the work of director Louis Lopardi, who chose the play Courting Mae West for its sensual appeal that comes from the quickening warmth of real life dramatized with stirring artistic form.
• • On Friday the 13th, scenes from this play were filmed for European television.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 6 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 2:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to "COURTING MAE WEST" are $18 per adult.
• • Theatermania.com sells the tickets — — http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144297
• • Questions? Phone 212-779-3051.
• • The play is 95 minutes.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in mid-July 2008.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West and the cast • • Joe Franklin • •
NYC
Mae West.
Since 1893, August 17th has been MAE WEST's birthday and this year her special day will fall on a Friday. PRWeb has announced this event that is open to the public:
• • • • Annual Mae West Gala Will Raise Mae's Roof • • • • Yearly Commemoration Attracts Celebrities along with Mae West Devotees 
• • New York, NY: In August 2007, the Annual Mae West Gala will take celebrators to three places where Mae West once lived and to other important locations in her life.
• • Each year, the Mae West Gala organizers plan different events and outings. Within that variety, however, there are key elements: the place or places where the actress is commemorated are sites relevant to Mae-West-iana.
• • Nostalgia king Joe Franklin says, "It's like a return to the exciting speakeasy era because the Annual Mae West Gala recreates the spirit of the famous Jazz Age. I always come up to see Mae on her birthday."
• • Past New York City locations have included a courtroom where Mae West was on trial; a Greenwich Village cabaret that inspired Mae West to write her first gay play "The Drag" (which led to her arrest and imprisonment); and a midtown saloon where Mae West toasted her fellow vaudevillians. Previous party sponsors and giftbag donors have included Beau-Ties of Vermont, Perrier Jouet Grand Brut, Boru Vodka, Hendrick's Gin, Izze, Nivea, Iman Cosmetics, Thompson's Candies, Adora Calcium, and many others.
• • This year, the Annual Mae West Gala will head to Manhattan's theatre district, where Mae's West Side Story will unfold in over a dozen sites between West 50th Street and West 63rd Street. Participants will come up to see three addresses where the blonde bombshell hung her famous hats along with her dance school, the jewelers who created the "Diamond Lil" sparkle, old vaudeville theatres, former speakeasies, and more.
• • Past attendees of these yearly events have included playwright Sam Shepard, actress Jessica Lange, broadcaster Joe Franklin, ballplayers from the New York Yankees, and a diverse group of Mae devotees who travel cross country to The Big Apple during the dog days of summertime.
• • As always, festivities kick off on Mae West's birthday. On 17 August 2007 there will be a Friday evening walking tour followed by a reception.
• • TIME: "Mae West Side Story" tour lasts from 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM.
• • PLACE: Tour begins on Broadway at West 50th Street [NE corner].
• • PRICE: VIP tickets are $25 per person — — including tour AND reception AND goodie-bag — — and MUST be pre-paid by Wednesday August 15th.
• • TOUR ONLY: $15 tickets (CASH only) are available after 6 o'clock on Friday evening August 17th for the tour only — — but this will NOT INCLUDE the PARTY nor a goodie-bag.
• • Sorry, no exceptions and no refunds.• • Advance payment is accepted via PayPal.
• • PayPal: Use this email address to buy a ticket: comeupseeMAE (at) aol.com.
• • Updates and past party pictures are online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com
• • Sponsorship inquiries only: 212-477-0893.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.
