Mae West: The Wilshire Bowl

During her Hollywood career, MAE WEST preferred horse racing and boxing to premieres. However, she did attend some events at the Wilshire Bowl and won an honored position in their mural.
• • Here is Mae West with John Carradine and John Barrymore on Monday, 1 September 1941 in Los Angeles.

• • A stage show "The Silver Screen" had its debut on that date at the Wilshire Bowl nightclub (5665 Wilshire Blvd).
• • Mae attended with her usual companion, Jim Timony (not shown).
• • In this photo, Mae seems rather bored despite these two actors closing in on her.
• • The Wilshire Bowl nightclub (5665 Wilshire Boulevard) was helped made popular with film folk by popular bandleader Phil Harris, according to Martin Turnbull, the author of Hollywood's Garden of Allah novels.
• • This startling mural appeared on the wall of the Wilshire Bowl at 5665 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, which during a different lifetime was also known as Slapsy Maxie’s. 

• • In this mural we can see: Bob Hope, Joe E. Brown, Charles Winninger, Charles Boyer, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Humphrey Bogart, WC Field, Mae West, and George Arliss. The image and caption appear courtesy of novelist Martin Turnbull.
• • On Saturday, 10 June 1911 • •
• • On Saturday, 10 June 1911, it was clear that Mae West had impressed the New York critics when she appeared in "A Florida Enchantment," a two act comedy (with co-star Frank Wallace) staged at Columbia Theatre. 
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West has completed her Paramount picture, “Night After Night.” No deal so far has been made for further Hollywood assignments.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My hobby is [collecting] beds. I own one that was made for Diamond Jim Brady and a few others."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Sun-Sentinel mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West owed the IRS nearly $81,500 in 1934.
• • A copy of a dunning notice to one of Hollywood's first blond bombshells is among the items to be sold at a movie memorabilia auction on Saturday and Sunday.
• • Only the most serious movie collectors will care about such stuff, but those are the people who are most likely to come to the auction this weekend at the C.B. Charles Galleries, 750 E. Sample Road, Pompano Beach. Doors open each day at noon.
• • In addition to Mae West's tax statement, Charles will sell dozens of still photographs, movie posters and personal items from the estates of stars including Rosalind Russell and John Barrymore. . . .
• • Source: The Sun-Sentinel; published on Friday, 5 May 1995
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,493rd 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1941 • •
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Mae West: John Barrymore

Trade papers often reveal exciting projects starring MAE WEST that, unfortunately, were shelved. This is one.
• • Mae West, John Barrymore Paired for 'Josephine' • • 
• • Hollywood, May 6. — — Mae West and John Barrymore are about to clinch as a co-starring team in a picture, 'Not Tonight, Josephine,' the first of a series to be produced by William Shapiro for Criterion Films.

• • Release will be through a major distributing outfit, not yet consummated.
• • Filming starts shortly, based on a script by Edmund Lowe, Jr.
• • Source: Variety; New York edition; published on Wednesday, 7 May 1941.
• • Note: John Barrymore [14 February 1882 — 29 May 1942], a long-term alcoholic, realized that his storied career was on the skids by then. A year after this announcement, Barrymore died in Los Angeles from cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure, complicated by pneumonia. He was age 60.
• • Mae West and Barrymore: Redux • •
• • Tongue-in-cheek, in 1941 Film Fun Magazine wrote this: "Hold Onto Your Hats! 'Tis rumored that John Barrymore and Mae West may be teamed shortly for a picture. What a field day for censors that will provide!"
• • On Saturday, 3 June 1944 • •
• • Billboard Magazine mentioned Mae West in an item that appeared on Saturday, 3 June 1944.
• • Mike Todd has penciled In "Catherine Was Great," the Mae West opus for late June.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Established in 1928, The Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park and Crematory is located off Ventura Freeway, twenty miles from Hollywood. Many of the “fur friends” interred on its 30 acres are pets of famed movie stars such as Mae West’s pet monkey, Boogie, whose screen debut was in “I’m No Angel” and who died months later in 1933 and was laid out in a fancy lined casket.
• • Also buried here: Billie Burke’s police dog, Gloria Swanson’s Rusty, a pet of John Barrymore’s, and a dog belonging to stage and screen actor, Edmund Breese, etc.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I'm careful of what I eat, and I only drink Poland Spring’s water.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A syndicated columnist mentioned John Barrymore and Mae West teaming up in 1941.
• • Louella Parsons wrote: Mae West got herself a movie job. Yes, indeed! She signed a contract with William Shapiro who brought Bobby Breen to the coast. Shapiro, at one time associated with Sol Lesser, has obtained capital to finance the Mae West movie. Now here's the part that to me should even make the sphinx smile. Shapiro has an option on John Barrymore's services and is trying to get him to play opposite La West. …
• • Source: "Sign Mae West to Appear In Romantic Role and May Be Opposite None Other than Barrymore" by Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons; syndicated content rpt in The Milwaukee Sentinel; printed on Friday, 7 March 1941
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,488th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Barrymore in 1941 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Naked by George

Thirty years ago, in 1980, a Hollywood photographer was sharing his naughty memories about MAE WEST as part of the promotional push linked to his California exhibition. The magazine has just reprinted the piece along with an offer to buy some signed portraits and prints originally posed for during the 1930s.
• • Back in 1980, Sharon Apfelbaum wrote: Dapper and energetic at 76, this septuagenarian artist is still going strong. While he photographs new celebrities in his grand old style, a major exhibit of his portraits, covering celluloid's last 50 years, opens December 18 [1980] at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. Entitled "The Hurrell Style," the show features photographs of such luminaries as Mae West, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, and many others. ...
• • Mae West 'accidentally' dropped her clothes • •
• • Sharon Apfelbaum continued with this revealing recollection about Mae West: George Hurrell's glorification of beautiful women made him one of photography's highest-paid professionals. ... Hurrell's lens created a gallery of greats, all accompanied by cheeky anecdotes. "I remember when Mae West 'accidentally' dropped her clothes and stood there naked as a jaybird," he recalls, concealing a chuckle. "The studio door was locked, but still, there she was. And her boyfriend at the time, whatever his name was, got so upset he left. I had to unlock the door for him. Marilyn Monroe pulled the same routine, but it wasn't as natural with her.
• • "Of all my subjects, Joan Crawford's face was the closest to perfection," Hurrell told Sharon Apfelbaum. "She was also the most serious and relished a full day's shooting from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Crawford was tireless, but I had to take a day off after one of those sessions. Jean Harlow was the opposite of Crawford — never sweated over a shooting, was always gay and frivolous. Roz Russell was serious too, very ambitious and stagey. She wanted all her shots re-touched, with all the wrinkles in her face really ironed out. Rita Hayworth would do anything, and Marlene Dietrich had to watch herself in a full-length mirror at all times. Hepburn was the brainiest though, all spunk and spirit." . . .
• • To continue reading or to learn more about the Hurrell photo offer, see below.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: George Hurrell — — His photographs recall Hollywood’s truly glamorous days
• • By Sharon Apfelbaum
• • Publication: Palm Springs Life / December 1980 / George Hurrell
• • Source: Reprinted from the December 1980 edition of Palm Springs Life Magazine.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • by George Hurrell, 1933 • •
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Mae West: Thew Knew

Harvey Francis Thew — — who died in the month of November — — massaged a famous screenplay with MAE WEST.
• • Born in Missouri on 4 July 1883, writer Harvey F. Thew collaborated with Mae West, and screenwriter John Bright, and Lowell Sherman in 1932 on the film version of the bombshell's best-known three act stage play "Diamond Lil." For Paramount Pictures, Mae turned her 3-hour Bowery melodrama into a trim 66-minute comedy with the aid of Harvey Thew.
• • The studio released "She Done Him Wrong" on 9 February 1933. A Valentine for movie-goers!
• • A screenwriter since 1916, Harvey Thew actually spent most of his movie career at Warner Brothers Pictures. One of his in-laws was John Barrymore (which did not hurt his career at all).
• • According to TCM's film historian Frank Miller: Hays' demands actually improved the film. Screenwriter John Bright, who had scored a hit with The Public Enemy (1931), was assigned to collaborate on the screenplay — — but he didn't click with West, and her script didn't impress him either. Bright thought it was a creaky old melodrama filled with cheap jokes and tried to make it more of a straight crime film. West hated his ideas, but had a battle getting the studio to side with her. Then one of Hays' associates suggested that the film might be more palatable if played for comedy. That was the excuse she needed to cut Bright's additions and return many of her laugh lines (eventually she had him replaced by Harvey Thew). When Hays suggested toning down references to Lou's past affairs, West added a maid character (played by Louise Beavers) who knew of her past so the two could discuss it in a series of veiled references.
• • Those references — — and West's ability to make even the most innocent lines sound risque — — made the film a hit and made her one of the world's most quoted writers.
• • At the age of 63, hard-working Harvey F. Thew died in Los Angeles on 6 November 1946.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Mona Rico

Several Mexican actors and actresses worked with MAE WEST.
• • In the motion picture "Goin' to Town" [1935], Mona Rico was cast in a bit part as Dolores Lopez. The comely five-foot-two brunette was born and died during the month of July.
• • Starting out in life in Mexico City as Enriqueta Valenzuela on 15 July 1907, she arrived in Hollywood during 1928 as an eager, ambitious 19-year-old and quickly secured a five-year acting contract. By the next year she was co-starring opposite the great John Barrymore in "Eternal Love" [United Artists, 1929].
• • Though she did score some big screen success, Mona Rico remained poised and preoccupied on the edge of marquee recognition like a lovely, dainty moth — — attracted to the bright lights but not securely netted by Lady Luck.
• • Mona Rico died at age 87 in Los Angeles on 15 July 1994.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West's cast-mate • • Mona Rico, 1934 • •
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Mae West: Lieutenant Bunin

Brooklyn native Gene Barry [birthname: Eugene Klass], who was featured on Broadway with MAE WEST in 1944, was born on 14 June 1919.
• • The handsome graduate of New Utrecht High School is still performing.
• • Gene Barry (who borrowed the "Barry" from his idol John Barrymore) began his acting career in stock.
• • He likes to reminisce about his early show business days when he appeared as Lieutenant Bunin in a Mae West play on Broadway, Catherine Was Great. He recalls the famous curtain speech Mae West gave: “I’m glad you like my Catherine. I like her, too. She ruled 30 million people and had 3,000 lovers. I do the best I can in two hours.”
• • Though reports indicated that Mae was short-tempered with Mike Todd, her cigar-chomping producer, Gene Barry recalled that she had been cordial and coquettish with him. When they were rehearsing, for instance, the mighty Empress of all the Russias asked Lieutenant Bunin not to call her "Mae West." Eager to please but unsure how to address his leading lady, Gene asked her what he ought to say. "Mmmm, just call me honey!" was Mae's suggestion.
• • Written by Mae West, the play premiered at the Shubert Theatre on 2 August 1944 and ran until 30 September 1944. On 2 October 1944, the show transferred to Mae's lucky spot — — the Royale Theatre — — where it remained until after the Christmas holidays [when it closed 13 January 1945].
• • After honing his craft onstage, Gene Barry headed to Hollywood and worked in films and on TV.
• • For his contribution to live theater, Gene Barry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — — 6555 Hollywood Boulevard.
• • Brooklynites Mae West and Gene Barry have both been honored by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on their Celebrity Path, where stepping stones are inscribed with names of famous Brooklynites past and present. Each paver also contains a bronze medallion of the Brooklyn Bridge, encircled by the phrase, "The Greatness of Brooklyn Is Its People." (By the way, new names are added to Celebrity Path during the month of June on the borough's annual Welcome Back to Brooklyn Day. )
• • The Mae West Blog wishes dapper Gene Barry a very happy 90th birthday today!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1944 • •
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Mae West: Who Knew

How many knew that Harvey Francis Thew worked on a famous screenplay with MAE WEST?
• • Born in Missouri on 4 July 1883, writer Harvey F. Thew collaborated with Mae West, and screenwriter John Bright, and Lowell Sherman in 1932 on the film version of the bombshell's best-known stage play "Diamond Lil." For Paramount Pictures, Mae turned it into a script with the aid of Harvey Thew.
• • The studio released "She Done Him Wrong" on 9 February 1933. What a Valentine!
• • A screenwriter since 1916, Harvey Thew actually spent most of his movie career at Warner Brothers Pictures. One of his in-laws was John Barrymore (which did not hurt his career at all).
• • His career highlights — — "She Done Him Wrong," "Sinner's Holiday," "The Public Enemy."
• • At the age of 63, Harvey F. Thew died in Los Angeles on 6 November 1946.
• • 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: Harvey F. Thew

Let's not forget Harvey Francis Thew who was born in the month of July — — and worked on a famous screenplay with MAE WEST.
• • Born in Missouri on 4 July 1883, writer Harvey F. Thew collaborated with Mae West, and screenwriter John Bright, and Lowell Sherman in 1932 on the film version of the bombshell's best-known stage play "Diamond Lil." For Paramount Pictures, Mae turned it into a script with the aid of Harvey Thew.
• • The studio released "She Done Him Wrong" on 9 February 1933. What a Valentine!
• • A screenwriter since 1916, Harvey Thew actually spent most of his movie career at Warner Brothers Pictures. One of his in-laws was John Barrymore (which did not hurt his career at all).
• • At the age of 63, Harvey F. Thew died in Los Angeles on 6 November 1946.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
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