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The TV series Hollywood Biography did a segment on MAE WEST. "Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her" [episode #507] will be broadcast three times on Kentucky Educational TV. The KET air-dates have been announced:
• • KET: Thursday, 9 February 2012 at 10:00 pm EST
• • KET: Sunday, 12 February 2012 at 4:00 am EST
• • KET2: Monday, 13 February 2012 at 9:00 pm EST
• • Kentucky Educational Television: KET provides educational, informational, and arts and cultural services for the home, the school, and the workplace via Kentucky’s statewide public television network, multichannel digital broadcast, original video productions, print, community outreach, and the World Wide Web.
• • William LeBaron [16 February 1883 — 9 February 1958] • •
• • "A La Broadway" was written by William LeBaron. Neither the 28-year-old LeBaron nor the 18-year-old ingenue Mae West could suspect how important they would become to each other's careers, but they were meant to click. Why? Because William LeBaron appreciated a laughmeister who could improve on a role. And Mae West loved to polish a line 'til it glowed.
• • Born in Elgin, Illinois on 16 February 1883, William LeBaron left New York University with the desire to be a playright. This dream came to fruition, after which LeBaron signed on as managing editor of the very popular Collier's Magazine. His instinctive sense of how to recognize a good story enabled LeBaron to take charge of the East Coast branch of Famous Players/ Lasky Studios in 1924 when he was 41.
• • According to various film historians, William LeBaron was intrigued by the low comedians he had seen in vaudeville, especially W.C. Fields — — whom LeBaron insisted upon starring in silent films even though Fields was hardly big box office in those years. In 1928, LeBaron moved to FBO Studios, which evolved into RKO Radio, the company where LeBaron served as vice president in charge of production from 1929 —1932. A disagreement with the RKO brass immediately led LeBaron back to Famous Players, which was now formally known as Paramount Pictures. In 1932, he was an associate producer there.
• • Once more, LeBaron pushed W.C. Fields on the public, this time with more success. With a few hits under his belt, LeBaron was also in a position to nurture the screen career of Mae West.
• • In 1932, two years after "Diamond Lil" played in Los Angeles, Mae West was back in Hollywood to make her first movie: "Night After Night," George Raft's first starring picture. It was William LeBaron, the producer, who gave her his blessing to rewrite her own role. Mae made sure her brief scenes dazzled movie-goers.
• • By December 1932, Mae was in front of the cameras again. This time she was starring in "She Done Him Wrong." Lowell Sherman was Mae's director and LeBaron was the producer. When he produced "I'm No Angel," LeBaron also assigned Cary Grant to play Jack Clayton, Tira's major love interest.
• • When he was a producer at RKO, LeBaron won an Oscar for Best Picture 1930 — 1931: "Cimarron."
• • When he was at Paramount, LeBaron was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture 1932 — 1933: "She Done Him Wrong."
• • With the departure of Ernst Lubitsch, LeBaron became Paramount's chief of production in 1936, a post he held until 1941. Five years later, he set up an independent unit at 20th Century-Fox. William LeBaron's final production, released through United Artists, was the motion picture "Carnegie Hall" [1947].
• • A heart attack in Santa Monica finished off LeBaron in the month of February — — on 9 February 1958. He was 74.
• • Mae West & Money • •
• • Financially speaking, Mae West outpaced her male and female movieland peers. Publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst received half-a-million in 1935. Mae West was right behind her nemesis with salary checks totaling $339,166.65 during the same period.
• • Dozens of salaries were memorialized in a lengthy year-end report published in a newspaper in December 1935. Here are a few top earners during the Great Depression.
• • Bing Crosby, actor — — $104,449 — — in addition to $88,499 he earned as a crooner from Crosby Productions, Inc.
• • W.C. Fields, actor — — $155,083.
• • Marlene Dietrich, actress — — $145,000.
• • Charlie Chaplin, actor — — $143,000.
• • William LeBaron, producer — — $114,711.
• • Adolph Zukor, Paramount Pictures Distributing Co. — — $52,193.
• • On Wednesday, 9 February 1927 in Variety • •
• • On 9 February 1927, Variety mentioned that Beverly West had been arrested on a disorderly conduct charge in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• • The drunken brawl at the Arcade Hotel in Edward Elsner's suite is dramatized in the stage play "Courting Mae West" in Act I, Scene 2. An audience favorite, the serious-minded comedy based on true events was featured last month in Australia's Midsumma Festival on 28 January 2012.
• • On Wednesday, 9 February 1927 in Manhattan • • 
• • Headlines and headaches were in store for Mae West in 1927. On 9 February 1927, the first police raid of Mae West's play "Sex" led to an expensive trial, box office losses, and jail time for the actress and others.
• • Since her vaudeville performances were often panned by Variety — — who would say things like "a bit too crude for this $2 audience" — — Mae had become accustomed to negative press coverage. But the idea of spending the night in jail was a new low point.
• • After the New York City police raided three plays, "The Virgin Man," "The Captive," and Mae West’s "Sex," numerous actors were in hot water. Equity protested the arrests of the actors, stating, “The actor is not responsible for the content of the play…” Later in the year, Governor Al Smith would sign the Wales Theatrical Padlock Bill, giving local authorities the power to close shows they deem obscene.
• • On Thursday, 9 February 1933 • •
• • According to a source that tracks box office figures for motion pictures, "She Done Him Wrong," a 66-minute hit starring Mae West, had brought in $2,000,000 worldwide by 9 February 1933. Compare those figures, during the height of the Depression, to more modern times on 1 January 1970 when "Myra Breckinridge," starring Mae West in the role of Leticia Van Allen, racked up $3,000,000 worldwide.
• • On Friday, 9 February 1934 • •
• • The Courier-Mail editors wrote this: The new star, Mae West, will be seen at the Tivoli [Brisbane, Australia] tomorrow on 9 February 1934 in "She Done Him Wrong." Curves, comedy, and song — — all Mae West's repertoire has been added to this gay story of a diamond-loving lady of the gay '90s.
• • On Friday, 9 February 1940 • •
• • The American premiere of "My Little Chickadee" was on 9 February 1940. The Western-style comedy went into general release on 15 March 1940 in the USA.
• • Mae West on the Bookshelf • •
• • "Three Plays by Mae West: ‘Sex,’ ‘The Drag’ and ‘The Pleasure Man'," edited by Lillian Schlissel is 246 pages in paperback. [NY: Routledge, 1997.]
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Considering what 'Sex' got me, a few days in the pen ‘n’ a $500 fine ain’t too bad a deal.”
• • Mae West said: "I had to have the spotlight more than anything else, shining full on me. I ached for the spotlight — — which was like the strongest man's arm around me, like an ermine coat."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in American History Magazine discussed Mae West.
• • In “Mae West's Secret of Success” Peter Carlson started in February of 1927: She pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the pimp. Then she picked up the phone and called the cops. "Hello, police headquarters?" she said. "Will you kindly send someone here immediately to take a desperate character?" When she hung up, the pimp begged her not to hand him over to the cops. Give me a chance to run, he pleaded, and I'll never bother you again. "Alright, rat, I'll give you the chance," she said. "Why, if I didn't have a certain amount of refinement, I'd kick your teeth all over this floor. Now blow, bum, blow."
• • Peter Carlson wrote: The pimp turned and ran — — right off the stage of Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in Manhattan. After his exit, Mae West finished the final scene of her play, Sex. In the scene, her character, a hooker named Margy, rejects the rich guy who wants to marry her and takes off with one of her customers, a sailor with a heart of gold.
• • Peter Carlson wrote: The curtain fell, the audience applauded and West took her bows. Then she hurried to her dressing room and prepared to deal with the real policemen who were waiting to arrest her. They had arrived early in the play but agreed to let the actors finish the show and change into street clothes before busting them. West wanted to look her best in court, so she wiped off her greasepaint and put on her black cloche hat and her knee-length fur coat.
• • Peter Carlson wrote: Outside, a crowd gathered to gawk and cheer as West walked out of the theater and stepped into a taxi for the ride to court. The charge was "unlawfully preparing, advertising, giving, presenting, and participating in an obscene, immoral and impure drama, play, exhibition, show and entertainment" and it carried a penalty of a year in jail. She pled not guilty, and demanded a jury trail. Bail was set at $1,000. She posted it and walked free [sic].
• • Peter Carlson wrote: It was February 9, 1927, and Mae West was 33, which is getting old for a song-and-dance girl. But she figured her arrest and trial would generate enough publicity to make her a star.
• • Peter Carlson wrote: She was right. Like countless entertainers who came after her, Mae West instinctively understood that sex, controversy and a good juicy tabloid trial can be great for a career. Years later, long after she became the highest-paid woman in America, she summed up her rise to stardom: "Censorship made me."
• • "Mae West courted excitement," wrote her biographer, Emily Wortis Leider. "She loved big cities, form-fitting clothes, lipstick, jazz, sex in taxis, intrigue, gun-toting bootleggers, boxers lathered in sweat, and cops who read her the riot act." ...
• • Source: Article: “Mae West's Secret of Success” written by Peter Carlson for American History Magazine; published on 14 September 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2204th 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 • • February 1927 • •
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Imagine mingling with movie screen legend MAE WEST or feeling the force from Princess Leia of "Star Wars" — — that is the enticing first sentence of a notification about this year's Small Business Expo in Northern Kentucky organized by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. These clever planners selected a Tinseltown theme for their annual event, scheduled for 28 April 2011 — — "Hollywood: Small businesses are the stars of the community!"
• • Writing for nky.cincinnati.com, Gannett reporter Jeff McKinney explains that Northern Kentucky's exhibitors will be dressed as Mae West and other celebrities, "representing small businesses that are stars in the local economy. ..."
• • The half-day gathering will be at Receptions Inc. on 1379 Donaldson Road, Erlanger, Kentucky. Title sponsor is Hollywood Casino and the exhibitor booth space has already been sold out. If you are in the Bluegrass State, let us know how well the Mae West impersonator was chosen and did her job.
• • 18 April 1969 • • 
• • Nationally, the news racks on 18 April 1969 held the hot-off-the-presses issue of Life Magazine with Mae West on the front cover.
• • The rather startling visual composition revealed the 75-year-old actress in her mirrored bed, garbed in white satin, and — — in the foreground — — was the exotic black long-tailed Tricky, Mae's pet woolly monkey, who had joined her Hollywood household in Apartment 611 just two years before. Reflecting on his 20 hours of conversations with the screen legend, reporter Richard Meryman called the actress a "masterpiece of self-preservation" and acknowledged with admiration her "mind-spinning version of the world" ["76 — — And Still Going Strong" in Life Magazine, issue for the week 18 April 1969].
• • Mae was photographed for Life by the 63-year-old lensman Philippe Halsman, who was born in Latvia on 2 May 1906. Aided by his friend Albert Einstein, Halsman emigrated to the United States. A portrait he took of the scientist became a US postage stamp in 1966.
• • Philippe Halsman began working with Salvador Dali and also with Life Magazine (from 1942 onwards).
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Writing about a popular hide-away and tavern in Castella, California where JFK may have rendezvoused with Marilyn Monroe, local historian Dottie Smith writes: "Marilyn Monroe signed her name in lipstick on the wall at Mike Padula's bar. That in itself wasn't unusual, because many other stars' signatures such as Mae West, Jimmy Dorsey, Lena Horn and Cary Grant graced the mirrors and the walls of Mike's Place bar. ..."
• • Source: Column: "Travelin' in Time: JFK, Monroe stayed here, so goes the story" written by Dottie Smith for Redding Record Searchlight; posted on 15 April 2011.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1903rd 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 • • 1969 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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The very first time MAE WEST had her real age disclosed was in August of 1935. "Yesterday, incidentally, was Miss West's birthday," revealed her former husband Frank Wallace to the news media, "and — — she was 42."
• • Not only did the movie queen deny that she had walked down the aisle. She also emphasized that, as she had always said, she was born in the year 1900. Unfortunately, both were proven to be untrue.
• • According to Henderson, Kentucky based reporter Frank Boyett, this is how a colorful truth unspooled itself.
• • Frank Boyett writes: A Henderson native and her boyfriend found themselves at the center of a national media firestorm back in 1935.
• • The highest-paid actress that year was the sultry Mae West, who earned more than $480,000 in 1935 alone. That was serious money back in the depths of the Great Depression.
• • And she was a seriously powerful sex symbol. Snapping off double entendres like a pistol and flaunting her voluptuous figure, she hotted up the screen with a string of hit movies and bedazzled virtually every man in America.
• • Never telling her age, she made it clear she was single and available. That was part of her box office salability.
• • But then along came Myrtle Lorraine Sands. The young clerk's eyes nearly bulged out when, while helping re-index official records in Milwaukee, Wis., she came across a marriage certificate showing that West had married a man called Frank Wallace on April 11, 1911.
• • West denied it was her, but "the great fact-finding machinery of the U.S. Press began to hum," according to the May 6, 1935, issue of Time magazine. Local reporters in Milwaukee found that Mae West and Frank Wallace had appeared in a vaudeville show called "A Florida Enchantment" about that time in 1911.
• • Reporters in New York City tracked down Wallace, who was staying "in a theatrical hotel with his dancing partner, Trixie LeMae," and he affirmed the marriage was real. "The nerve of a brass monkey," was West's response.
• • And so began a long-running feud.
• • Cherchez LaMae • •
• • Wallace's real name was Frank Szatkus. LeMae was born as Marie Carey at 535 Second St. Usually her stage name was spelled LaMae, but on her death certificate it's spelled LeMae. Most people just knew her as Trixie.
• • She was smelted brassy sexuality poured right from the same mold as Mae West. Frank Wallace took up with her after West had gotten a better opportunity in show business. The exact date is unclear.
• • Back in August 1935 the Mae West marriage revelation was still big enough news that The Gleaner carried a story on 18 August 1935 saying that Wallace and Trixie were visiting her mother, Lena Carey.
• • That story said Wallace and Trixie had become dance partners seven years earlier, which would have been about 1928. "At the time of his marriage to Mae West, Wallace said, they were stage partners and were playing at the Gayety Theater in Milwaukee," The Gleaner reported. He called it a "kid marriage."
• • He then went on to say something that was sure to make West's blood boil: "Yesterday, incidentally, was Miss West's birthday and she was 42, Wallace revealed."
• • Things went quickly downhill after that. Wallace filed a lawsuit a couple of years later in an attempt to get West to acknowledge their marriage, something she had steadfastly refused to do. He quickly earned the name "Mr. Mae West," which was helpful in a show business way, but didn't exactly affirm his manhood. Their divorce wasn't final until 1943.
• • In July 1937, in response to a legal interrogatory, West finally admitted she had been married to Wallace, although she maintained she had been a "kiss-less bride." He and Trixie were again staying at 535 Second St., but this time — — at the advice of his attorneys — — he refused to talk to The Gleaner's reporter.
• • Trixie jabbered away, however. Again she said she and Wallace had joined up seven years ago, which would have moved the date up to 1930. Later on, in a Nov. 24, 1966, article in The Gleaner, she said they had first partnered in 1937 — — which is pure fabrication.
• • One of the few clear dates in Trixie's life is that she returned to Henderson for good in 1952 to operate two different nightclubs, the most widely known being Trixie's Alibi Club, which was located on U.S. 41-North near the entrance to Audubon State Park. Wallace accompanied her, and died here Oct. 15, 1966.
• • "He'll always remain in the wastebasket of my memories," West quipped on learning of Wallace's death.
• • Trixie entered Redbanks in 1988, and livened it up for a decade. She died 2 January 1997, at the age of 104.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Miss Trixie: Henderson's own LeMae was poured from Mae West mold"
• • By: Frank Boyett
• • Published in: Evansville Courier & Press [Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group]
• • Published on: 14 August 2010• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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MAE WEST posed for George Hurrell. "She'd drop her clothes at the drop of a hat," the Tinseltown photographer once told John Kobal.
• • A master lensman, Hurrell [1 June 1904 — 17 May 1992] was the darkroom genie responsible for many memorable photographs of Mae along with top-flight Hollywoodites during the 1930s.
• • Disliking the trend towards soft focus, George Hurrell preferred to sculpt an actor or actress's face with light and shade, using a movable boom light to illuminate cheekbones or create moody depths under a nose or the eyes — — as if he made new contracts with artificial lighting. “The most essential thing about my style was working with shadows — — to design the face instead of flooding it with light,” he said. Ah, the mastery of hinting at mystique. Ooooh, that such carefully orchestrated chiaro-scuro could bring heightened attention to a movie star, an individual who might have no more mental acuity than a vintage snow globe.
• • An article printed days ago in The Kentucky Enquirer got thoughts flowing along the black-paved Hurrell highway.
• • George Hurrell, an art student who would set the standard for the glamorized publicity stills in Hollywood, was born in Covington in 1904, according to John Schlipp, Enquirer contributor. While some sources list Cincinnati as George Hurrell's birthplace, Hurrell himself clearly states in correspondence that he was born in Covington, Kentucky. He was raised in Cincinnati until age 5, when the family moved to Chicago, writes John Schlipp.
• • Browse his August 30th article — — "Covington native was 'photographer to the stars'" — — inside The Kentucky Enquirer — — http://nky.cincinnati.com/• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Some adults love "living dolls" and others prefer the empty-eyed, stick-it-on-a-bookshelf kind.
• • Often MAE WEST's figure — — designed by Robert Tonner and dressed by Edith Head — — turns up in collections of people like Bettye Puckett.
• • This month in Kentucky, dolls representing famous persons from Mae West to Mary Todd Lincoln to fairytale figure Little Bo Peep and Disney's Tinkerbell will be on display at Wickland. Doll collector Bettye Puckett, a former history teacher, is pleased to have her treasures [over 3,000 items] on display.
• • A reception and tour are planned for 2:00 pm this Saturday at the historic home on Bloomfield Road in Bardstown, Kentucky.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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