Mae West: Old Flame

MAE WEST had to fight with Paramount Pictures to get the musician Duke Ellington into her film "Belle of the Nineties."
• • Always the champion of the African-American talents she met, Mae insisted that the studio hire him to play and also appear in the movie. The studio didn't want to hire Ellington, at first, because they said the famed Cotton Club headliner would be "too expensive." When Paramount finally gave in to Mae, they agreed to let Ellington and his orchestra play — — however, they insisting on having all white musicians on the set.
• • Mae West marched into the head office at Paramount and said, "White men can't play black music in my picture!" And it was done. Ellington and his band were used and shown onscreen, thanks to Mae (who refused to budge on this).
• • Hollywood's censors did have the final say, though; they refused to let Mae appear next to the musicians in the same scene.
• • "Belle of the Nineties" was in production from 19 March 1934 until June 1934.
• • Backed by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Mae West performed "My Old Flame" [written by Arthhur Johnston and Sam Coslow] — — as entertainer Ruby Carter. Covered by the screen queen in 1934, the song was brought back to popularity almost 30 years later by The Ray Charles Singers in 1961. Ella Fitzgerald covered it with Joe Pass in 1976; Linda Ronstadt revived it in 1984.
• • During the 1920s, Mae West met Duke Ellington at Owney Madden's speakeasy. An autographed photo of Mae given to the "Duke" was among his most cherished possessions.
• • Born in Washington, D.C. on 29 April 1899, Duke Ellington died in May — — 24 May 1974.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Whitehall Inn

During July 1956, MAE WEST stayed at the venerable Whitehall Inn built in 1900 in Camden, Maine. Last August, President Bush's daughter was staying there when she received a marriage proposal.
• • Greg and Sue Marquise, owners of the Whitehall Inn [Camden, Maine], confirmed that Jenna Bush and her fiancé Henry Hager stayed at the inn during August 2007, the day before Hager’s well-publicized proposal on the slopes of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island.
• • Bush and Hagar are expected to marry Saturday, 10 May 2008, at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas.
• • After the visit last summer, one Whitehall Inn employee rejected an offer from a national tabloid newspaper looking for details of the first daughter’s stay at the inn.
• • The 108-year-old inn, however, is not shy in talking about its past guest list, which has included MAE WEST, Bill Clinton, Prince Abdullah [now King of Jordan], Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, Linda Ronstadt, Tallulah Bankhead, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and many sports stars.
• • The young couple stayed in a simple room, with a view of Penobscot Bay across a second floor roofline. The only famous guest known to have occupied the same room was Wally Cox, a comedian and actor, known as Mr. Peepers and eventually a regular on Hollywood Squares.
• • The Whitehall Inn [52 High Street, Camden, ME 04843] is best known for its role in the filming of "Peyton Place" and for the discovery of local poet Edna St. Vincent Millay when she entertained guests in 1912.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "President’s daughter was guest in Camden at Whitehall Inn prior to her engagement last summer"
• • Published in: Camden Herald — — www.mainecoastnow.com
• • Published on: 6 May 2008
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.