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MAE WEST was blazing a trail through the hearts of Utah readers of the Sunday Herald on June 9th. Bring some popcorn and join me in this love-fest.
• • "Mae Goes To Town In Latest Vehicle" • •
• • As a girl who knows what she wants and thrives on opposition, the new and modern Mae West returns to the screen of the Paramount theater in "Goin' to Town" for a three day engagement.
• • The blonde star's new vehicle tops all her previous efforts for comedy, romance, intrigue, and vocal efforts. Glitteringly arrayed in the styles of 1935, Mae West plays a cattle baron's widow with money to burn and warm affections. And to get her man, she transports herself from a small mid-western mining town to Buenos Aires and Southampton, and through a series of gay and hectic adventures. Paul Cavanaugh, playing a handsome Englishman, is the man. When Miss West discovers that beauty, wealth, and racing stables can't get him, she decides to become a lady, in the society manner. With her characteristic directness and brevity she sets about acquiring manners and a background.
• • But there is a rival, Marjorie Gateson, and a number of fortune hunters including Ivan Lebedeff, and between them they make a lot of trouble for the blonde charmer. Mae West bests them in the end. And when she does, Cavanaugh returns to tell her that he has loved her all the time.
• • Paul Cavanaugh, who has been seen on the screen many times before, turns in a faultless performance opposite Miss West. Others of the cast include Monroe Owsley, Fred Kohler, Sr., Marjorie Gateson, Gilbert Emery, and Grant Withers. The dialogue of "Goin' to Town" written by Miss West fairly bristles with the brilliant "Westi-cisms" that made her first pictures so delightful.
• • Source: Article: The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah); published on Sunday, 9 June 1935.
• • On Sunday, 9 June 1935 in The N. Y. Times • •
• • Mae West did a few interviews with John Moffatt. In an article printed in the Sunday Times on Sunday, 9 June 1935, Mae discussed parting with Libby Taylor, her longtime maid. Mae said, "When she began wanting me to wake her up in the morning, I told her she'd better stop being a maid and give her all to the public."
• • On Tuesday, 9 June 1956 • •
• • "Mae West's Muscle Men in Fist Fight" • •
• • Washington, June 7 — Two muscular members of a night club troupe headed by Mae West got into a fight in her dressing room last night, police reported, and one of them received hospital treatment as a result.
• • Police said Mickey Hargitay, 26-year-old "Mr. Universe" filed an assault complaint against Charles Krause, 24-year-old "Mr. America". .... The fight came during a news conference, police said. Miss West reportedly was discussing plans to replace "Mr. Universe" in her show. Officers quoted Krause (sic) as saying he hit Hargitay when "Mr. Universe" ignored Krause's suggestions that he "stop making remarks" about Miss West. She was said to have escaped injury in the row. . . .
• • Hargitay has been seen often with Jayne Mansfield, a New York actress. "I'm that way about Mickey because he's a sincere, sweet, lovable guy and not because he has such an outstanding physique, said Miss Mansfield, who has quite a physique herself. Marriage is not imminent, she said, but hinted it could happen. ...
• • Source: Article: "Mae West's Muscle Men In Fist Fight" published (on page 23) of The Miami News on Thursday, 7 June 1956.
• • There are other news accounts that speculated on the motives of the men in the "Mae West Revue." Frankly, I was hoping that at least one article would have mentioned Mary Birge (a.k.a. Mrs. Mickey Hargitay) going after her two-timing husband with a wooden rolling pin.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • She was five (or thereabout) when she stole the show at the Church Hall, refusing to do the prettily proper piece Mamma had taught her, and substituting lines of her own, quite as she does today.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "They can be had!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on a dance derby in Madison Square Garden in 1928 mentioned Mae West.
• • "Scores Enter Dance Derby in New York" • •
• • Bossy Gillis, who won fame in Newburyport, Mass., by making the members of the city council dance, has promised to be on hand tomorrow night to throw off the first shoe or fire the starting gun or something. Peaches Clementine, herself a dancer, is expected to grace Madison Square Garden with her effervescence.
• • Mae West, whose press agent is one of the most active on Broadway, has provided a diamond-studded medal for the winner. ...
• • Source: Article by Associated Press rpt in Urbana Daily Courier (Illinois); published on Saturday, 9 June 1928
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2931st blog post.
Unlike many blogs, which draw
upon
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or
a
magazine
and/
or
summaries,
links,
or
photos,
the
mainstay
of
this
blog
is
its
fresh
material
focused
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the
life
and
career
of
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herself
an
American
original.
•
•
Come
up
and
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1935 • •
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Before bidding adieu to the month of May, it's fitting to memorialize one of the famous palookas whose good looks and midnight maneuvers (temporarily) knocked out MAE WEST.
• • There are enough boxing bio-pics onscreen during the flag-draped weekend of May 30th — 31st that, inevitably, thoughts turn to the handsome (former) heavyweight champion of the world Jack "Manassa Mauler" Dempsey [24 June 1895 — 31 May 1983], who died at the end of May and wooed the actress during 1921 when she was performing in "The Mimic World of 1921."
• • At the tail end of May 1983, the 87-year-old title-holder died of natural causes at age 87. His wife Deanna was at his side when Dempsey assured her: "Don't worry, honey! I'm too mean to die." He was buried in the Southampton Cemetery in Southampton, New York.
• • Jack Dempsey is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. The street where Madison Square Garden is located is called Jack Dempsey Corner.
• • Jack Dempsey: always in our hearts.• •
Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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William Landon Jones enjoyed a close friendship with MAE WEST for 50 years.
• • Born in Memphis, Tennessee on 12 May 1906, he was known in boxing by the moniker "Gorilla" Jones. This weekend, the five-foot-nine fighter will be inducted posthumously into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y. He died at age 75 on 4 January 1982. After Mae's death, it's said he lost the will to live.
• • The 22-year-old Jones met Mae West in a New York night club during 1928. He had enjoyed a long career in the ring and was about to come into the big time in 1929, when he would earn a $100,000 purse — — about $1.2 million in today's money — — for winning a bout in Madison Square Garden.
• • Often photographed in a ringsize seat, the daughter of "Battling Jack" also befriended other black pugilists such as Chalky Wright and Joe Louis.
• • In a colorful feature for the Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, reporter Mark J. Price covers the career of Gorilla Jones as well as his private life with Mae West. Many pleasures await you.
• • Mark J. Price writes: Outside the boxing ring, Gorilla Jones was an unforgettable personality. He wore impeccable suits, flashed diamond rings, drove a Lincoln coupe, consorted with a Hollywood vixen — — Mae West — — and walked a lion cub on a leash.
• • Inside the ring, stripped of all excess, he was equally memorable — — except perhaps to the dozens of fighters he knocked out. They were excused for not recalling a thing after Jones' right glove cratered their faces.
• • One of the greatest boxers in Akron's history, Jones won the world middleweight title twice in the 1930s. He will be inducted posthumously this weekend into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y.
• • Jones fought in 138 professional bouts, winning 101, losing 24 and drawing 13. He KO'd 52 opponents, but never suffered a knockout or serious injury.
• • ''I have been blessed with a mind that works rapidly in the ring and hands that work as rapidly as my mind tells them,'' Jones told the Beacon Journal early in his career. ''I think I can figure fight moves a bit faster than can the fellows I am fighting, and once figured out, my hands move as they should to carry me to victory.''
• • Why did they call him "Gorilla"? • •
• • The nickname ''Gorilla,'' politically incorrect in today's world, was attributed to Jones' long reach — 75 inches — in the ring. In 1932, Beacon Journal sports scribe Jim Schlemmer said the Gorilla moniker didn't fit ''in looks or actions,'' and called Jones ''as classy a piece of fighting machinery as the game has known.''
• • ''He is an unusual type of fighter,'' Schlemmer wrote. ''He doesn't like to hurt anybody. He wishes every fellow he fights could be as good or nearly as good as himself.''
• • William Landon Jones was born in 1906 in Memphis, Tenn. He confessed to doing a lot of things wrong in his youth, such as giving up on education after grammar school. He worked for a bootlegger, ran with a tough crowd and learned to fight.
• • The ring was his way out. At age 18, Jones started boxing for $7.50 a bout. He stood 5 feet 9 inches and tipped the scales at 145 pounds.
• • Jones' first fight outside Memphis was at the Akron Armory in 1927. He beat welterweight K.O. Kelly and won $100. Unfortunately, Jones tried to add to his earnings in a late-night dice game and lost everything.
• • He begged Akron boxing promoter Suey Welch for another fight so he could buy a train ticket to Memphis.
• • Jones won the rematch, but stayed in Akron after the promoter offered to be his manager and train him at the Welch Athletic Club at 219 S. Main St.
• • Welch called Jones ''the greatest fighter in the world, pound for pound.'' The two made a fortune together.
• • Jones pummeled his way through a long line of foes: Sailor Maxwell, Mickey Fedor, Tommy Freeman, Bucky Lawless, Al Mello, Izzy Grove, Jackie Horner, Nick Testo, Meyer Grace, Jock Malone. The purses grew larger, and soon he was fighting as a middleweight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
• • In 1929, Jones earned $100,000 — about $1.2 million in today's money — and went on a spending spree. He bought his parents a Ford sedan and $10,000 home in Memphis, then rewarded himself with a $5,400 Lincoln. He bought three suits after each bout, giving away older outfits to pals. He added a diamond-collared lion to his act, walking the cub on a leash to matches and personal appearances.
• • ''In 1929 when I was in the so-called 'big' money, I spent too much,'' he later recalled. ''I liked fast horses, fast autos, fast airplanes. I had too many friends who helped me spend.''
• • Jones hit the big time in January 1932 with a sixth-round knockout of Italian boxer Oddone Piazza in Milwaukee for the National Boxing Association middleweight crown. A cheering crowd greeted him at Union Depot as he returned to Akron.
• • Five months later, he lost the title to Marcel Thil before 70,000 spectators in Paris, but regained it in 1933 by knocking out Sammy Slaughter at Cleveland Public Hall. He declined to defend the title after that.
• • Jones boxed for seven more years, but his right punch lost its sting. His final fight at the Akron Armory was a 1938 loss to Babe Risko. Jones retired in 1940 after losing a bout in Idaho. ''Gorilla Jones will never stay in the fight game until he's ready to cut paper dolls,'' Jones vowed.
• • Mae West met Gorilla Jones in a nightspot in 1928 • •
• • In many respects, the next chapter of his life was flashier than boxing. He went to work as Hollywood legend Mae West's chauffeur and bodyguard.
• • He first met the wise-cracking actress at a New York nightclub in 1928. Mae West's father had been a prizefighter, and she enjoyed bankrolling boxers.
• • ''The boxers had a hard time, even some of them who were pretty good,'' West told biographer Charlotte Chandler in 1979. ''There was one I backed named Gorilla Jones. I don't know why he was called 'Gorilla.' He wasn't that kind of fighter. I saw he was getting pounded too much, and he really didn't like fighting anymore, but he didn't know what else to do.''
• • She asked him if he could drive a car. Sure, he could. Even with a lion cub in the back seat.
• • ''So I hired him as my chauffeur,'' West said. ''He turned out to be a very good driver — — and he was also protection.''
• • Mae West also employed Jones' mother, Daisy, as a wardrobe assistant when the actress traveled. She bought homes for the boxer and his mother in Los Angeles, and served as Jones' financial manager and personal manager.
• • Biographers agree that the relationship wasn't all business. West and Jones remained close companions for 40 years. In public, he referred to her as ''The Lady,'' never by her name.
• • One time, a heckler made a bawdy remark to the actress, and the boxer threatened to rearrange the man's face.
• • ''Let 'em talk,'' Mae West told him. ''It's good for business.''
• • According to Hollywood lore, West got aggravated when house managers tried to block Jones from visiting her sixth-floor suite in the Ravenswood apartment complex. She bought the building and hired new staff.
• • ''A motion picture company offered me a quarter-million to film my story, but they wanted to make me say I was her lover,'' Jones told Jet magazine in 1974. ''That would be a lie because she was my manager and my friend. All the money in the world would be no good without a friend who has done everything to keep me on top and let me live the life I wanted to live.''
• • When Jones began to suffer from diabetes and lose his eyesight, West kept him on the payroll and handled his bills.
• • Jones was devastated in 1980 when West died in Ravenswood at age 87. She left him two apartment buildings and three houses.
• • Acquaintances said Jones gave up the will to live after ''The Lady'' passed away.
• • As his health deteriorated, his weight plunged to 102 pounds. In 1982, William ''Gorilla'' Jones died of arteriosclerosis at age 75.
• • The final bell sounded for an Akron boxing legend.
• • Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send e-mail to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: Akron's king of rings: Boxer Gorilla Jones conquers the world and lives the high life
• • Byline: Mark J. Price | Beacon Journal staff writer
• • Published in: Ohio.com
• • Published on: 8 June 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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