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It was 1 March 1960 and MAE WEST was a special guest on "The Red Skelton Show" on TV.
• • "The Red Skelton Show" was an American variety show that was a television staple for almost two decades — — from the early 1950s through the early 1970s.
• • You can listen to this on "Mae West — On the Air," a CD that features several of Mae's rare recordings from 1934 — 1960 such as "The Red Skelton Show" — CBS-TV — 1 March 1960.
• • Born in Indiana, Red Skelton [1913 — 1997] was an American comedian who was best known as a top radio and TV star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and he went on to appearances that spanned from vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs, and casinos. During his career as a performer, he also pursued his interests as a serious fine arts painter.
• • Mae West biographer has a new title • •
• • Emily Wortis Leider, who did such a fine job with "Becoming Mae West," has a new actress biography in the pipeline. "Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood" will be published in September 2011 by the University of California Press [384 pp] this September. We wish Emily Wortis Leider well with her new release.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1 March 1960 • •
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Once there was a Titania who put the tinsel in Tinseltown, creating the sparkly screen gems worn by MAE WEST in her most memorable motion pictures.
• • According to The Los Angeles Times, Joan Castle Joseff headed Joseff Precision Metal Products, a maker of aircraft and missile parts — — and Joseff-Hollywood, a producer of costume jewelry worn on and off the screen by some of the most notable movie stars.
• • Staffer Dennis McLellan writes: As president of Joseff-Hollywood — — it makes and rents dazzling costume jewelry that has been worn on and off the screen by Hollywood's most illustrious stars — — Joan Castle Joseff was hailed in a 1990 People Magazine story as "the High Priestess of Paste."
• • Mrs. Joseff, who took over running both Burbank, California based businesses after husband Eugene's death in 1948, died on 24 March 2010 of congestive heart failure at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said her daughter-in-law, Tina Joseff. She was 97. . . .
• • Staffer Dennis McLellan adds: The company's jewelry has appeared — — and reappeared — — in thousands of films and TV shows over the decades. Those items include an amethyst necklace, bracelet and earring set that Vivien Leigh wore in "Gone With the Wind" and pearl pendant earrings worn by Grace Kelly in "High Society."
• • Mae West, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Myrna Loy, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor are among the many other stars who wore Joseff's jewelry in films. Many of them also rented pieces to wear at the Oscar ceremonies.
• • "The heyday of our business was in the 1930s and 1940s, when people really dressed up and wore jewelry," Joan Castle Joseff told People Magazine in 1990. "Those days are gone."
• • A fascinating and informative obituary appeared on 4 April 2010 in The Los Angeles Times, from which these brief details have been extracted.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
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Cary Grant made a memorable male lead for MAE WEST in two crowd-pleasing comedies.
• • Cary Grant's first screen partnership with Mae West was in "She Done Him Wrong" [released in the USA on 9 February 1933]. And the Brooklyn Academy of Music has devoted August 3rd — 20th to screening Cary Grant classics.
• • Though the Gay Nineties Bowery classic is not on the bill, they will be screening the Pre-Code charmer “I’m No Angel” [originally released on 6 October 1933].
• • This month, treat yourself to a number of Cary Grant titles such as Monday’s “Blonde Venus” [released in the USA on 16 September 1932], the Hollywood vehicle that provided Cary Grant with his first leading role — — opposite Marlene Dietrich.
• • BAM's website has details about when you can enjoy that tall, dark, and handsome gentleman in George Cukor’s “Holiday,” an energetic collaboration with Katharine Hepburn; an appealing laugh-fest “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,” co-starring Myrna Loy; Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion,” with Joan Fontaine, and other favorites.
• • BAM Rose Cinemas [30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217] is the place to be on Tuesday evening — — when "I'm No Angel" will be shown on 4 August 2009 at 6:50 PM and again that night at 9:15 PM.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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MAE WEST always used to say, "You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough."
• • Pro boxer Maxie Baer was one of those handsome ring kings who enjoyed an intimate relationship with the Empress of Sex, and crammed a lifetime of thrills and trophies into his fifty years on earth.
• • Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, Maxie Baer was born in the month of February [11 February 1909 — 21 November 1959] and was a boxer whose career peaked during the 1930s as well as the one-time heavyweight champ, an actor, and an entertainer.
• • For exactly one year, Baer was Heavyweight Champion of the World — — from 14 June 1934, when he knocked out the massive, 125-kg (275-pound) Primo Carnera — — until his reign ended when he fought James J. Braddock in a Long Island bout on 13 June 1935.
• • Maxie Baer's motion picture debut was in The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) opposite Myrna Loy and Walter Huston. In this MGM movie he played Steven "Steve" Morgan, a bartender that the Professor, played by Walter Huston, begins training for the ring. Steve wins a fight, then marries Belle Mercer, played by Loy. He starts seriously training, but it turns out he has a huge ego and an eye for a women. Featured were Baer's upcoming opponent, Primo Carnera, as himself, whom Steve challenges for the championship, and Jack Dempsey, as himself, former heavyweight champion, acting as the referee. The former title-holder made over a dozen motion pictures.
• • Maxie Baer married twice; his first wife was the actress Dorothy Dunbar [married July 8, 1931-divorced October 6, 1933]. Two years later, he tied the knot with Mary Ellen Sullivan [married on 29 June 1935 until his death in 1959]. With Sullivan, he had three children: actor Max Adelbert Baer Jr. (born 1937), James Manny Baer (born 1942), and Maudie Marian Baer (born 1944).
• • During a separation from his first wife, Max had hot affairs with movie queens Mae West, Jean Harlow, and Greta Garbo.
• • Maxie Baer never enjoyed the TV and movie success of his son, Max Baer Jr. (who played Jethro Bodine in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies). At the time of his death on November 21, 1959, Baer was scheduled to appear in some TV commercials — — which he had planned to do in Los Angeles before returning to his home in Sacramento.
• • Since Max Baer, Sr. was unable to defend himself regarding Ron Howard's unflattering portrayal in Cinderella Man [2005], the task of rehabilitating his father's reputation has fallen to his son.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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A recent article by Associated Press on the history of opera houses in Colorado noted that Diamond Diva MAE WEST once graced the stage in silver-mining territories.
• • According to Robert Weller, the Central City Opera House celebrates its 130th birthday this year, and the roster of stars who have performed there over the decades is impressive.
• • Actors and actresses who appeared at Central City include MAE WEST, Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon, Sam Jaffe, Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy, and Michael Redgrave. In 1932, Lillian Gish starred in "Camille," which was broadcast nationwide on NBC. A guard carrying two pistols sat in the front row because Gish wore a borrowed necklace worth $100,000.
• • Sarah Bernhardt and Edwin Booth appeared, as did John Philip Sousa and his band and the original Christy Minstrels. Pirated versions of the popular operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan were frequently performed. In 1937, Evalyn Walsh McLean wore the Hope Diamond on opening night of the play "A Doll's House."
• • Beverly Sills, Paul Plishka, Jerome Hines, and dozens more have been featured.
• • In all, about 150 opera houses were built in Colorado between 1860 and 1920. Thirteen are still in operation.
• • Still, the opera has its roots in the rough and tumble mining days of the 19th century. European immigrants to towns like Central City brought their musical traditions with them. A town's mark of civilization included having a sheriff, a courthouse, and an opera house. Theaters wouldn't do because they often also housed brothels or put on "leg shows."
• • "They hankered for some kind of civilized lifestyle that would ameliorate their loneliness and the drudgery of the work they were doing," said Charles Ralph, a Colorado opera historian. "Having entertainment, especially coupled with attractive people, mainly female, was exactly what they wanted."
• • Central City Opera: 124 Eureka Street, Central City, Colorado — — http://www.centralcityopera.org
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Colorado mountains home to opera since mining days"
• • By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer
• • Published by: Associated Press
• • Published on: 9 June 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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So far, MAE WEST ranks sixth as The Reader's Digest polls their audience to help choose the most side-splitting screen gems. Reader's Digest Editor Stefan Kanfer, who wrote about this quest to select the top hundred funniest films, listed these as the top ten.
• • THE GOLD RUSH (1925) — — Charlie Chaplin's greatest silent film.
• • THE FRESHMAN (1925) — — The third of the great silent film trio (the other two were Chaplin and Keaton), Harold Lloyd did all his own stunts, many of them dangerous, with skill and humor.
• • THE GENERAL (1927) — — Buster Keaton in an extraordinary silent comedy set during the Civil War.
• • DUCK SOUP (1933) — — Perhaps the purest film farce ever made — — directed con brio by Leo McCarey — — starring Harpo, Chico, and Groucho Marx at their manic peak.
• • DINNER AT EIGHT (1933) — — The "talkies" grew up with this adaptation of a Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Under George Cukor's canny direction John and Lionel Barrymore, sex goddess Jean Harlow, and comedians Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery enliven the narrative.
• • SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933) — — Mae West became something of a joke in later life, but as her films prove, she was one of the best comedy writers in 1930s Hollywood. Here, she plays a Gay Nineties saloon singer in trouble with the law — — impersonated by Cary Grant in an early role. "When a woman goes wrong, the men go right after her." "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" The great lines are here, and Mae wrote 'em all. Lowell Sherman directed unobtrusively.
• • SONS OF THE DESERT (1933) — — Arguably Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's best film.
• • THE THIN MAN (1934) — — William Powell and Myrna Loy play Dashiell Hammett's sophisticated married sleuths, Nick and Nora Charles.
• • IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) — — Clark Gable is a cynical newspaperman who meets a pampered heiress (Claudette Colbert) in director Frank Capra's screwball comedy.
• • MY MAN GODFREY (1936) — — with Carole Lombard as the spoiled-rotten heiress and William Powell as the bum who becomes a butler and a guru in Gregory La Cava's rambunctious screwball farce.
• • As the publication is narrowing the field down to the top 100+ side-splitters of all time, write them and vote for Mae and more Mae.
• • Source: The Reader's Digest — — http://www.rd.com/ — —
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 ad • •
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High altitude — — at almost 8,500 feet in the Rockies — — did not deter MAE WEST from an invitation to perform in Central City, Colorado. 
• • The Colorado mountains are a magnet for ticket-holders and notable names, Robert Weller, Associated Press, reminded his readers.
• • According to Robert Weller, the European immigrants who came here during the rough and tumble mining days of the 19th century brought their musical traditions with them. A town's mark of civilization included having a sheriff, a courthouse, and an opera house. Theaters wouldn't do because they often also housed brothels or put on "leg shows."
• • Though opera dominated the scene, Colorado cleverly also offered a wide variety of selections to pleasure-seekers.
• • Sarah Bernhardt and Edwin Booth appeared here, wrote Robert Weller, as did John Philip Sousa and his band — — and the original Christy Minstrels. In 1937, Evalyn Walsh McLean wore the Hope Diamond on opening night of the play "A Doll's House," noted Robert Weller.
• • Opera headliners such as Beverly Sills, Paul Plishka, Jerome Hines, and dozens more have been featured on stages 40 miles away from Denver. Actors and actresses who appeared at Central City included MAE WEST, Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon, Sam Jaffe, Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy, and Michael Redgrave.
• • Source: Robert Weller, Associated Press
• • Published: 13 September 2007
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1940s • •
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MAE WEST is still being invited to movie premieres – – and she turns up.
• • Mae West, Humphrey Bogart, Groucho, and Harpo Marx ( – – Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo seemed to be MIA – – ), Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, Judy Jetson, Shirley Temple, Myrna Loy, the Blues Brothers, Cruella DeVille, Dorothy from the Land of Oz, and many more packed the Union with KAFI festival pass-holders sipping cocktails.
• • It took five stretch limos to truck the stars around the block to the Rave, where the red carpet, paparazzi, "Roger Ebert'' and "Joan Rivers'' awaited.
• • Cartoon fans and animators from all over the country, iconic movie queens from Tinseltown's Golden Age, and characters from fantasy lands all showed up in Kalamazoo, Michigan for the Hollywood-style advance screening of "Shrek theThird'' on Thursday night [May 17th, 2007]. The event was part of the kick-off to the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International.
• • The pre-Shrekapalooza party at the Union Cabaret and Grille provided reporters with a rare chance to interview Clark Gable. "I am quite pleased to see how many people are coming out to see this green guy,'' said Gable, who died in 1960. Clark Gable was not too familiar with Shrek, he admitted: "It's been a while since I've been out to see a movie.'' . . .
• • Source: The Kalamazoo Gazette
• • Byline: Mark Wedel [Published: Friday, 18 May 2007]• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •NYC
Mae West.
It was 1 March 1960 and MAE WEST was a special guest on "The Red Skelton Show" on TV.
