Mae West: Woody Eney

Woody Eney appeared in a TV bio-pic about MAE WEST.
• • Born in Canberra, Australia during the month of June — — on 8 June 1937 — — Woody Eney was cast in the role of Warden Schleth in the small screen biography "Mae West" [1982] when he was 45 years old. In that docu-drama, Ann Jillian portrayed Mae West, who had died two years before the script was written.
• • Who was Warden Harry O. Schleth? • •
• • During April 1927, Mae West was confined to the Women's Workhouse on Welfare [currently renamed Roosevelt] Island. Reporters scolded Prison Warden Harry O. Schleth for granting the Broadway star some privileges and pandering to a celebrity by taking her for evening drives, letting her dine with him in his private quarters, and so on. In real life, Harry Schleth — — who called Mae "a fine woman" during her exit interview from the jailhouse — — was not from down under, so it's curious that Mr. Eney was chosen for this role and not an American.
• • Though Woody Eney has lent his voice to animated films, his resume more often notes his versatility as a character actor.
• • Between 1976 and 1993, he has appeared in several dozen productions including onstage in an Obie Award winning drama, numerous TV projects, and some small-screen biographies about controversial women. Woody Eney is best known for his participation on TV shows such as "Rags to Riches" and "Friendly Fire" and family fare including Disney's "Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey" [1993].
• • The Mae West Blog wishes Woody Eney a very happy 72nd birthday today!
• • 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: Merry May

It was in May 1927 that MAE WEST returned to the Women's Workhouse on Welfare [currently renamed Roosevelt] Island.
• • This time, however, she was the invited guest of a group of society women who were bent on social reform, and who wanted to inspect the prison and inmates for themselves. The actress gaily led the tour, trailing a string of newsmen and photographers.
• • Mae was even delighted to show these Park Avenue females the paddy wagon that she had ridden in after her arrest on 9 February 1927. In the photos, the women are all smiling – – but what must they have been thinking?
• • One of Mae's duties in the workhouse was to clean the jail's library. It struck her that there were so few books to read here. When a magazine offered Mae $1,000 to write an article about her experiences as an inmate, the Broadway star donated her check to the women's workhouse to fund the "Mae West Memorial Library."
• • Newsmen chided Warden Harry O. Schleth for granting Mae some privileges and pandering to a celebrity by taking her for evening drives, letting her dine with him in his private quarters, and so on. But how many of those journalists remembered back to October 1913? That was the night when Warden Schleth's 34-year-old wife shot their 4-year-old son and then committed suicide because she could not bear to live inside a bleak New York City prison any longer. Very likely Mae West lifted the warden's spirits more than he cheered her up.
• • Note: The yellowed page you are looking at was part of an article Mae wrote, published in 1927.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1927 • •
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Mae West: Workhouse Redux

MAE WEST served eight days [of a ten day sentence for obscenity and the corruption of morals] at the Women's Workhouse, located on an island not far from the 59th Street Bridge. Known as Welfare Island in 1927, it was grandly renamed Roosevelt Island.
• • For three days, Canadian artist Thom Sokoloski is commemorating the penal spirit of Mae's temporary home in the workhouse.
• • Beginning on Friday and ending this Sunday [September 28 -30, 2007] individuals can explore The Encampment.
• • Thom Sokoloski's massive three-night installation on Roosevelt Island in New York evolved directly from his previous outdoor display "Confinement of the Intellect" — — which he created in Toronto's Trinity Bellwoods Park for their local Nuit Blanche Festival [2006]; last September he erected 68 tents containing artifacts tied to people with a mental illness.
• • Peter Goddard, staff writer for the Toronto Star, explained the site-specific exhibit this way: "The Encampment's rigid, militaristic formation of some hundred 19th-century tents lit from within by an LED light will remind New Yorkers looking out from their apartment windows of Roosevelt Island's history as a centre of control and confinement. The ship-shaped wedge of land on New York's east side has been a smallpox quarantine centre, a mental health site, and a prison that saw Mae West serve eight days in jail after her play Sex was busted in [February] 1927 for obscenity."
• • Swing by Roosevelt Island on 30 September 2007 to catch the last day.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West leaves the workhouse • • April 1927 • •
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