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MAE WEST hired several extraordinary men for her "Mae West Revue" and, if she was looking for a Greek god type, she found it. On 27 June 1954, Mae West launched her innovative show at the Sahara Hotel in Vegas (built in 1952).
• • In 1957, this innovative sold-out stage show, which had toured from coast-to-coast, would close in Las Vegas — — again at the Sahara.• • Born in Shanghai, China in the month of January — — on 3 January 1934 — — Dan Vadis was 20 years old when he broke into show business. The six-foot-four athlete was friends with Gordon Mitchell [1923 — 2003], who had joined Mae's famous bodybuilder troupe along with Mickey Hargitay, Richard DuBois, Reg Lewis, Zabo Koszewski, etc. and made the proper introductions. [Sources that give a birthdate as January 1938 must be incorrect since Dan Vadis would have been only 16 years old in 1954.]
• • Of Greek descent, his birth certificate read Constantine Daniel Vafiadis and his build packed just as much heft as his name. In 1962, the muscular newcomer was cast in the starring role as Hercules in the sword-and-sandals classic "Colossus of the Arena" and its sequel.
• • Vadis made 27 motion pictures that made use of his impressive physique between 1962 — 1983, including a number of Clint Eastwood's tough guy spectacles such as "High Plains Drifter" [1972], "The Gauntlet" [1977], and "Bronco Billy" [1980].
• • Sad to say, handsome Dan Vadis died of a drug overdose on 11 June 1987 in wretched circumstances. He was 49 years old.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke [1917 — 1994] • •
• • Mae West worked with many colorful cast mates in "Sextette" [1978] including one gentleman who died in early January.
• • Born in the USA on 20 May 1917, Patrick Sullivan Burke often was placed in fantasy roles. His first role was as a leprechaun in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" [Walt Disney Productions, 1959]. Over the years he appeared in a dozen projects for TV and the big screen, cast variously as a witch, a soldier, a bartender.
• • In "Sextette" [1978], he played a live human being, namely the Irish Delegate. The same year he was seen in "Lord of the Rings" and he played the Head Angel on an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" before retiring.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke died in Las Vegas in the month of January — — on 3 January 1994. He was 76 years old.
• • On 3 January 1870 in Brooklyn • •
• • In one motion picture, Mae West played a shady lady who was trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to a foreigner. It was during the month of January — — exactly 140 years ago — — that the complex construction began [on 3 January 1870]. Completed over a dozen years later, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on 24 May 1883.
• • In January 1930 • •
• • Colonel Joy (a Will Hays appointee who read scenarios and scripts) began attending Mae West's stage performances in Los Angeles, and then he advised against employing her as a member of Universal's writing staff as early as January 1930.
• • In Movie Classic, January 1934 • •
• • One of the best Hollywood interviewers Ruth Biery wrote a lengthy article, "The Private Life of Mae West" and Part One was printed in the fan magazine Movie Classic, their January 1934 issue. Her 3-part series is a must read.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The best way to hold a man is in your arms."
• • Mae West said: "To catch a husband is an art — — to hold him is a job."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A brief bit on actresses mentioned Mae West.
• • World Features Syndicate wrote: It used to be rare that actresses used their real names, thinking that for one reason or another they would not sell tickets. But here are eight who did:
• • 1. Mae West; 2. Elizabeth Taylor; 3. Ingrid Bergman; 4. Olivia de Havilland; 5. Glenda Jackson; 6. Sally Field; 7. Jane Fonda; 8. Gina Lollobrigida
• • Source: Feature: "Real Names" written by World Features Syndicate; published on 22 March 1991
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2165th 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 • • in 1954 at the Sahara • •
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Mae West.
It was June 1954 and MAE WEST debuted her new muscleman act at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. One of her hot numbers was “Take It Easy, Boys,” which the prolific Lester Lee had originally written for Rita Hayworth to perform in her 1953 Columbia film "Miss Sadie Thompson" [Columbia Pictures, 1953], however, the censors deleted these scenes.
• • A native New Yorker (like Mae), Lester Lee was born in The Big Apple on 7 November 1904. He attended an all-boy school, Manual Trades High School in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. An accomplished author and composer, he joined ASCAP in 1942. Working with his chief musical collaborators, Ned Washington, Allan Roberts, Zeke Manners, and Bob Russell, Lester Lee turned out numerous pop songs. A versatile hit-factory in his prime, with numerous chart-toppers to his credit, Lester Lee wrote many musical-production tunes. In 1943, he signed a contract with a Hollywood film studio. From 1945 on, he was creating special material for radio.
• • Lester Lee died from a heart attack in Los Angeles in the month of June — — on 19 June 1956. He was 51 years old.
• • On 19 June 2009 • •
• • Dreamwell Theatre presented "The Drag" written by Mae West. The limited run began on 19 June 2009.
• • Since the beginning of May 2009, Chuck Dufano and his cast and crew had been rehearsing The Drag, a 20-century play written by silver-screen star Mae West. This presentation, a Dreamwell Theatre production, was performed at the Universalist Unitarian Society, 10 S. Gilbert St., at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and also on June 26-27, 2009.• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An enjoyable article appeared in The Independent (Ireland) with this title: "Funny girls. . . who says women aren't the Mae West?" — — but can someone please explain why it was offered in this Irish newspaper's farming section?
• • Originally published in Ireland Review, one of those staffwriters had explained: And if Hollywood's history is light on hilarious women, that's probably because men wrote most of the screenplays and preferred to cast females as the decorative butt of male jokes. But there are honourable exceptions to this rule, and the evidence shows that when given the chance female comediennes can more than match the efforts of the men.
• • The Irish staffwriter continued: Early Hollywood comediennes could be surprisingly bawdy, and Mae West was very much the Joan Rivers of her day. She didn't stand around waiting for men to tell jokes, she told them herself, and her salty witticisms became legendary. "When I'm good I'm very good," she once boasted, "but when I'm bad I'm better."
• • The Irish staffwriter clarified: Mae West became a huge Hollywood star in the early 1930s, and was famous for rewriting her scenes. In the 1932 film Night by Night, a hatcheck girl stopped West and said "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds." "Goodness has nothing to do with it dearie," was the actress's self-penned reply. ... If Mae West made her name playing the sassy blonde, Goldie Hawn resurrected the old stereotype of the dumb blonde. ...
• • Source: Article: "Funny girls. . . who says women aren't the Mae West?" written by staff of the Ireland Review, reprinted by The Independent (Ireland); posted on 18 June 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1966th 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 • • 1954 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
In 1952 the Sahara Hotel opened in Las Vegas and two years later MAE WEST launched her new concept — — The Mae West Revue — — on the Strip. In its heyday, the Rat Pack rumbled and the Saharem Dancers did high kicks. When Dean Martin performed at the hotel in scenes from the original "Ocean's Eleven" movie, his piano advertised Sahara on the back.
• • On 27 June 1954, Mae West delighted the audience, and women patrons stormed the stage, when the bodybuilders filed into the Sahara's Congo Room. The Mae West Revue would remain there for almost three weeks.
• • In 1957, the long-running sold-out stage show would close in Las Vegas — — again at the Sahara.
• • Sayonara Time at the Sahara • •
• • Gary A. Warner writes: The Sahara Hotel & Casino, which dates to the days of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack" and has featured the likes of Mae West and Marlene Dietrich in its showrooms, will close 16 May 2011.
• • Gary A. Warner adds: Hotel officials said ownership was considering its options on whether to re-brand the hotel or redevelop the aging property. ... [Source: "Sahara hotel in Las Vegas to close in May" written by Gary A. Warner, Register Travel Editor, for The Orange County Register; posted 11 March 2011].
• • Dave Williams Died on March 13th • •
• • For the 1972 audio album "Great Balls of Fire" Mae West performed the rock and roll classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," which has been recorded by many vocalists including Jerry Lee Lewis.
• • Though the origins of the song are in dispute, it is a fact that Roy Hall made a recording of the song in September 1955 for Decca Records, and a Decca sample copy of Hall's recording lists Dave Williams as the sole writer.
• • The African American singer and songwriter Dave "Curlee" Williams [26 April 1920 — 13 March 1982] seems to have collaborated with the white pianist, bandleader, and songwriter James Faye "Roy" Hall [7 May 1922 — 2 March 1984].
• • Roy Hall died in the month of March and so did Dave Williams — — on 13 March 1982 — — a talented musician about whom very little is known. So we came to sing their praises today.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • debut in Vegas June 1954 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
The MAE WEST Revue would have turned 55 on 27 June 2009. 
• • In April 1954, Jim Timony had suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving Mae without a steadfast, faithful manager by her side for the first time since 1917. Despite being hospitalized in 1950 for heart failure, and physically declining during the early 1950s, Timony had been laying the groundwork for a new Las Vegas hotel — casino called "Mae West's Diamond Lil Casino." His death put an end to this desert tribute but the idea of appearing in Nevada's most glamourous venues ignited Mae's daydreams.
• • By the early 1950s, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and other big names had all played Vegas. So why not Diamond Lil? Soon Mae was sashaying through the fanciest casinos. Eventually she signed with the Sahara, who agreed to give her $25,000 a week — — a whopper of a payday. There was only one teeny obstacle: the 60-year-old Brooklyn bombshell had to come up with a concept.
• • After Mae was introduced to the newly crowned Mr. America of 1954 — — supremely gorgeous Richard DuBois — — her fantasies got fired up. Instead of the usual extravantly costumed showgirls, West selected a bevy of bodybuilders to accompany bawdy songs such as "I Want to Do All Day What I Do All Night." George Eiferman, Irvin "Zabo" Koszewski, Dick DuBois, Dominic Juliano, Joe Gold, Armand Tanny, Gordon Mitchell, Mickey Hargitay, and Charles Krauser were among the star bodybuilders in West's chorus for all (or part of) the show's three-year run. The act, which ran a little over half-an-hour, also featured a lusciously decked out Mae being attended by her onstage maid Louise Beavers, and being waltzed around by Steve Rossi.
• • As the young Apollos paraded onstage, Mae would announce: "I've got something for the girls — — boys, boys, boys!" Whereupon the females in the audience would rush up to crowd around the guys, recalled Steve Rossi. "It was sensational, almost a riot. It took 20 minutes for people in the audience to go back to their tables."
• • On 27 June 1954, the Mae West Revue would debut at the Sahara's Congo Room and remain there for almost three weeks.
• • In 1957, the long-running sold-out stage show would close in Las Vegas — — again at the Sahara.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1954 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST gave Steve Rossi his punchy stage name. He was born 76 years ago in the roughneck section of Manhattan then known as "Italian Harlem" and was raised on the West Coast when his musician father was hired by NBC. Mostly known as a Las Vegas resident and night club entertainer, Steve Rossi was cast in "Senior Class," a light-hearted song-laden trip down memory lane, a few years ago. The show featured six golden agers: Steve Rossi, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Ronnie Schell, Ruta Lee, Gary Collins, Marcia Rodd. New producers dieted the ensemble down to a quartet — — and refocused the material before preparing it for The Big Apple.
• • Loyally, The Las Vegas Sun (Steve's hometown paper) did a little puffing. Jerry Fink's article appears below.
• • Jerry Fink writes: After more than half a century of entertaining, Las Vegas singer, comedian, and actor Steve Rossi is set to make his debut in an off-Broadway production. “Don’t Leave It All to Your Children!” begins previews this week at the Actors Temple Theatre and is scheduled to run through June 28, 2009.
• • The 90-minute musical revue is an adaptation of “Senior Class,” both written and directed by Saul Ilson.
• • The 76-year-old Rossi is part of an ensemble cast of four that includes Barbara Minkus (“Picon Pie”), Marcia Rodd (“The Last of the Red Hot Lovers”), and Ronnie Schell (“Gomer Pyle”). Rossi and Schell have done “Senior Class” at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs, Calif., for the past four years.
• • “The producers saw ‘Senior Class’ and liked it but they didn’t know if it was strong enough for Broadway,” Rossi says. “Now with the new theme and new material, it looks pretty strong.” The revue is about Baby Boomers becoming seniors. “There are a series of vignettes about getting older and about life,” Rossi explains.
• • Rossi, a native New Yorker who grew up in Southern California, has performed in every medium but a Broadway play. “Don’t Leave It All to Your Children!” gets him close. At 339 West 47th St., the Actors Temple is about a block off the Great White Way.
• • Best known as the straight man of a comedy team with Marty Allen, Rossi says he has always been too busy to pursue the New York stage.
• • “When Marty and I were hot we could have been on Broadway any time we wanted, but we didn’t take advantage of it,” he says. “For some reason our management never thought it was a good career move.”
• • Allen & Rossi, who were brought together by Nat King Cole in 1957, made more than 700 appearances on television (44 on “The Ed Sullivan Show”), made 16 comedy albums and appeared in the spy spoof film “The Last of the Secret Agents” before they split in 1969. They reunited briefly twice. ...
• • Rossi was discovered by Mae West in 1953.
• • He was a 20-year-old student playing the lead in “The Student Prince” at the Civic Light Opera Company in Los Angeles. Mae West caught the performance and hired him for her show, which ended up at the Sahara in Las Vegas.
• • After graduating from Loyola University, he entered the Air Force. While stationed near San Francisco, he became friends with legendary radio announcer Don Sherwood and frequently appeared on his radio and television shows. Rossi, who never seems to slow down, says if the show catches on and he’s in New York for a while, he will produce a burlesque show and probably perform some stand-up comedy.
• • “I don’t feel any older than I did 20 years ago,” he says. “A lot of women take me for like 50 and 55 — — although last night a girl took me for a hundred.”
— — Excerpt: — —
• • THEATER — — Straight man of Allen & Rossi cracks wise just off Broadway
• • Byline: Jerry Fink
• • Published in: The Las Vegas Sun — — www.lasvegassun.com
• • Published on: 6 May 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST hired several extraordinary men for her "Mae West Revue" and, if she was looking for a Greek god type, she found it. On 27 June 1954, Mae West launched her innovative show at the Sahara Hotel in Vegas (built in 1952).
